Hard to pronounce city street names

[Dirt Roads]

One of my relatives grew up on Lake Chadesa Drive in Teays Valley, West Virginia.  That word is pronounced the way that every name that ends in an "A" is supposed to be pronounced in West Virginia:  Chuh-dess-eee.

[Sctvhound]

Charleston, SC you have Legare Street, pronounced Luh-gree. Huger (a town along with a street) is pronounced Eu-gee.

Hasell St (downtown Charleston) is pronounced Hay-zul.

Old Charlestonians pronounce the Cooper River as Cuh-pur.

SM-G998U

[kphoger]

There's a street in Des Moines, that I see on signs as Keo Way, but it's a shortened form of Keo[long unpronounceable sequence] Way.

Anyone from the area, or just know?

I'm not from Des Moines, but my sister and her husband live there, so I've spent a decent amount of time in the city.  My understanding is that it's pronounced exactly as I would expect:  Keosauqua = kee-uh-SOCK-wuh.  Maybe it's just because I've spent my whole life in this part of the Midwest, but that name doesn't throw me off at all.

[mgk920]

The french derived street names in Kaukauna, WI (ie:  https://goo.gl/maps/EU3nmva83DvWtKbt7

Also, a couple of blocks to the north on Desnoyer St: https://goo.gl/maps/765igBwCXmQyta6w7. (Delanglade St is WI 55)

Mike

[Big John]

Shawano Ave in Green Bay.  (The 2nd "A" is not pronounced.)

[rarnold]

It is Keosauqua Way. Keosauqua is the Meskawki word for the Des Moines River, translating to "Bend in the River."

Pronounced Kee-eh-sawk-wah

[Troubleshooter]

One of my relatives grew up on Lake Chadesa Drive in Teays Valley, West Virginia.  That word is pronounced the way that every name that ends in an "A" is supposed to be pronounced in West Virginia:  Chuh-dess-eee.

How do you pronounce Teays?

Near Philadelphia PA, there is a river and places and streets named Schuykill. It;s pronounced "Skookle"

[zachary_amaryllis]

There's a street in Des Moines, that I see on signs as Keo Way, but it's a shortened form of Keo[long unpronounceable sequence] Way.

Anyone from the area, or just know?

I'm not from Des Moines, but my sister and her husband live there, so I've spent a decent amount of time in the city.  My understanding is that it's pronounced exactly as I would expect:  Keosauqua = kee-uh-SOCK-wuh.  Maybe it's just because I've spent my whole life in this part of the Midwest, but that name doesn't throw me off at all.

It's entirely possible I misread it, the last time I was through there was 2002, and it's sorta lost in the years. I was on a Greyhound, and woke up because 235 seemed like the surface of the moon.

[Dirt Roads]

One of my relatives grew up on Lake Chadesa Drive in Teays Valley, West Virginia.  That word is pronounced the way that every name that ends in an "A" is supposed to be pronounced in West Virginia:  Chuh-dess-eee.

How do you pronounce Teays?

Simple.  Don't Teays me bro'.  My understanding is that the folks in Teays Valley, Pickaway County, Ohio pronounce it the same way (but I don't know, for sure).

[LilianaUwU]

Charleston, SC you have Legare Street, pronounced Luh-gree.

Ew. This is the worst butchering of French pronunciation I've heard (well, read) since Fond du Lac.

Speaking of which, every single French street name is hard to pronounce to English speakers. I can't say the same for English names and (most) French speakers, weirdly enough.

[Dirt Roads]

Charleston, SC you have Legare Street, pronounced Luh-gree.

Ew. This is the worst butchering of French pronunciation I've heard (well, read) since Fond du Lac.

Speaking of which, every single French street name is hard to pronounce to English speakers. I can't say the same for English names and (most) French speakers, weirdly enough.

Not every one.  In Scary, West Virginia the road on the "back side" of Scary Creek is named Ventroux Road.  (It has a St. Albans address).  But it is pronounced "vin-true".  Not too far off the French pronunciation.  Back to our thread, the real reason that Ventroux Road belongs here is that all the locals pronounce it "vin-true holl-lar". 

[RZF]

California is full of Spanish/Mexican influence everywhere, and the anglicization of city names and street names is very inconsistent.

We have cities like Camarillo (named after founder of the town, a Mexican-American man named Adolfo Camarillo), and it's pronounced Cam-a-REE-o, giving homage to the pronunciation of the Spanish double L.

Then of course, Spanish city/neighborhood names like Los Angeles, Paso Robles (RO-bowls), and Los Feliz (Laas FEE-lis) are completely anglicized. So, naturally, Los Feliz Blvd is pronounced as such.

