Hard to pronounce city street names

[Flint1979]

I'm not sure where to put this and I don't see any such topic being discussed anywhere. I was just looking at some of Detroit's city streets that are are hard to pronounce. The Detroit streets mentioned are Gratiot, Cadieux, Livernois, Schoenherr, Charlevoix and Dequindre. There are of course several other examples within the city limits. I know there are other examples out there.

The way I at least pronounce these streets are Gra-shit, Cad ju, Liver-noy, Shane-err, Char-lo-voy, De-quin-der.

[MATraveler128]

Only one I can think of for Boston is Kilmarnock St near Fenway.

[JayhawkCO]

Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans is the first thing that comes to mind. Out here, the only one I've heard occasionally mispronounced is Iliff Ave. (EYE-liff).

[MultiMillionMiler]

This isn't a street but a town in Long Island:

It's called Quogue. Pronounced "Kwog" supposedly.

[hotdogPi]

This isn't a street but a town in Long Island:

It's called Quoque. Pronounced "Kwog" supposedly.

It's Quogue. Quoque is a Latin word that's pronounced entirely differently.

[7/8]

The only three I can think right now for Kitchener-Waterloo, ON:
- Weber St: pronounced WEE-ber ['wibɚ]
- Krug St: pronounced KROOG ['kɹug]
- Daimler Dr: pronounced DIME-ler ['daimlɚ]

[JayhawkCO]

That's how I'd pronounce all three not knowing better, especially the last two where Krug is a famous champagne and Daimler as in Daimler-Chrysler. Weber could go either way, but there's a university in Utah called Weber State pronounced like that.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Maybe not difficult, but a regional variation: in MSP, Nicollet Avenue/Nicollet Mall is pronounced "Nickel-it."  In other areas of the Great Lakes where the French explorer Nicolet's name is used, it's closer to the proper French "Nickel-ay" .

[Bruce]

A lot of non-locals seem to get confused by things named for Spokane (including a major freeway in Seattle). It's Spo-CAN, not CANE.

Same can be said for a few indigenous-derived names, which is probably a trend nationally. The UW campus has streets named for all of WA's counties, which include a few shibboleths. Some streets are being given new Lushootseed names (such as sluʔwiɫ on the UW campus) without Anglicized alternatives.

Erskine Way in West Seattle also seems to trip people up, but it's Scottish in origin.

[NoGoodNamesAvailable]

Tonnelle Avenue in Hudson county is pronounced TUNNEL-ee. Also, there is an alternative spelling Tonnele which seems to be the official name of the street in Jersey City. The signage is inconsistent and you see both spellings all over the place.

[Flint1979]

I was actually driving around Detroit with a friend of mine about 10 years ago and we were on Dequindre and he isn't from Detroit but rather was born in Houston and had lived in Lansing and Saginaw in Michigan. So he asked me how to pronounce the name of the street and I just said De-quin-der.

[GaryV]

I'm not sure where to put this and I don't see any such topic being discussed anywhere. I was just looking at some of Detroit's city streets that are are hard to pronounce. The Detroit streets mentioned are Gratiot, Cadieux, Livernois, Schoenherr, Charlevoix and Dequindre. There are of course several other examples within the city limits. I know there are other examples out there.

The way I at least pronounce these streets are Gra-shit, Cad ju, Liver-noy, Shane-err, Char-lo-voy, De-quin-der.

Yeah, Detroit butchers the pronunciation of their old French names. The Google Map lady has problems with Schoenherr (I think it is pronounced pretty close to the German).

Another one that's often mispronounced, even though it's not hard, is Lahser - many say "lash-er".

Edit: Grand Rapids is not much better with French words. Campeau becomes "cam-paw".

[1995hoo]

The two most-mispronounced I can think of off the top of my head are both in New York:

Houston Street is not pronounced like the name of the city in Texas; rather, the "ou" is pronounced like the sound one makes that denotes pain ("HOW-stun" Street).

Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn is not a Yiddish name, so the "Sch" is not pronounced as in "schmuck" or "schmear" but rather like an "Sk" sound. That's the one part everyone agrees on. The street name is variously pronounced like "SKEM-a-horn," "SKEM-er-horn," "SKIM-a-horn," or "SKIM-er-horn." The main thing that determines whether a given person pronounces the middle part as an "a" or an "er" is how much of a Brooklyn accent the person has. My grandfather always used the first of those four pronunciations, which is why I also pronounce it that way, but then he also elided a lot of other "er" sounds as "a" (an example was when he once used the word "trimesta"–he was referring to some schools that were discussing a switch from two semesters to three trimesters).


Another that is often mispronounced is Rio Road in Charlottesville. The "i" is a long "i" sound–it's like rye bread with an "o" on the end, as "RYE-oh," not like the name of the river on the US/Mexico border or the city in Brazil. There are various explanations for why it's pronounced the way it is, but I don't think anyone knows which is correct.

(Come to think of it, I'm sure we've had this sort of thread before because I'm sure I've mentioned Rio Road in this context. –Edited to clarify that it looks like we haven't done street names per se, but they've occasionally come up in threads about place names.)

