AARoads Forum

What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of? These are pronunciations that are different from what may be expected(i.e. different than other places or uses of the same name) or pronunciations of places from foreign languages that don't follow the foreign pronunciation(or sometimes do follow the foreign pronunciation but are often mispronounced). I always find these fascinating and useful if you are traveling in that area because mispronouncing them often makes it easy to label one as an outsider or tourist.

Here are some from my homestate of Nebraska:
Beatrice: be-AT-triss, not BE-uh-triss
Hooper: pronounced with a short "o" as in "book" not a long "o" as in "loop"
Kearney-CAR-nee, not KERR-nee
Prague: rhymes with "Craig"-not pronounced like the capital of the Czech Republic
Steinauer-pronounced like "steener"
Tekamah-te-CAME-uh, not TEE-kuh-muh
Norfolk-often pronounced as if it's spelled "Norfork". This one came about because the city was supposed to be named for the North Fork of the Elkhorn River, but the post office got it wrong and spelled it like Norfolk, Va. Today there is still debate about what the correct pronunciation is-I have had several residents of the city say that either is acceptable, but some people will insist that only "Norfork" is acceptable. Media in the state seem to insist on the "Norfork" pronunciation-personally, I prefer to pronounce it "Norfolk" just like it is spelled.

Some from other states that I know of:
Nevada, Mo.:pronounced "ne-VAY-duh", not like the state is pronounced
Vienna, Mo.:pronounced with a long "i"
Milan, Mo.:MY-luhn, not mil-LAHN
Versailles, Ky.:ver-SALES, not like the French
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French
Buena Vista, Va.-Byoonuh Vista, not like the Spanish
Arkansas City, Ks.-pronounced like the state of Kansas with "Ar" before it, not like the state of Arkansas(I believe the Arkansas River in at least some of Kansas is pronounced the same way).

There are many others I've heard, but these are just some to start with.

Dutch media always screws up the pronunciation of New Orleans. (they pronounce the "orleans" as in "jeans").

How do you pronounce Lafayatte? Is it "la-fa-yett" or more like "la-fa-yett-ee"?

Rio Grande, Ohio is pronounced "RYE-OH GRAND" not "REE-OH GRAND or REE-OH GRANDE-A" as the Spanish would.

Of course, the more well known Ohio example is Toledo (TOW-LEE-DOH, the one in Spain is TAH-LAY-DOH).

New Madrid, MO is "MAD-RID" rather than "MA-DRID".

Berlin, NH is "BER-LUN", rather than "BER-LYNN", but it is generally accepted that this was changed during WWI.

Philippi, WV is "PHIL-UH-PEE", the one in the Bible is "PHIL-I-PIE".

Ronceverte, WV (which is in Greenbrier County, "Ronceverte" being French for Greenbrier) is pronounced "RONCE-A-VURT".  I will not ever try to phonetic out the French.

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 01, 2010, 03:07:33 AM
What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of?
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French

Um, Bourbonnais is pronounced BOTH ways here in Illinois, but the French way is dominant.

Quote from: SP Cook on June 01, 2010, 07:37:16 AM
New Madrid, MO is "MAD-RID" rather than "MA-DRID".

Madrid, NY is the same way. I thought it was just North Country locals who mispronounced everything...

In the same area, Norfolk, NY is pronounced "NOR-FORK", not "NOR-FOLK".

Quote from: SP Cook on June 01, 2010, 07:37:16 AM
Rio Grande, Ohio is pronounced "RYE-OH GRAND" not "REE-OH GRAND or REE-OH GRANDE-A" as the Spanish would.

Yep, and I was told when I moved to Ohio that it's RYE-OH to rhyme with O-HI-O.  :)

In North Carolina, Mebane is pronounced "MEB-bin" and Bahama is pronounced "Bah-HAY-Mah".

Other fun ones in Ohio:

Bellefountaine, OH (BELL-FOUNTAIN instead of BELL-UH-FAWN-TAYNE)
Russia, OH (ROO-SEA instead of RUSH-UH)
Versailles, OH (VER-SAILS instead of VAIR-SY)
Lancaster, OH (LANK-UH-STER instead of LAN-CAST-ER)

Here's my list for Colorado placenames:
http://usends.com/Explore/Colorado/placenames.html
At the bottom of that page, I'm building a list of links to similar pages for other states, so if you know of any let me know.

Quote from: usends on June 01, 2010, 09:45:32 AM
Here's my list for Colorado placenames:
http://usends.com/Explore/Colorado/placenames.html
At the bottom of that page, I'm building a list of links to similar pages for other states, so if you know of any let me know.

Washington state has a bunch - I can never seem to get any of them right (or so my wife says).

My mother, as a former resident, says everyone called Bethlehem, PA with a silent second H, like BETH-LEM.

Ho-Ho-Kus NJ, it depends on the hyphenation, which is not always constant.

Quote from: Chris on June 01, 2010, 04:08:15 AM
Dutch media always screws up the pronunciation of New Orleans. (they pronounce the "orleans" as in "jeans").

How do you pronounce Lafayatte? Is it "la-fa-yett" or more like "la-fa-yett-ee"?

la-fay-et
This is the same in Indiana as it is in Louisiana.

New Orleans can be pronounced a couple of acceptable ways.
1. New Or-leans (as in jeans)
2. Nuh Orlans
3. La Nouvelle-Orléans (as in French) :-)

Quote from: Brandon on June 01, 2010, 10:55:10 AM
New Orleans can be pronounced a couple of acceptable ways.
1. New Or-leans (as in jeans)
2. Nuh Orlans
3. La Nouvelle-Orléans (as in French) :-)

4.  Nawlins :)

Wisconsin:

-What is the EASIST and FASTEST way to tell the out-of-staters from the locals?  Ask them to pronounce 'Shawano' (a city and county in the northeastern part of the state).  It is 'SHAW-no', *NOT* 'sha-WA-no'!

-Also, MANY national network sports guys get Green Bay wrong.  It is 'green-bay' (equal light accent emphasis on each word), *NOT* 'GREEN-bay'.

Others:
-Berlin and New Berlin - 'BER-lin' (yep, the WWI thing in those two places, too);
-Menasha - 'muh-NASH-uh' (*NOT* 'mi-NaSH-uh' - long 'A', not a short 'a', in the middle syllable);
-Beloit - same way as in Detroit (city in Michigan), *NOT* the French way;
-Ripon (birthplace of the GOP!  :D ) - 'RIP-in' (*NOT* 'ri-PON', as in the city in California);
-Wausau - WA-SAW (equal strong accent on both syllables which rhyme with each other, *NO* 'r' sounds).
-Racine - 'ruh-SCENE', *NOT* 'RAY-scene'.

