Towns that are not pronounced as they’re written

[zachary_amaryllis]

Louisville, OH and Louisville, KY are not pronounced the same. Ohio says it likes it's written.  The city in Kentucky doesn't.

And Louisville, CO

[zachary_amaryllis]

Saguache, CO I believe is pronounced "sa-watch".
Anton, CO is pronounced "ant-un"
Some older residents of Pueblo, I've heard say "pee-eblo".

[hotdogPi]

Anton, CO is pronounced "ant-un"

That's exactly how I would pronounce it, except I would put the t on the second syllable (which is an extremely minor difference). What's unusual about it?

[roadman65]

Louisville, OH and Louisville, KY are not pronounced the same. Ohio says it likes it's written.  The city in Kentucky doesn't.

And Louisville, CO

Do wonder if Louisville in GA is pronounced with Louis or Louie?

Then I like the way people from Mobile, AL say their city name extending the O and not saying the name too fast.

[1995hoo]

I've always heard it as and used 'ILL-i-NOY'.

Mike

I thought it was pronounced as "FLAT."

[mgk920]

Anton, CO is pronounced "ant-un"

That's exactly how I would pronounce it, except I would put the t on the second syllable (which is an extremely minor difference). What's unusual about it?

A local 'blip' on the map (actually just a controlled passing siding on a major railroad near Appleton), Anton, WI is pronounced 'AN-tone'. It's on the CN (ex WC, nee SOO) mainline just northwest of its crossing of WI 96 (formerly US 10 until December 2003) in Dale, WI.

Mike

[zachary_amaryllis]

Anton, CO is pronounced "ant-un"

That's exactly how I would pronounce it, except I would put the t on the second syllable (which is an extremely minor difference). What's unusual about it?

Maybe a personal bias? It sounds weird to me. It just seems to me like it should be 'ant-onn' (instead of ant-off)

[hotdogPi]

Anton, CO is pronounced "ant-un"

That's exactly how I would pronounce it, except I would put the t on the second syllable (which is an extremely minor difference). What's unusual about it?

Maybe a personal bias? It sounds weird to me. It just seems to me like it should be 'ant-onn' (instead of ant-off)

There are a whole bunch ending in -ton in Massachusetts: Acton, Stoughton, Grafton, Weston, Canton (also Ohio), Littleton, Sutton, Milton, Hamilton (as in the name), Washington (also the name), and of course, Boston.

[DandyDan]

Nevada, Iowa is not pronounced like the state, but with a long first A.

Someone discussed Norfolk, Nebraska. I have read they originally wanted to be Norfork, Nebraska, but the post office rejected it.

[english si]

I guess I shouldn't have made such a blanket statement because I was thinking of Harrogate specifically; I'm not as sure about other "-gates". From my own experience (I have family/friends that live not too far away), it's definitely not "gate" as Americans would pronounce it with the hard "a"... it sounds more like "git", or perhaps "gut" would be more precise.

Harrogate was the place I thought of - mostly as it is the exception. You're right it isn't a long -a and is something like ha-ra-gat (gut is more accurate than git. It's gat though, with the vowel being a schwa which is more common for a than other vowels), but that strikes me to have quite a lot to do that the local accent doesn't really have the long-a that others would put in gate.

I guess it could be driven by the classic English shortening of the last vowel of place names, rather than the local accent.

Pfft.  In American, it's not a harsh STAAH, but it definitely not "ster."  The ending is swallowed.

No, the ending just doesn't have the harsh STARR that rhotic accents would want to pronounce ster as. The end of -cester places in the UK and Massachusetts are pronounced literally how I would pronounce stir - with a schwa-r combo at the end (which is very subtly different to just a schwa). I'd write stir phonetically as ster - as the vowel is more an a or e than an i, and star is already taken.

It's not the southern English long-a with a rural bumpkinness that the Massachusetts accents has ('AAH' as you put it) - in part because the letter is an e, not an a. But likewise it doesn't need to be the Celtic Pirate hard-r 'ARR' that the rest of the US has to be a word with an r at the end.

The ending is not so much swallowed as not rolled around in the mouth for too long .



The big issue with British place names and those, like in MA, which continue the traditions is when they break the common rules of how we pronounce stuff non-phonetically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYNzqgU7na4

[1995hoo]

^^^^^

In terms of British place names, my favorite may be Penistone, which is pronounced like PENN-is-tun.

[english si]

In terms of British place names, my favorite may be Penistone, which is pronounced like PENN-is-tun.

Obviously the word-within-the-work that would be kept whole if English was logical would be stone ie Penny-stone.

And if it was said the way everyone but the locals would want to say it it would be Penis-toon.

But no, it's Pen-is-ton.

[Rothman]

I guess I shouldn't have made such a blanket statement because I was thinking of Harrogate specifically; I'm not as sure about other "-gates". From my own experience (I have family/friends that live not too far away), it's definitely not "gate" as Americans would pronounce it with the hard "a"... it sounds more like "git", or perhaps "gut" would be more precise.

Harrogate was the place I thought of - mostly as it is the exception. You're right it isn't a long -a and is something like ha-ra-gat (gut is more accurate than git. It's gat though, with the vowel being a schwa which is more common for a than other vowels), but that strikes me to have quite a lot to do that the local accent doesn't really have the long-a that others would put in gate.

I guess it could be driven by the classic English shortening of the last vowel of place names, rather than the local accent.

Pfft.  In American, it's not a harsh STAAH, but it definitely not "ster."  The ending is swallowed.

