How do you say that??

[AndreaU]

SandyM inspired me to start this thread when she gave KDHE advice on how to pronounce the NY town Skaneatles- "skinny-ATLAS." Yeah, where did that one come from??

That got me thinking of another NY town, Batavia, which I didn't think was that hard to say "buh-TAY-vee-a" until someone asked me for directions to "bat-a-VEE-a."

I can think of a few in Massachusetts that used to get me:
Worchester ("wooster?") and Leominster ("lemon-stir" or "lemon-sta," depending on the accent)... and in NH, Portsmouth = "Portsmith."

Again in NY, one of Rochester's suburbs is Chili-- not like the food, though. Oh no... long "i"s on this one. As in "cheye-lye."

Any town/city/village/county pronunciations out there that out-of-towners mess up (or get YOU messed up)? Time to teach America a lesson in proper "local" pronunciation.

[aggie94]

The one that always got me when I moved to Oregon was Willamette, which is pronounced will-LAMM-it, NOT wil-uh-MET.

[badunnin]

Newfoundland. It's not NEWfoundland, it's NewfoundLAND.

[jmarie]

Chilhowie = Chillowee = but correct pronounciation is Chill-howie

Wytheville = Withe-vul = but correct pronounciation is with-ville

Abingdon = uh-bing-don= but correct pronounciation is AB-bing-don

Staunton = like it looks or STAN-ton

This problem must lie within every state.
Joyce

[adrianna!!]

You know, before Miami was such a cosmopolitan city...it was just a typical southern town. All the old time native Miamians are from Georgia it seems. My father was born in Miami, as was his father (but their "people" are from Geaorgia) and they pronounce it "mi-am-UH!" But I am certainly not claiming that that is the CORRECT pronunciation..just the old time pronunciation!

[Melman]

Massachusetts is full of those towns that look nothing like the way they're pronounced. How about Peabody? Nope, not Pea-body...more like peeb'-i-dee. Unfortunately, I haven't been up there recently enough to remember the others but you definitely hit it with Woostah (or the hard-core: Wis'-tah) and Lemon-stah. :-)

Close to home, it's not Spartansburg, it's Spartanburg (or Sparkle-city as we like to call it when nobody is listening.)

My very favorite name of all is in Pennsylvania...not too far from Palmerton...which is up the turnpike from Bethlehem/Allentown. Aquashicola. Nope, NOT - a-quash-i-cola (with the 2nd syllable rhyming with squash and the last one like it it looks). It's more like aqua-shick-uh-luh. But we still like calling is a-quash-i-cola when we see the sign.

[AndreaU]

Originally posted by jmarie
This problem must lie within every state.

... and province! Don't forget, as Bethany reminded us, about our neighbors to the north.

Speaking of which... Nova Scotia has some interesting names like Antigonish. I thought it was "an-TIG-go-nish" but to hear the locals say it, it's more like "auntie-go-NISH." (last 2 syllables sound like "knish." And how do you pronounce Tatamagouche? All those years of French tell me it's "ta-ta-mah-goosh." (How'd I do?)

Melman- thank you!! Peabody was the one that STILL gets me every time I see a sign or hear it on the radio. I still say PEA-body (as in Sherman and Mr...).

[badunnin]

Originally posted by AndreaU
Speaking of which... Nova Scotia has some interesting names like Antigonish.

They also have a place called Meat Cove. I love it. As far as Tatamagouche, you should have it right.

[ccooney]

Well, in VT, Charlotte is pronounced Sha-LOTT. And I went to college in upstate NY where there was a nearby town, Norfolk. They pronounced it NOR-fork.

[AndreaU]

Originally posted by badunnin
They also have a place called Meat Cove. I love it. As far as Tatamagouche, you should have it right.

Meat Cove!! I was there this past summer!! We kayaked up there- the northern most point in Nova Scotia. Basically it was like the end of the Earth!

[Lynn B]

There's a town here in PA not too far from me: "DuBois". Visitors get all classy and pronounce it "Du-BWAH" (like we're French! ) It always cracks us up. And we just say, "NOPE, welcome to Pennsylvania." It's just "DU boys"!

Lynn

[badunnin]

[sneezles]

Well, there's Buda, TX-pronounced buu da not boo da! I'm sure there are tons of others but this passage from one of my favorite books about Texas always makes me laugh...

[i]Railroads were built by men, but they named many towns after their women-folk. A sampling:

Louise, Edna, Inez, Sarita, Donna, Mercedes, Maybelle and Thalia. Pandora sounds like a place to keep the lid on and Hedley might have been named after a Lamar family member. (name courtesy of Mel Brooks). For people who say bafroom or birfday, there's Marfa as in Marfa Washington. And then there's Maud. There's Winona and Annona, Lydia and Celeste. Idalou was named after two girls, as was Mineola. Desdemonia will connect us to Iago and our other male names:

Gordon, Vernon, Seymour, Chester and Sidney all have a 19th Century sound to them. There's a New Willard, but no sign of an old one, and there's a Smiley, Leroy and Dabney as well. Some towns are both first and last names like George West, who got to name the town since he built it on his ranch. Ben Bolt, the person, has been lost to history, but he's a lyric in a song and the town still wears his name. Tom Ball has become Tomball, Burk Burnett has become Burkburnett and Ed Couch Edcouch. Tarzan was condensed when he got here.