Mike

Cairo, IL: KAY-ro

Versailles, IL: ver-SAILS

Mattoon, IL is pronounced either MAT-toon or ma-TOON  :pan:

Quote from: shoptb1 on June 01, 2010, 09:21:08 AM
Other fun ones in Ohio:

Bellefountaine, OH (BELL-FOUNTAIN instead of BELL-UH-FAWN-TAYNE)
Russia, OH (ROO-SEA instead of RUSH-UH)
Versailles, OH (VER-SAILS instead of VAIR-SY)
Lancaster, OH (LANK-UH-STER instead of LAN-CAST-ER)

Lancaster, PA (my hometown) is pronounced the same way.  Grates at me when I hear Lan-CAST-er.

Newark, DE (New-ark) is pronounced differently from its namesake in New Jersey ("Newerk," sometimes one syllable).

Buena, NJ is pronounced "Byoo-na," not like its Florida counterpart.

Dubois, PA is pronounced like "Du-boys."

IIRC, Bogota NJ is pronounced "Ba-GO-ta," not like in Colombia.

Quote from: Brandon on June 01, 2010, 08:23:01 AM

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 01, 2010, 03:07:33 AM
What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of?
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French

Um, Bourbonnais is pronounced BOTH ways here in Illinois, but the French way is dominant.

Well, all I know is when I visited relatives in Bradley one time, someone laughed at me when I pronounced it the French way and was told that the way I put it here was the correct way.

Okey doke

Idaho
Boise- Boy-C (not Boy-zee, this is the easiest way to recognize a non-Idahoan as virtually all say Boy-zee)
Moscow- Mos-coe (not pronounced like the one in Russia- my Mom still pronounces it like the one in Russia after 13 years in Idaho and it drives me crazy every time)
Kooskia- Coo-skee
Kuna- Kewnuh (doesn't rhyme with Tuna)
St. Maries- St Mary's


Washington
Puyallup- Pew-al-up
Tukwila- Tuck-will-uh
Mukilteo- Muck-ull-te-oh
Steilacoom- Stee-luh-coom
Burien- Byur-ee-en
Vashon- Vash on (not Vash en)
Poulsbo- Pauls-bo
Chehalis- Shuh-hay-lus
Sedro-Wooley- See dro- Wooley
Cle Elum- Clee Eelum
Spokane- Spo-can (not Spo-kane)
Naches- Natcheez
Chelan- Chuh-lan (like LAN)
Okanogan- Okanawgun
Anacortes- Anna-cortez


Wyoming
Kemmerer- Kemmer (the second er is silent)
Wamsutter- Wahmsutter
Dubois- Dew-boys

Quote from: akotchi on June 01, 2010, 12:55:49 PMLancaster, PA (my hometown) is pronounced the same way.  Grates at me when I hear Lan-CAST-er.

A friend of mine in college from York would correct me when I'd call it "LANK-as-ter" and say it's pronounced "Lan-CAST-ur."

Quote from: US71 on June 01, 2010, 12:36:23 PMVersailles, IL: ver-SAILS

That is how North and South Versailles is pronounced here; however, thankfully Duquesne is "DOO-cane" and not "DOO-kez-knee."

Quote from: corco on June 01, 2010, 01:34:05 PM

Boise- Boy-C

meanwhile, the Boise City in the Oklahoma panhandle is one syllable. 

Quotemeanwhile, the Boise City in the Oklahoma panhandle is one syllable.  

It's pronounced BoyS (hard S), right?

Quote from: corco on June 01, 2010, 02:15:20 PM

Quotemeanwhile, the Boise City in the Oklahoma panhandle is one syllable. 

It's pronounced BoyS (hard S), right?

Yeah, but that hard "S" blends in with the "S" sound at the beginning of the word "City", so it comes out like "Boy City".

Bowie, MD ..

Not like David Bowie but like naval buoy  :spin:

Latrobe, PA ("LAY-trobe", not "lah-TROBE")

Worcester, MA: woo-ster
Poughkeepsie, NY: poh-keep-see
Coxsackie, NY: cok-suh-kee (at least thats what I've heard)
Watervliet, NY: water-vleet
Cohoes, NY: cuh-hoes
Nashua, NH: na-shwa
Portsmouth, NH: ports-muth
Saco, ME: sah-koh
Falmouth, ME: fal-muth
Yarmouth, ME: yar-muth
Wellesley, MA: wells-lee
Tunkhannock, PA: tunk-hun-uck
Strasburg, PA: straws-berg

here I'd been pronouncing it like "boys city"...  :-D

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 03:44:22 PM

Coxsackie, NY: cok-suk-ee (at least thats what I've heard)

oh sweet lord, did I read that right?? you mean the pronounced name is even more ridiculously Beavis and Butthead than the spelled name?

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 01, 2010, 04:25:27 PM

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 03:44:22 PM

Coxsackie, NY: cok-suk-ee (at least thats what I've heard)

oh sweet lord, did I read that right?? you mean the pronounced name is even more ridiculously Beavis and Butthead than the spelled name?

Haha this is what I have heard from people, so I believe it is true.

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 03:44:22 PM
Coxsackie, NY: cok-suk-ee (at least thats what I've heard)

:spin:

QuoteHaha this is what I have heard from people, so I believe it is true.

Is it Cok-suh-kee (emphasis on the kee) or Cok-suk-ee (emphasis on the suk)? Please at least tell me it's the former

Quote from: corco on June 01, 2010, 04:29:55 PM

QuoteHaha this is what I have heard from people, so I believe it is true.

Is it Cok-suh-kee (emphasis on the kee) or Cok-suk-ee (emphasis on the suk)? Please at least tell me it's the former

I think that may be it, the Cok-suh-kee.

That reminds me of another Wyoming one

Washakie- Wash-uh-key. A good number of locals, despite not putting r's into any other words also pronounce it Wor-shuh-key

Quote from: algorerhythms on June 01, 2010, 03:30:55 PM
Latrobe, PA ("LAY-trobe", not "lah-TROBE")

Really?  I coulda sworn Arnold Palmer used to say luh-TROBE on his Pennzoil commercials...