No, the ending just doesn't have the harsh STARR that rhotic accents would want to pronounce ster as. The end of -cester places in the UK and Massachusetts are pronounced literally how I would pronounce stir - with a schwa-r combo at the end (which is very subtly different to just a schwa). I'd write stir phonetically as ster - as the vowel is more an a or e than an i, and star is already taken.

It's not the southern English long-a with a rural bumpkinness that the Massachusetts accents has ('AAH' as you put it) - in part because the letter is an e, not an a. But likewise it doesn't need to be the Celtic Pirate hard-r 'ARR' that the rest of the US has to be a word with an r at the end.

The ending is not so much swallowed as not rolled around in the mouth for too long .



The big issue with British place names and those, like in MA, which continue the traditions is when they break the common rules of how we pronounce stuff non-phonetically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYNzqgU7na4

Heh.  Just accept Northeasterners don't pronounce names the same way the Brits do.  You're talking to someone that grew up quite close to Worcester.

[CtrlAltDel]

I guess I shouldn't have made such a blanket statement because I was thinking of Harrogate specifically; I'm not as sure about other "-gates". From my own experience (I have family/friends that live not too far away), it's definitely not "gate" as Americans would pronounce it with the hard "a"... it sounds more like "git", or perhaps "gut" would be more precise.

Harrogate was the place I thought of - mostly as it is the exception. You're right it isn't a long -a and is something like ha-ra-gat (gut is more accurate than git. It's gat though, with the vowel being a schwa which is more common for a than other vowels), but that strikes me to have quite a lot to do that the local accent doesn't really have the long-a that others would put in gate.

Isn't there also a town where the name is two words, XXXX ZZZZ, but it's pronounced ZZZZ XXXX? I thought I read something about that somewhere.

[Henry]

Charlotte, MI is pronounced differently from the NC city. Instead of the traditional "ar" sound, it uses the "ur".

[Dirt Roads]

The general area where I grew up is called Teays Valley.  Like "don't taze me bro'!".  Now that location is more specific, meaning the area along WV-34 between Hurricane and Scott Depot (including the area around Exit 39 on I-64).  Teays River was an ancient riverbed that ran along what's now the New River and Kanawha River and turned west at Scary, West Virginia; then ran up thorough Central Ohio and across northern Indiana and northern Illinois.  That said, there is another general area called Teays Valley in Pickaway County, Ohio (and I believe that they pronounce it the same way).

[Brandon]

Charlotte, MI is pronounced differently from the NC city. Instead of the traditional "ar" sound, it uses the "ur".

Yes, sure-LOTT.

[amroad17]

Kecoughtan (an area in Hampton, VA); pronounced KIK-ka-tan.

   

[english si]

Heh.  Just accept Northeasterners don't pronounce names the same way the Brits do.

who said anything about Northeasterners? Not me. Massachusetts accents pronounce almost all place names exactly the same way as Brits. The IPA is the same, the Wikipedia prounciation guides are the same, the locals explaining how to say it say it the same.

You're talking to someone that grew up quite close to Worcester.

but with a different accent? And, while in the know, seeking to write the pronunciation guide with how you would say syllables, not how locals would.

There's an r in Worcester (both of them) in the local accent(s). But it's done by the local accent's underpronunciation of r, not a rhotic overprounced r. To approximate the correct prounciation you wouldn't have an r in how you'd write how to say it, because if you put an r in you'd be rolling that ending around in your mouth. But it's in the IPA, etc - they aren't swallowing that r.

Just accept that, despite growing up nearby and getting it nearly right, the locals don't prounounce it the same way you do.

[Rothman]

Heh.  Just accept Northeasterners don't pronounce names the same way the Brits do.

who said anything about Northeasterners? Not me. Massachusetts accents pronounce almost all place names exactly the same way as Brits. The IPA is the same, the Wikipedia prounciation guides are the same, the locals explaining how to say it say it the same.

You're talking to someone that grew up quite close to Worcester.

but with a different accent? And, while in the know, seeking to write the pronunciation guide with how you would say syllables, not how locals would.

There's an r in Worcester (both of them) in the local accent(s). But it's done by the local accent's underpronunciation of r, not a rhotic overprounced r. To approximate the correct prounciation you wouldn't have an r in how you'd write how to say it, because if you put an r in you'd be rolling that ending around in your mouth. But it's in the IPA, etc - they aren't swallowing that r.

Just accept that, despite growing up nearby and getting it nearly right, the locals don't prounounce it the same way you do.

Dear heavens...this is as tone deaf as me telling someone from Luton that they're wrong about London because of what they read on Wikipedia...

[skluth]

Isn't there also a town where the name is two words, XXXX ZZZZ, but it's pronounced ZZZZ XXXX? I thought I read something about that somewhere.

I think you're thinking of Zzyzx, CA. It's pronounced Zy-Zix.

[kphoger]

Any town with a Spanish origin, I'll pronounce according to Spanish pronunciation rules, and the residents can be mad about it.

Do you really?

Los Angeles, CA?
Mexico, MO?
Plano, TX?
Panama, OK?

[webny99]

I've gotten in the bad habit of pronouncing Los Angeles as it's pronounced in "International Love" by Pitbull - Laws An'jellies

[NWI_Irish96]

Any town with a Spanish origin, I'll pronounce according to Spanish pronunciation rules, and the residents can be mad about it.

Do you really?

Los Angeles, CA?

The Los Angeles Angels translated to English is The The Angels Angels.

[roadman65]

Pounce de Leon if pronounced in Spanish to anyone in Atlanta, GA will get you told a few things by Georgia residents.