The spelling of "wast lenient" may seem unusual, but it is actually a variant of the more common term "West Linn" - a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. The pronunciation is /wɛst ˈlɪn/ with the "w" sound at the beginning, followed by a short "e" sound as in "bed" and a "st" sound. The second word is pronounced with a short "i" sound as in "pin" and a soft "t" sound. The variant spelling is likely a result of a regional dialect or colloquialism.