Nobody's mentioned Haverhill yet! I was talking to somebody from Haverhill once and called it

"Have-er-hill"

and was very much ridiculed. It's "Hay-vrull"

nearby Billerica has a silent "e", reducing it to three syllables. 

and don't get me started on Worcester.  Though that's not a local problem as much as an English problem in general.

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 01, 2010, 01:24:04 PM

Quote from: Brandon on June 01, 2010, 08:23:01 AM

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 01, 2010, 03:07:33 AM
What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of?
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French

Um, Bourbonnais is pronounced BOTH ways here in Illinois, but the French way is dominant.

Well, all I know is when I visited relatives in Bradley one time, someone laughed at me when I pronounced it the French way and was told that the way I put it here was the correct way.

Interesting.  On the radio stations out of Kankakee, it is always the French way.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 01, 2010, 05:50:11 PM
nearby Billerica has a silent "e", reducing it to three syllables.  

and don't get me started on Worcester.  Though that's not a local problem as much as an English problem in general.

I think I mentioned Worcester. Peabody is another one. Pee-buh-dee (say it fast to sound like a real Massachusettsian  :spin:)

Here are some more MA names...

Gloucester: glaw-ster
Methuen: meth-oo-en
Leominster: lem-en-ster
Needham: need-em
Somerville: summer-vil

Nacogdoches, TX: Often pronounced "knock-a-doch-es" instead of "Nac-a-doch-es".
San Angelo, TX: Some locals pronounce it "San Angla" instead of "San An-gel-o".
Eldorado, TX: "El-dor-ra-da" instead of "El-dor-a-do".
Rio Grande (River): alot of people wrongly call it the Rio Grande River, that makes no sense, I mean Big River River?? And us Texans say Rio Grand instead of Grandae

Quote from: corco on June 01, 2010, 01:34:05 PMMoscow- Mos-coe (not pronounced like the one in Russia- my Mom still pronounces it like the one in Russia after 13 years in Idaho and it drives me crazy every time)

Err, the Moscow in Russia (in English at least) is pronounced like the Idaho one ;). Moss-cow sounds like a type of cattle!

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PMGloucester: glaw-ster
...
Leominster: lem-en-ster

Like Worcester, Gloucester as 'glaw-ster' is the English pronunciation. Leominster in the UK is simply Lem-ster, no attempt at the 'i' either!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_in_English_with_counterintuitive_pronunciations - useful page

Quote from: Brandon on June 01, 2010, 08:23:01 AM

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 01, 2010, 03:07:33 AM
What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of?
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French

Um, Bourbonnais is pronounced BOTH ways here in Illinois, but the French way is dominant.

I've always heard it the French way, like bourbon-nay.

Other pronunciations I've heard:

El Dorado, AR: el dor-ray-doe
Milan, TN: My-lan
Lebanon, TN and KY: leb-a-nin
Biloxi, MS: ba-lux-ee (not ba-locks-ee--national media have a bad habit of saying the latter)
Yazoo City, MS: yaz-oo, not yah-zoo (again, national media)
Baton Rouge: Bat-in, not baton as in the thing a majorette twirls. I've also heard it pronounced with emphasis on both "bat" and "on".

What's the correct way of pronouncing Louisville in Kentucky? I've always pronounced it as Louie-ville, but my understanding that it's really like lou-a-vull. BTW, Louisville in Mississippi is the way it's spelled, Louis-ville.

Acorn, AR is pronounced "AY-KERN" not "AY-korn".

QuoteWhat's the correct way of pronouncing Louisville in Kentucky? I've always pronounced it as Louie-ville, but my understanding that it's really like lou-a-vull. BTW, Louisville in Mississippi is the way it's spelled, Louis-ville.

Most of my family is from southern Ohio (myself originally as well)- and I've always heard it pronounced "Loh uh vull"

- which on that note, Newark Ohio is pronounced "N'rk" (you can slightly hear the ewa, but that part is very short and de-emphasized)- although that may be changing over time- my grandfather who was born and raised there just said "Nrk" , but I've heard younger folks say the full Newark like in New Jersey

Quote from: golden eagle on June 01, 2010, 08:44:39 PM


What's the correct way of pronouncing Louisville in Kentucky? I've always pronounced it as Louie-ville, but my understanding that it's really like lou-a-vull. BTW, Louisville in Mississippi is the way it's spelled, Louis-ville.

I've heard that the pronunciation of Louisville, Ky. is based somewhat on the background of the person. People with a more southern background say Loo-ah-vul, but those with a more northern background say Louie-ville. Just about every other Louisville around the country I have heard of is pronounced Loo-is-ville.

Houston, DE is pronounced House-ton

Nevada, MO and Nevada County, AR are pronounced "na-VAY-duh."  Palestine, TX is pronounced "pal-uh-STEEN."  Miami, OK is pronounced "mi-AM-uh."

A few from California:

Milpitas - mill-PEE-tahs
Los Banos - loss BAH-nos
Manteca - man-TEE-kah
Ojai - O-high
San Joaquin - sahn huah-KEEN
San Rafael - sahn rah-FEL
Soquel - soh-KEL
Suisun City - soo-SOON CIH-tee
Tehachapi - teh-HATCH-ah-pee
Tulare - too-LAHR-ee
Ukiah - yoo-KAI-ah
Vallejo - va-LAY-ho
Yucaipa - yoo-KAI-pah

One I must add from California:
Lompoc-Lahm-poke, NOT Lahm-pahk. This is a big one with me because I was born there(actually Vandenberg AFB).

Quote from: shoptb1 on June 01, 2010, 11:01:23 AM

Quote from: Brandon on June 01, 2010, 10:55:10 AM
New Orleans can be pronounced a couple of acceptable ways.
1. New Or-leans (as in jeans)
2. Nuh Orlans
3. La Nouvelle-Orléans (as in French) :-)

4.  Nawlins :)

5. Nueva Orleans (or-lay-ons...for the Spanish crowd)  :cool:

Quote from: usends on June 01, 2010, 05:31:25 PM

Quote from: algorerhythms on June 01, 2010, 03:30:55 PM
Latrobe, PA ("LAY-trobe", not "lah-TROBE")

Really?  I coulda sworn Arnold Palmer used to say luh-TROBE on his Pennzoil commercials...

Depending on the other words in the sentence / phrase, I think I use both.

Quote from: allniter89 on June 01, 2010, 10:48:58 PM
Houston, DE is pronounced House-ton

Common pronunciation. Hints back to Houston Street in Manhattan, which is pronounced the same way.