.... Gratiot ....

The way I at least pronounce these streets are Gra-shit ....

So our late unlamented forum member who posted car horn videos from Illinois was misspelling his name all along and it should have been Cratiot.

[mgk920]

In Milwaukee, WI, the locals regularly refer to S Kinnickinnic Ave (WI 32) as "KK".  The first time that I heard that as a kid, I was looking all over a metro area street map for 'Milwaukee County 'KK''.

Mike

[pianocello]

Boeke Rd in Evansville is a local shibboleth that I fortunately learned about early in my time living here. It's "BAY-kee" (a testament to the German roots of many parts of the city).

In the St. Charles, MO area, there's a Muegge Rd, and I know I've had it sounded out for me before but I forget how it's pronounced.

[golden eagle]

Jamacha Boulevard on the outskirts of San Diego used to confuse me. It's pronounced Ham-a-shaw, but I used to always think it was Ha-mah-cha.

[kphoger]

In downtown Chicago, Ida B. Wells Drive is pronounced CONG-griss PARK-way.

[golden eagle]

Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans is the first thing that comes to mind. Out here, the only one I've heard occasionally mispronounced is Iliff Ave. (EYE-liff).

Speaking of New Orleans, Chartres Street is often mispronounced. People may pronounce it as Char-tres (like it looks) or even Charter. It's char-turs.

[pderocco]

Couldn't help thinking of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMU9px1pBbY

[TheStranger]

When I was a kid, I thought Gough Street in San Francisco was pronounced similar to the painter (Vincent Van Gogh) as opposed to rhyming with "cough."

Here's a whole article on Bay Area place and street name pronunciations:
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-to-pronounce-Bay-Area-landmarks-streets-and-7287451.php

[kphoger]

When I was a kid, I thought Gough Street in San Francisco was pronounced similar to the painter (Vincent Van Gogh) as opposed to rhyming with "cough."

He was Dutch.  Rhyming with 'cough' is pretty darned close to the actual pronunciation.

[Flint1979]

The two most-mispronounced I can think of off the top of my head are both in New York:

Houston Street is not pronounced like the name of the city in Texas; rather, the "ou" is pronounced like the sound one makes that denotes pain ("HOW-stun" Street).

Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn is not a Yiddish name, so the "Sch" is not pronounced as in "schmuck" or "schmear" but rather like an "Sk" sound. That's the one part everyone agrees on. The street name is variously pronounced like "SKEM-a-horn," "SKEM-er-horn," "SKIM-a-horn," or "SKIM-er-horn." The main thing that determines whether a given person pronounces the middle part as an "a" or an "er" is how much of a Brooklyn accent the person has. My grandfather always used the first of those four pronunciations, which is why I also pronounce it that way, but then he also elided a lot of other "er" sounds as "a" (an example was when he once used the word "trimesta"–he was referring to some schools that were discussing a switch from two semesters to three trimesters).


Another that is often mispronounced is Rio Road in Charlottesville. The "i" is a long "i" sound–it's like rye bread with an "o" on the end, as "RYE-oh," not like the name of the river on the US/Mexico border or the city in Brazil. There are various explanations for why it's pronounced the way it is, but I don't think anyone knows which is correct.

(Come to think of it, I'm sure we've had this sort of thread before because I'm sure I've mentioned Rio Road in this context. –Edited to clarify that it looks like we haven't done street names per se, but they've occasionally come up in threads about place names.)

.... Gratiot ....

The way I at least pronounce these streets are Gra-shit ....

So our late unlamented forum member who posted car horn videos from Illinois was misspelling his name all along and it should have been Cratiot.

Oh we mentioned it a couple years ago I called him crashit on Gratiot.

[Flint1979]

I'm not sure where to put this and I don't see any such topic being discussed anywhere. I was just looking at some of Detroit's city streets that are are hard to pronounce. The Detroit streets mentioned are Gratiot, Cadieux, Livernois, Schoenherr, Charlevoix and Dequindre. There are of course several other examples within the city limits. I know there are other examples out there.

The way I at least pronounce these streets are Gra-shit, Cad ju, Liver-noy, Shane-err, Char-lo-voy, De-quin-der.

Yeah, Detroit butchers the pronunciation of their old French names. The Google Map lady has problems with Schoenherr (I think it is pronounced pretty close to the German).

Another one that's often mispronounced, even though it's not hard, is Lahser - many say "lash-er".

Edit: Grand Rapids is not much better with French words. Campeau becomes "cam-paw".

I'm trying to remember how that lady pronounces Schoenherr but I know it's not how it's really pronounced. I say that one Lah-sur it's kind of how it looks but a little different. We also have all the Indian names.

[GaryV]

^ Pretty close to "shone-her"

She learned Dequindre now. I forget how she first butchered it.

[Flint1979]

^ Pretty close to "shone-her"

She learned Dequindre now. I forget how she first butchered it.

I can kind of remember a little bit about it now.