Condense Milk, Not Names!

While we're on the subject of condensing: It's safe to say everyone's heard of Texarkana, and maybe Lake Texoma. But unless you live close to Austonio, you might not be aware it exists. One would think Austonio would be between Austin and San Antonio. If one did, then one would be wrong. It's between Houston and Dallas (Houston County).

There was a recent movie called Happy, Texas, and indeed there is one. The movie was shot in some other state, though. Speaking of shooting, there are towns of Gun Sight, Gun Barrel City, Point Blank and Cut and Shoot.

There's the modest trio of Elysian Fields, Utopia and Paradise. There's Munday and Friday and Keene's Post Office is open on Sunday*. There's Telephone, Telegraph and Energy. There's Coffee City, which is almost as good as Hot Coffee, Alabama, and other food names include Raisin, Oatmeal, Rice and Noodle.


Old foes here are not forgotten

Indian names are well represented with Caddo, Seminole, Comanche and Kickapoo. While we're sure there's no Sam Houston City in Mexico, we've got a Santa Anna in Coleman County. Actually, the town's name comes from local mountains named after an Indian Chief, or so we're told.

One would think Levelland, Horizon City and Sundown would be in a straight line, but they're not. Other names which we hope are only in Texas include: Grice, Latexo, Lazbuddie, Wamba, and Fluvanna.


Texas is not a four-letter word

But these towns are: Alto (Cherokee Co.), Port Alto (Jackson Co.), Acme, Best, Buda, Bula, Buna, Cash, Fink, Grit, Hext, Lawn, Lodi, Nada, Spur, Toca, Voca, Wink and Zorn.


Texas isn't a three-letter word either

Arp, Dew and Tow. Coy, Joy, Hye, Guy, and Rye.


Too many Villes, Not enough Burgs

Our map shows 51 Greenvilles, Hallettsvilles, and Floresvilles etc. and only 10 Pittsburgs, Bloomburgs, and Oldenburgs. If you exclude Rosenberg which is a berg and not a burg, then it's only 9.


*Since Keene's population is mostly comprised of Seventh Day Adventists, most businesses are closed Saturday, but open Sunday. Including the Post Office.

[jjsooner73]

Well, it's not that unusual, but my home town is Chickasha, pronounced Chick-uh-shay. It often gets confused with Chickasaw, as in Indians. Oh, and our HS mascot is the Fightin Chicks. Chickasha, home of the FIghtin Chicks.

Nearby, there is Ninnekah--Ninn-uh-kaw and Agawam--Ag-wam, and Alex, which isn't pronounced like the name Alex, and more like El-lick.

There is also Miam-uh, not to be confused with the modern Miami, FL. These are all in Oklahoma.

[mbrogier]

There is a Beaufort, NC. Its pronouced Bow-fort. Not Bu-fort, like Beaufort, SC. I worked at the local airport in Beaufort. Someone called in saying they were close to Bu-fort...we said this is Bow-fort. It turned out he was in the wrong state, he was trying to get to SC.

I remember going to Versailles, KY. I knew it wouldn't have a French pronunciation...it was Ver-SAILS.

[ClaraB]

Originally posted by badunnin
Newfoundland. It's not NEWfoundland, it's NewfoundLAND.

I've actually found the biggest problem with Americans' pronunciation of Newfoundland is pronouncing it NewFOUNDland, rather than NEWfundLAND (although to my ear, the emphasis is similar on both the first and last syllables).

Then there are all the French names that have been anglicized - Pierre (SD) is pronounced Peer, Minot (ND) is pronounced MYnot, and Montpelier (Vt) is pronounced MontPEELyer . Took this Canuck awhile to get used to...

[funniegrrl]

You can always tell when someone is NOT from Atlanta when they pronounce the following:

Houston Street -- Is not Hyooston, as in the TX city, but HOUSE-ton
Ponce de Leon Ave -- is not "PON-say de lee-ON" but PONCE de LEE-on
DeKalb County -- is not "de-KALB" but "de-KAB" National news reporters ALWAYS screw this up.