Quote from: mapman on June 02, 2010, 02:33:21 AM
A few from California:

Milpitas - mill-PEE-tahs
Los Banos - loss BAH-nos
Manteca - man-TEE-kah
Ojai - O-high
San Joaquin - sahn huah-KEEN
San Rafael - sahn rah-FEL
Soquel - soh-KEL
Suisun City - soo-SOON CIH-tee
Tehachapi - teh-HATCH-ah-pee
Tulare - too-LAHR-ee
Ukiah - yoo-KAI-ah
Vallejo - va-LAY-ho
Yucaipa - yoo-KAI-pah

some of these are standard Spanish pronunciations.

I don't remember how Mokelumne or Cosumnes are pronounced, but they are not how I thought they would be.  Cosumnes is not standard Spanish, for instance.  I was visiting a friend in that area on Monday and he pronounced them sufficiently differently that it took me a second or two to figure out what he was referring to.

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 04:51:15 PM

Quote from: corco on June 01, 2010, 04:29:55 PM

QuoteHaha this is what I have heard from people, so I believe it is true.

Is it Cok-suh-kee (emphasis on the kee) or Cok-suk-ee (emphasis on the suk)? Please at least tell me it's the former

I think that may be it, the Cok-suh-kee.

I've mostly heard cook-SOCK-ee.

Then there's nearby Valatie, NY, pronounced va-LAY-shuh.

As a former Columbia County, New York resident, one of the most butchered 17th century Anglicized-Dutch towns is Claverack, pronounced, CLAW-vrik.

A few others are:

Albany, is ALL-bany (not "Al" as in a short form of Albert.)
Renssealer, is REN-slur or REN-sa-lur
Cairo, is CAY-row
Delhi, is DELL-high
Milan, MY-lan

Conversely, Clermont, is exactly what it is.  The "Clairemont" was the first steamboat in 1807.

Quote from: algorerhythms on June 01, 2010, 03:30:55 PMLatrobe, PA ("LAY-trobe", not "lah-TROBE")

It is pronounced either way.  The proper pronunciation is the latter because it is named for the architect of the US Capitol, Benjamin Henry Latrobe.

Quote from: usends on June 01, 2010, 05:31:25 PM

Quote from: algorerhythms on June 01, 2010, 03:30:55 PM
Latrobe, PA ("LAY-trobe", not "lah-TROBE")

Really?  I coulda sworn Arnold Palmer used to say luh-TROBE on his Pennzoil commercials...

That is how it was pronounced on old Rolling Rock commercials as well.

How is Amsterdam NY being pronounced ?

(The original sounds more like Om-ster-DOM )

Quote from: aswnl on June 02, 2010, 04:43:27 PM
How is Amsterdam NY being pronounced ?

(The original sounds more like Om-ster-DOM )

I'm guessing it's pronounced as if it rhymes with ham-which is how most of us in the US pronounce the one in the Netherlands too.

Newark, NJ - Nark
South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA - Sah Side
Ohio is prounounced Ahia in Pittsburgh

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 02, 2010, 08:56:44 PM

Quote from: aswnl on June 02, 2010, 04:43:27 PM
How is Amsterdam NY being pronounced ?

(The original sounds more like Om-ster-DOM )

I'm guessing it's pronounced as if it rhymes with ham-which is how most of us in the US pronounce the one in the Netherlands too.

That's right - both the first and last syllables are pronounced as rhyming with "ham" here in Amsterdam, NY.  That's also how I've always heard Amsterdam Avenue in NYC pronounced.

Quote from: njroadhorse on June 02, 2010, 08:59:59 PMSouth Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA - Sah Side
Ohio is prounounced Ahia in Pittsburgh

Pittsburghese: places (http://www.pittsburghese.com/glossary.ep.html?type=places)

Just a few from MN of the top of my head

New Prague: new PRAGG or new PRAYG, never new prahg
Mower County: Joe Mauer, not Lawn Mower
Wayzata: why-ZETT-uh
Lake Gervais: known to the locals (other than me) as Lake Jarvis

Quote from: golden eagle on June 01, 2010, 08:44:39 PM
Other pronunciations I've heard:

Lebanon, TN and KY: leb-a-nin

Interesting, I live about an hour from there and knew two women who were from there and they both pronounced it Leb-ah-non like the country in the Middle East.

I'm not saying that some locals here don't say it that way, just that I haven't run into one of them.

Here are mine:
Maury County, TN pronounced like Murray in Bill Murray not like Maury Povich.
The town of Santa Fe in Maury County is pronounced San-ta Fee not San-ta Fay like the city in New Mexico or the railroad.
Lafayette (both city and street names are pronounced) La-FAY-et not LA-fay-et (emphasis on the wrong syllable)

Louisville, OH is pronounced Lou-is-vil not like the city in Kentucky.
When I lived there, Cuyahoga Falls, OH was usually pronounced by the locals including myself as KI-yog-a Falls not KI-ah-ho-ga Falls.

And, who can forget Balmer, Merlin.  (Baltimore, MD)

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 02, 2010, 03:26:53 AM
One I must add from California:
Lompoc-Lahm-poke, NOT Lahm-pahk. This is a big one with me because I was born there(actually Vandenberg AFB).

Two more California ones:

Tujunga (Tuh-HUN-gah)
La Canada (Lah Can-YAH-dah) Flintridge (where I grew up).

A few from Arizona:

Prescott (PRES-kit, not Press-scott)
Ajo (AH-ho--Spanish for "garlic.")
Gila River, Gila Bend, Gila monster (HE-lah, not Gillah)
Not a town, but the famous cactus called "saguaro" is pronounced "suh-WAR-roh), not "sa-GWAR-oh", or even worse, "Cigaroh")

For fun, let's try some from Hawai'i: (Technically, there is supposed to be a punctuation mark called a "glottal stop"--it looks like a reversed apostophe--between the two I's. When you see this, the correct pronunciation is a slight hiccup or hesitation between the two vowels, much like the English "Uh-oh".)