Here are some other examples:
El Segundo Blvd (El Seg-UHN-doh)
Van Nuys Blvd (Van EYES)
Hueneme Rd (Why-KNEE-me)
Latigo Canyon Rd (LAH-di-go)

[dgolub]

Houston Street in Manhattan is pronounced as if it starts with the word "house," not like the city in Texas.

[Rothman]

Houston Street in Manhattan is pronounced as if it starts with the word "house," not like the city in Texas.

Texans are the ones that say it incorrectly.  There are other House-ton Streets around, but only one Hews-ton.

[US 89]

I would have assumed that Ocoee is the most-mispronounced in Florida just because it's not at all apparent how to say it.

I guess most place names in Florida made it seem less obvious (uh-Co-E) than it should have be; typically long-O for Okeechobee (Oh-key-CHO-bee), Oviedo (O-vey-dough), and Opa-Locka (Opa! Lock-ah) although they're from different origins.

I met a guy from near Oviedo once and if I recall correctly, he was insistent that it was pronounced oh-vee-AY-doh.

There's also an Ocoee River in Tennessee and Georgia that's somewhat well known as a white water rafting site, which maybe helps with that one some.

Speaking of which, every single French street name is hard to pronounce to English speakers.

Well, the abundance of silent letters and vowel sounds that don't exist in English doesn't exactly help... and also it's not quite true. Duchesne, Utah for example is remarkably close to the actual French pronunciation, except for that "ew"  sound that doesn't exist in English.

[kphoger]

We have cities like Camarillo (named after founder of the town, a Mexican-American man named Adolfo Camarillo), and it's pronounced Cam-a-REE-o, giving homage to the pronunciation of the Spanish double L.

Ironically, the pronunciation you give ignores the double L completely–pretends it doesn't exist.

[Rothman]

We have cities like Camarillo (named after founder of the town, a Mexican-American man named Adolfo Camarillo), and it's pronounced Cam-a-REE-o, giving homage to the pronunciation of the Spanish double L.

Ironically, the pronunciation you give ignores the double L completely–pretends it doesn't exist.

REE-o, REE-yo.  Same diff.

[kphoger]

Only because a lot of people don't even pronounce the the Y in BEYOND.

In contrast, in Spanish that consonant sound is always pronounced.  In some contexts and in some cultures it even becomes like English ZH.  In northern Mexico, I'd expect to hear the name Carillo pronounced with a voiced palatal fricative, or at least as an approximant.

[Road Hog]

The farther away you get from the Rio Grande in Texas, the more Anglicized place names get. Like Alva-RAY-do, RYE-o Vista, A-LEE-do and O-Viil-uh. Then there's the South Texas town of Re-FUR-io, which only gets mentioned in football score reports.

[Flint1979]

There is a rural road in Saginaw County that is spelled Bueche and I have heard about 3 or 4 different ways of pronouncing it. I think the correct pronunciation is Bu-ch but the first time I heard someone pronounce it they pronounced it Bu-Key.

EDIT: Today I had Waze on and had to use Bueche Road. Waze pronounces it BEACH simple as that.

[webny99]

Chili Ave (NY 33A), which connects Rochester and the town of Chili. Many people think it's pronounced chilly, like the food chili, but it's actually pronounced chai-lye (ryhmes with thigh)

[roadman65]

I think I might of mentioned it before, but Bearss Avenue in Tampa, Florida is pronounced Bur ss.  Rhymes with purse.

[mgk920]

Chili Ave (NY 33A), which connects Rochester and the town of Chili. Many people think it's pronounced chilly, like the food chili, but it's actually pronounced chai-lye (ryhmes with thigh)

That's the same as Chili, WI  ( 'CHAI LIE' ).

Mike

[Scott5114]

Houston Street in Manhattan is pronounced as if it starts with the word "house," not like the city in Texas.

Texans are the ones that say it incorrectly.  There are other House-ton Streets around, but only one Hews-ton.

As far as I know, Houston Avenue in Norman is pronounced the same as Houston, Texas.

I would also imagine that Houston Street in Broken Arrow is pronounced like the city in Texas, given that the surrounding streets are Galveston, El Paso, Dallas, Fort Worth...

[Flint1979]

Houston Street in Manhattan is pronounced as if it starts with the word "house," not like the city in Texas.

Texans are the ones that say it incorrectly.  There are other House-ton Streets around, but only one Hews-ton.

They aren't even named for the same person. Houston, Texas is named for Sam Houston. Houston Street in Manhattan is named for William Houstoun (yes with that spelling). So them being pronounced differently makes sense.