In Nashville, where I live now, there is a street named for one of the original French settlers, Demonbruen. I can't tell you how many people I've heard say DEE-mon-bruin instead of the "right" way, which is "dee-MON-bree-un"

[Kayaksoup]

The Pacific Northwest has its fair share of names: In BC, Ucluelet or Nanaimo seem to give people difficulty, along with Osoyoos, Ollala, Kitimat, Similkameen, Keremoeos.. well, I could go on. But would be spelling them all wrong

[Kayaksoup]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclop...al_place_names

[Gail]

Well, here in LOSS AN-gel-us (so it is pronounced by natives) County, we're so full of Spanish names I could spend all day cringing at the way they're pronounced. The worst would probably be Calle Mayor, should be roughly CAYE-yay (Caye rhymes with "eye") my-YOR, but everyone says "Cally MAY-yer." (Cringing violently.) I understand it's another language and all. But that's AWFUL.

The other one which drives me bonkers is a street down the road from me: Beryl. So many people around here say "BURL" and correct me if I pronounce it closer to "barrel." Perhaps I should start carrying a dictionary...

[badunnin]

Originally posted by Kayaksoup
The Pacific Northwest has its fair share of names: In BC, Ucluelet or Nanaimo seem to give people difficulty, along with Osoyoos, Ollala, Kitimat, Similkameen, Keremoeos.. well, I could go on. But would be spelling them all wrong

Or, going back to provinces/territories, Nunavit.

Clara - I think I know too many Canadians and not enough Americans sometimes! Or maybe it's just living in a border city. I am fortunate enough to not hear NewFOUNDland instead of NEWfundLAND.

I love linguistics!

[mbrogier]

I was mocked when I moved from Raleigh to the beach in NC. The kids called me a "Raleigher". (sigh) Their pronunciations of things were so hick. The thing that irritated me the most was their pronunciation of Colorado. Its NOT Co-lo-RAAA-do...is it??

[badunnin]

Originally posted by mbrogier
Its NOT Co-lo-RAAA-do...is it??

Where would you put the emphasis?

[LonghornGal]

I just learned about Bee-you-da. (Buda! Lyndon B Johnson once ate BBQ there)

If you think CA is bad about torturing spanish, try Texas. At least y'all get all the letters in the right order and pronounde them all.

How about Guadalupe - not Guad-a-LOOP-ay as in espanol, but GUAD-a-loop.

Or the Pedernales - not Ped-er-NAL-ez, but PERD-en-al-es.

Or Manchaca - not man-CHAK-a, but man-chak.

Now that I've been around many latin americans I say Chee-lay (Chile) instead of chili, and meh-ee-co instead of Mex-i-co. It sounds pretter that way. Even Texas sounds smoother when you say Tay-has.

--Kristin

[aggie94]

Originally posted by LonghornGal
How about Guadalupe - not Guad-a-LOOP-ay as in espanol, but GUAD-a-loop.

Or the Pedernales - not Ped-er-NAL-ez, but PERD-en-al-es.

Or Manchaca - not man-CHAK-a, but man-chak.

Don't forget Rio Grande, which is not Rio GRAHND-ay. It's Rio Grand.

Oh, and Humble. The "H" is silent, so it's just Umble. Not that that's Spanish. Just something else I remembered.

[pilgrim719]

Imagine my surprise when I moved to Massachusetts and found out the rules of pronunciation I had learned in school do not apply in this state! Here's a couple others that haven't been mentioned yet.

Leicester = LESS-ter
Gloucester = GLOSS-ter
Concord = CON-kerd
Peabody = PEE-buh-dee

[aggie94]

I realize that I should have started with the very basic: Oregon. It's not or-uh-GONE. It's OR-uh-gun. Almost like the word organ with a very quick "eh" sound crammed in the middle.

Which reminds of a few other Oregon places:

The Dalles: A city east of Portland. Not like Dallas. Although there is a Dallas, Oregon. The Dalles is pronounced the-DALZ (rhymes with pals).

Yachats: Coastal city, pronounced YAH-HOTS.

Champoeg: A state park south of Portland, pronounced sham-POO-ee. I love that one.

Couch: A street in Portland, pronounced cooch.

Aloha: A Portland suburb, pronounced uh-LO-uh. Not like the Hawaiian uh-LO-ha.


This is fun.

[gdnr77]

Another Massachusetts one is Haverhill, pronounced Hay vril, that one gets a lot of people.

[SandyM]

Originally posted by aggie94
I realize that I should have started with the very basic: Oregon. It's not or-uh-GONE. It's OR-uh-gun. Almost like the word organ with a very quick "eh" sound crammed in the middle.

This is the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this thread (cute one, Andrea! ). I'm guilty here, and have to really concentrate on not saying ORE-eh-GONE.

[badunnin]

Originally posted by pilgrim719
Imagine my surprise when I moved to Massachusetts and found out the rules of pronunciation I had learned in school do not apply in this state! Here's a couple others that haven't been mentioned yet.

Leicester = LESS-ter
Gloucester = GLOSS-ter
Concord = CON-kerd
Peabody = PEE-buh-dee

And those all harken back to the British. There is a Leicester (pronounced Lester, of course) square in London.