Hilo (HEE-low, not "High-Low" like the "Price is Right" game)
Koke'e (Koh-KAY ay--again, though most tourist maps leave out the glottal stop ', technically, it's supposed to be there--so it not "Kokey" or "Kokay.")
Kaua'i (Kau-WAH ee--not "Cow-wee" and for God's sake, not "Cow-eye"!) :pan:
Napo'opo'o (Nah-poh oh-POH oh, not "Nah-pupu")

It has never ceased to amaze me the number of radio and TV reporters that can pronounce place names like "Phnom Penh" or "Riyadh" or "Khazakastan" without batting an eyelash, but they stumble over Hawaiian place names. (Come to think of it, when that big fire was burning above Los Angeles last summer, I must've heard five different mangled pronunciations of La Canada on the Weather Channel alone!)

How would you guys pronounce Winona and Lithonia? Most people in Mississippi tend to say Why-nona, while I tend to say Win-nona. For Lithonia, GA, I've mostly heard it pronounce LIE-thonia, though I tend to say it with the the short "i" sound (li-thonia).

Here's another one too: Boutte, LA. I've heard it pronounced "booty" and boo-TEE. A lady I work with who's from Louisiana said it's boo-TEE, though "booty" is not incorrect.

One more: Reading, PA--is it "reeding" or "redding"?

Quote from: golden eagle on June 03, 2010, 10:37:22 PM
One more: Reading, PA--is it "reeding" or "redding"?

Reading, PA == RED-ING

Quote from: golden eagle on June 03, 2010, 10:37:22 PM
How would you guys pronounce Winona and Lithonia? Most people in Mississippi tend to say Why-nona, while I tend to say Win-nona.

I always say Win-nona, which is how I think most people say the one in Minnesota(and Missouri too).

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PM
I think I mentioned Worcester.

You mentioned it, but you still don't have it right.  It's WUS-ta.  (I lived there for 21 years.)

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PMPeabody is another one. Pee-buh-dee (say it fast to sound like a real Massachusettsian  :spin:)

Nope.  PEE-bi-dee.

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PMGloucester: glaw-ster

GLOS-tah.

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PMLeominster: lem-en-ster

LEM-ins-tah.

Remember (excuse me, "remembah") that in Massachusetts the final "r" doesn't exist.

We have others, too:

Leicester:  LES-tah
Concord:  CON-kid
Pawtucket (RI):  pi-TUCK-it
Barnstable:  BAHN-sti-bul

Quote from: BigMatt on June 01, 2010, 07:10:39 PM
Rio Grande (River): alot of people wrongly call it the Rio Grande River, that makes no sense, I mean Big River River?? And us Texans say Rio Grand instead of Grandae

But if we're switching languages, wouldn't it be the Big River Rio?

I'm sure if we were to translate the Rio Grand it would end up as "Grand River", since we have about four and a half billion of them already.

Quote from: SidS1045 on June 08, 2010, 01:25:06 PM

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PM
I think I mentioned Worcester.

You mentioned it, but you still don't have it right.  It's WUS-ta.  (I lived there for 21 years.)

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PMPeabody is another one. Pee-buh-dee (say it fast to sound like a real Massachusettsian  :spin:)

Nope.  PEE-bi-dee.

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PMGloucester: glaw-ster

GLOS-tah.

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 01, 2010, 06:14:39 PMLeominster: lem-en-ster

LEM-ins-tah.

Remember (excuse me, "remembah") that in Massachusetts the final "r" doesn't exist.

We have others, too:

Leicester:  LES-tah
Concord:  CON-kid
Pawtucket (RI):  pi-TUCK-it
Barnstable:  BAHN-sti-bul

Really? Wow I was off :banghead:

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 08, 2010, 03:06:13 PM
Really? Wow I was off :banghead:

Don't beat yourself up too much.  No one ever believes it until they come here and hear it for themselves from the locals.

Another Massachusetts one I've noticed watching Boston TV news clips on Youtube is that Quincy sounds like it's pronounced "Quin-zee" instead of "Quin-see".

Quote from: SidS1045 on June 08, 2010, 04:06:41 PM

Quote from: PennDOTFan on June 08, 2010, 03:06:13 PM
Really? Wow I was off :banghead:

Don't beat yourself up too much.  No one ever believes it until they come here and hear it for themselves from the locals.

Yeah, those New England town names are tricky to pronounce. I am surprised on the Worcester one, since thats what I heard from my grandparents, who lived in the area for what, 50 years? But thanks for clearing it up for me. I know some people think Wellesley, MA is an odd name, but not too me, since thats where I usually go when I go visit my grandparents.

The fact is, I think, that a great number of these local pronunciations are actually INCORRECT pronunciations that came into popularity due to local accents and passed time. If you pronounce Prescott, AZ as "Press-kit", you are a dumbass...that is not a proper English pronunciation. That "local" pronunciation probably just came into existence as locals saying the name too fast.

Quote from: yanksfan6129 on June 08, 2010, 11:48:29 PM
The fact is, I think, that a great number of these local pronunciations are actually INCORRECT pronunciations that came into popularity due to local accents and passed time. If you pronounce Prescott, AZ as "Press-kit", you are a dumbass...that is not a proper English pronunciation. That "local" pronunciation probably just came into existence as locals saying the name too fast.

I see the point and I agree to a certain extent-but then again, who decides what the "correct" pronunciation of a place name is? Some local pronunciations are just based on local accents and actual mispronunciations but some, especially those named after people are actually the way those people pronounced their names. I admit the mispronunciations of foreign words especially can be annoying, but if that's how people pronounce the name of their hometown, who am I to tell them they are wrong? If I am visiting a place, my number 1 objective is to know that place better and pronunciations of place names, even if they are a bit strange and don't follow English pronunciation rules, are part of just knowing that area better.

If they're going to change the pronunciation, why aren't they changing the spelling too? Forcing someone to have to remember two separate forms of your placename, the spelling and the pronunciation, is pretty selfish.

Quote from: Scott5114 on June 09, 2010, 05:24:15 AM
If they're going to change the pronunciation, why aren't they changing the spelling too? Forcing someone to have to remember two separate forms of your placename, the spelling and the pronunciation, is pretty selfish.

The target audience isn't necessarily "out of towners," but the people who live and work in the nearby area; thus, while "Ver-Sayles" in Kentucky and "Ver-sighs" in France represent two very divergent pronunciations of the same-spelled locale, those living in both areas and around each town have grown accustomed to the way the placename is said over time.

How many people would see Houston Street in Manhattan and pronounce it correctly as "How-stun" instead of the seemingly-obvious "Hugh-ston"?  The fact that the New York road refers to a completely different person from the Texas city isn't readily apparent to most folks, but that differentiation is most important for those who encounter one or the other on a regular basis.

That street is actually named after a guy who spelled his last name "Houstoun". :pan:

Quote from: yanksfan6129 on June 08, 2010, 11:48:29 PM
The fact is, I think, that a great number of these local pronunciations are actually INCORRECT pronunciations that came into popularity due to local accents and passed time.

True, but...

Quote from: yanksfan6129 on June 08, 2010, 11:48:29 PM
If you pronounce Prescott, AZ as "Press-kit", you are a dumbass...that is not a proper English pronunciation. That "local" pronunciation probably just came into existence as locals saying the name too fast.

...really?  Somebody from Joisey claims to pronounce things "properly"?  Can you see the irony?  If you want to go to Arizona and come across as a clueless tourist, go ahead and say "Press-cott".   Personally, I prefer to pronounce things the way the locals do.

I think the only one that pronounces English correctly is the King of England.  Since none of us are him (as far as I know), all our town names are wrong!

Quote from: usends on June 09, 2010, 10:25:55 AM

Quote from: yanksfan6129 on June 08, 2010, 11:48:29 PM
The fact is, I think, that a great number of these local pronunciations are actually INCORRECT pronunciations that came into popularity due to local accents and passed time.

True, but...

Quote from: yanksfan6129 on June 08, 2010, 11:48:29 PM
If you pronounce Prescott, AZ as "Press-kit", you are a dumbass...that is not a proper English pronunciation. That "local" pronunciation probably just came into existence as locals saying the name too fast.

...really?  Somebody from Joisey claims to pronounce things "properly"?  Can you see the irony?  If you want to go to Arizona and come across as a clueless tourist, go ahead and say "Press-cott".   Personally, I prefer to pronounce things the way the locals do.

Nobody says Joisey.
And, for the record, I'm told that my voice/accent is a very typical, sort of midland, accent...the kind one hears from TV anchors.

As for pronouncing things the way the locals do, you missed the point. The point is, the "local" pronunciation could be incorrect English. As I said in my first post, the reason that particular pronunciation came into being may be because of local shorthand or something...that doesn't make the local shorthand right.

Some of these "local" pronunciations seem to pass, in my opinion...such as Boy-see instead of Boy-zee for Boise, ID. That one in particular seems to actual be the proper way based on the spelling. I admit, I did pronounce it Boy-zee because that's how I heard everyone else pronounce it. But in the spirit of saying words properly, I'll say Boy-see now.

With regards to Houston Street vs. Houston, TX...both of those pronunciations seem to be proper English because many words pronounce the "ou" differently. Those are local pronunciations that pass because they may be (in the case of the Houstons, they are) based off of proper nouns.

These have come up around the office here.

Charlotte, MI: pronounced "Sharr-lot" not "sharr-let"
Saline, MI: pronounced "sah-lean" with emphasis on the second syllable not the traditional "say-lean" as in salty
Milan, TN: another "my-len" instead of the more Italian "mill-on"
Novi, MI: pronounced "no-vie" not "no-vee"

Many Milwaukeeans refer to their city as "Muh-wah-key" instead of "Mill-wa-key"
It's also common for folks to smash "Fond du Lac" together and say "Fon-juh-lack".

QuoteSome of these "local" pronunciations seem to pass, in my opinion...such as Boy-see instead of Boy-zee for Boise, ID. That one in particular seems to actual be the proper way based on the spelling. I admit, I did pronounce it Boy-zee because that's how I heard everyone else pronounce it. But in the spirit of saying words properly, I'll say Boy-see now.

Actually, if you want to be technical, Boise is derived from the french Les Bois (the Woods!, since Boise had an abnormal amount of trees in an otherwise very tree-less and deserty area), so the correct pronunciation is probably Bwah-zay

Quote from: corco on June 09, 2010, 07:32:30 PM

QuoteSome of these "local" pronunciations seem to pass, in my opinion...such as Boy-see instead of Boy-zee for Boise, ID. That one in particular seems to actual be the proper way based on the spelling. I admit, I did pronounce it Boy-zee because that's how I heard everyone else pronounce it. But in the spirit of saying words properly, I'll say Boy-see now.

Actually, if you want to be technical, Boise is derived from the french Les Bois (the Woods!, since Boise had an abnormal amount of trees in an otherwise very tree-less and deserty area), so the correct pronunciation is probably Bwah-zay

Ooh I like French.

Speaking of Houston, Houston County, GA is also pronounced "house-ton".

As is Houston county, Alabama.....  :ded:here's nuther Mo Beal instead of Mo bull. K...thats nuff BULL 4now. :clap:

I've always heard it as "Mo-beal".

Mo-beal - accent on first or second syllable?  I pronounce with first syllable just slightly more accented than second, while Alex distinctly puts the accent on the second.

(and that is why he has been banished to the ice fields of Delaware until further notice)

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 25, 2010, 04:21:54 PM
(and that is why he has been banished to the ice fields of Delaware until further notice)

Delaware doesn't have enough room for ice fields. Most of it is occupied by Joe Biden's house. (It is impossible to clinch the state highway system without his permission, since DE 74 terminates in his coat closet!)

Quote from: Scott5114 on June 25, 2010, 09:51:10 PM

Delaware doesn't have enough room for ice fields. Most of it is occupied by Joe Biden's house. (It is impossible to clinch the state highway system without his permission, since DE 74 terminates in his coat closet!)

it's a narnia-like thing.  where do you think the ice fields are??

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 25, 2010, 04:21:54 PM
Mo-beal - accent on first or second syllable?  I pronounce with first syllable just slightly more accented than second, while Alex distinctly puts the accent on the second.

(and that is why he has been banished to the ice fields of Delaware until further notice)

I was comparing the pronounciation of Mobile, AL (MO-beal) to Mobile Oil co (mobull). Never heard anyone pronoounce the city different except maybe a slight difference in accent.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 25, 2010, 04:21:54 PM
Mo-beal - accent on first or second syllable?  I pronounce with first syllable just slightly more accented than second, while Alex distinctly puts the accent on the second.

(and that is why he has been banished to the ice fields of Delaware until further notice)

I've always put the emphasis on the "bile" part.

Quote from: allniter89 on June 25, 2010, 10:11:03 PM

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 25, 2010, 04:21:54 PM
Mo-beal - accent on first or second syllable?  I pronounce with first syllable just slightly more accented than second, while Alex distinctly puts the accent on the second.

(and that is why he has been banished to the ice fields of Delaware until further notice)

I was comparing the pronounciation of Mobile, AL (MO-beal) to Mobile Oil co (mobull). Never heard anyone pronoounce the city different except maybe a slight difference in accent.

Non sequitur IMHO, as one is spelled Mobile, and the oil company is Mobil.

Considering in Connecticut that we have a massive glottal stop (whenever we say anything with a letter -t in the middle of a word our tongues roll back and therefore we don't signify what we're saying) we say many places weird such as our state name.   

I've got two...
Baltimore, MD: Ball-da-more
Glen Burnie, MD: Glen Burning

Quote from: kj3400 on June 28, 2010, 11:30:31 PM
I've got two...
Baltimore, MD: Ball-da-more

Not quite, it's Bal-mer.   :D

Calais, ME--Pronounced KAL-lis, not kuh-LAY

A few from FL:

Ocala = Oh-CAL-uh
Ocoee = Oh-COE-ee
Bunnell = BUH-nell
Tavares = Ta-VAIR-ees (main one I hear)
Dunnellon = DUH-nellon
Immokalee = Ih-MOCK-lee
Pahokee = Pah-HO-kee
Sebring = Sea-bring
Ebro = Eh-bro
Hobe (Sound) = Ho-bay
Oviedo = Oh-VEE-do (original Spanish pronunciation was Oh-vee-aydo)
Chuluota = Choo-li-OTA
Steinhatchee = STEEN-hatchee
Wakulla = Wah-CUL-la
Apopka = Uh-POP-ka
Eustis = YOU-stis
Weirsdale = Wears-dale

A few more from Minnesota:

-Mahtomedi (MAH-toe-mee-die)

-Shakopee (SHAW-ka-pee, not sha-KO-pee or shake-a-pee (/laugh))

-Bemidji (bem-ID-jee)

-Edina (ee-DIE-na)

-Medina (mah-DIE-na)

One more off the top of my head from elsewhere:

Calais, ME = "callous", not "cal-ayy" like in France (edit: didn't see the post two above mine. Sorry  :no:)

Quote from: mefailenglish on June 29, 2010, 07:31:28 AM

Quote from: kj3400 on June 28, 2010, 11:30:31 PM
I've got two...
Baltimore, MD: Ball-da-more

Not quite, it's Bal-mer.   :D

Well that's usually how I pronounce it. :rolleyes:

Long Islander here, try these on for size:

- Islip (Eye-slip)
- Hauppauge (Hoppog)
- Copiague (Coh-paig) --- yes the spelling is right
- Wyandanch (Whine-dantch)
- Commack (Coh-mack)
- Yaphank (Yapaink)
- Coram (Core-um)

Yesterday, there was a Columbus, Ohio, TV reporter on the Weather Channel, interviewing people who'd gotten stuck by the weather on US 33 (which he called "US 33") in Union County.  One person, we were told, was on her way from Columbus to "Bellafountain."  Can I assume he meant Bellefontaine, and is that pronunciation authentic?

Incidentally, every time Senator Sherrod Brown's on TV, I learn something about Ohio place names, because he always starts talking about "when I talk to people in Cleveland, or Zanesville or Gallipolis," except it's not the same places every time.  (Gallipolis is not, as I would have expected, Gall-IH-puh-lis, but Gall-ih-puh-LEESE.)

We really need an authoritative reference source - in French you can get "Dictionaries of Proper Names" from more than one publisher - for US place names.  It anyone knows of one, please say so because I'd be interested.  I've heard the Weather Channel has a reference for its on-air people, but I don't suppose that's available to the public, and I wouldn't necessarily rely on the Weather Channel for language questions.

Quote from: akotchi on June 01, 2010, 12:55:49 PM

Quote from: shoptb1 on June 01, 2010, 09:21:08 AM
Other fun ones in Ohio:

Bellefountaine, OH (BELL-FOUNTAIN instead of BELL-UH-FAWN-TAYNE)
Russia, OH (ROO-SEA instead of RUSH-UH)
Versailles, OH (VER-SAILS instead of VAIR-SY)
Lancaster, OH (LANK-UH-STER instead of LAN-CAST-ER)

Lancaster, PA (my hometown) is pronounced the same way.  Grates at me when I hear Lan-CAST-er.

Newark, DE (New-ark) is pronounced differently from its namesake in New Jersey ("Newerk," sometimes one syllable).

Buena, NJ is pronounced "Byoo-na," not like its Florida counterpart.

Dubois, PA is pronounced like "Du-boys."

Another South Jersey place

Fork-ED River... not Forked River

IIRC, Bogota NJ is pronounced "Ba-GO-ta," not like in Colombia.

Quote from: jwolfer on February 03, 2011, 10:42:57 AM

Quote from: akotchi on June 01, 2010, 12:55:49 PM

Quote from: shoptb1 on June 01, 2010, 09:21:08 AM
Other fun ones in Ohio:

Bellefountaine, OH (BELL-FOUNTAIN instead of BELL-UH-FAWN-TAYNE)
Russia, OH (ROO-SEA instead of RUSH-UH)
Versailles, OH (VER-SAILS instead of VAIR-SY)
Lancaster, OH (LANK-UH-STER instead of LAN-CAST-ER)

Lancaster, PA (my hometown) is pronounced the same way.  Grates at me when I hear Lan-CAST-er.

Newark, DE (New-ark) is pronounced differently from its namesake in New Jersey ("Newerk," sometimes one syllable).

Buena, NJ is pronounced "Byoo-na," not like its Florida counterpart.

Dubois, PA is pronounced like "Du-boys."

Another South Jersey place

Fork-ED River... not Forked River

IIRC, Bogota NJ is pronounced "Ba-GO-ta," not like in Colombia.

I grew up in New Jersey and knew all those mid-Atlantic ones.
And - thanks perhaps to Lancaster Avenue (US 30) being a main street in the western suburbs - Philadelphians know how to pronounce Lancaster like proper Pennsylvanians and a mispronunciation is one way to recognize an out-of-stater.

I noticed Kearney, Nebraska is pronounced like "car-ney" and Mobile, Alabama is pronounced like "mo-beel".

How do you pronounce Boise, Idaho? Like "boys" or "boy-see"?

Quote from: Chris on February 03, 2011, 03:49:19 PM
I noticed Kearney, Nebraska is pronounced like "car-ney" and Mobile, Alabama is pronounced like "mo-beel".

How do you pronounce Boise, Idaho? Like "boys" or "boy-see"?

Quote from: Chris on February 03, 2011, 03:49:19 PM
I noticed Kearney, Nebraska is pronounced like "car-ney" and Mobile, Alabama is pronounced like "mo-beel".

How do you pronounce Boise, Idaho? Like "boys" or "boy-see"?

BOY-zee.  Stress on the first syllable.  I'm actually never sure where to stress Mobile.  It's worse than Dutch.  ;-)

Quote from: Michael in Philly on February 03, 2011, 04:16:27 PM

Quote from: Chris on February 03, 2011, 03:49:19 PM
I noticed Kearney, Nebraska is pronounced like "car-ney" and Mobile, Alabama is pronounced like "mo-beel".

How do you pronounce Boise, Idaho? Like "boys" or "boy-see"?

Quote from: Chris on February 03, 2011, 03:49:19 PM
I noticed Kearney, Nebraska is pronounced like "car-ney" and Mobile, Alabama is pronounced like "mo-beel".

How do you pronounce Boise, Idaho? Like "boys" or "boy-see"?

BOY-zee.  Stress on the first syllable.  I'm actually never sure where to stress Mobile.  It's worse than Dutch.  ;-)

Local Idahoans, or so I've heard, actually pronounce it Boy-see, not Boy-zee.

Quote from: corco on June 09, 2010, 07:32:30 PM

QuoteSome of these "local" pronunciations seem to pass, in my opinion...such as Boy-see instead of Boy-zee for Boise, ID. That one in particular seems to actual be the proper way based on the spelling. I admit, I did pronounce it Boy-zee because that's how I heard everyone else pronounce it. But in the spirit of saying words properly, I'll say Boy-see now.

Actually, if you want to be technical, Boise is derived from the french Les Bois (the Woods!, since Boise had an abnormal amount of trees in an otherwise very tree-less and deserty area), so the correct pronunciation is probably Bwah-zay

The pronunciation is right on, but the origin of the word might as well be "Boisé", which, when used as a noun, means "woodland".

Some more French pronunciations. (English being my second language, it might be a bit inaccurate, but at least it should be kind of close.)

Bellefountaine: Bell-uh-fuh-ten
Dubois: dü-bwah (the ü is a kind of 'u' I cannot find an equivalence for in English. Kind of like the middle of the transition in "eww".)
Versailles: Vehrr-sigh
Charlotte: Sharr-lot
Milan: Me-luh
Baton Rouge: Bah-tuh-rooj
Lafayette: La-fah-yet
Des Moines: Deh-mwan

Closer to me:
The French pronunciation for Québec is "Kay-bek". In English it could be that or "Kuh-bek". Hearing "Kwuh-bek" makes me cringe for some reason.
Montréal can be pronounced the English way "Mon-tree-al" or "Mon-tray-al", but if you want to sound French, it would be "Mon-rray-al", with the 'n' not pronounced all the way. Note the 't' is silent. I've heard too many English speakers mangle the name trying to pronounce it à la Française... "Mon-Trrrrrrray-aaahl"

Of course, we have countless English names that got a new Frenchy pronunciation over the years as well...

Faneuil Hall in Boston is apparently pronounced FAN-ILL hall. My whole life I've always pronounced it FAN-U-ELL

Quote from: yanksfan6129 on February 03, 2011, 04:29:31 PM

Quote from: Michael in Philly on February 03, 2011, 04:16:27 PM

Quote from: Chris on February 03, 2011, 03:49:19 PM
I noticed Kearney, Nebraska is pronounced like "car-ney" and Mobile, Alabama is pronounced like "mo-beel".

How do you pronounce Boise, Idaho? Like "boys" or "boy-see"?

BOY-zee.  Stress on the first syllable.  I'm actually never sure where to stress Mobile.  It's worse than Dutch.  ;-)

Local Idahoans, or so I've heard, actually pronounce it Boy-see, not Boy-zee.

Meanwhile, Boise City, OK is indeed pronounced "boys city".

QuoteBOY-zee.  Stress on the first syllable.  I'm actually never sure where to stress Mobile.  It's worse than Dutch.  

14 years of being associated with Boise and 6 years of living in Boise says that the stress is on the second syllable.

You say Boy-C, not BOY-zee. That's the most immediate cue to an Idahoan that you're not from around there (especially since roughly everybody not from the area calls it boy-zee).

Quote from: corco on February 03, 2011, 11:00:25 PM

QuoteBOY-zee.  Stress on the first syllable.  I'm actually never sure where to stress Mobile.  It's worse than Dutch. 

14 years of being associated with Boise and 6 years of living in Boise says that the stress is on the second syllable.

You say Boy-C, not BOY-zee. That's the most immediate cue to an Idahoan that you're not from around there (especially since roughly everybody not from the area calls it boy-zee).

You learn something every day....

Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on February 03, 2011, 07:00:06 PM

Quote from: corco on June 09, 2010, 07:32:30 PM

QuoteSome of these "local" pronunciations seem to pass, in my opinion...such as Boy-see instead of Boy-zee for Boise, ID. That one in particular seems to actual be the proper way based on the spelling. I admit, I did pronounce it Boy-zee because that's how I heard everyone else pronounce it. But in the spirit of saying words properly, I'll say Boy-see now.

Actually, if you want to be technical, Boise is derived from the french Les Bois (the Woods!, since Boise had an abnormal amount of trees in an otherwise very tree-less and deserty area), so the correct pronunciation is probably Bwah-zay

The pronunciation is right on, but the origin of the word might as well be "Boisé", which, when used as a noun, means "woodland".

Some more French pronunciations. (English being my second language, it might be a bit inaccurate, but at least it should be kind of close.)

Bellefountaine: Bell-uh-fuh-ten
Dubois: dü-bwah (the ü is a kind of 'u' I cannot find an equivalence for in English. Kind of like the middle of the transition in "eww".)
Versailles: Vehrr-sigh
Charlotte: Sharr-lot
Milan: Me-luh
Baton Rouge: Bah-tuh-rooj
Lafayette: La-fah-yet
Des Moines: Deh-mwan

Closer to me:
The French pronunciation for Québec is "Kay-bek". In English it could be that or "Kuh-bek". Hearing "Kwuh-bek" makes me cringe for some reason.
Montréal can be pronounced the English way "Mon-tree-al" or "Mon-tray-al", but if you want to sound French, it would be "Mon-rray-al", with the 'n' not pronounced all the way. Note the 't' is silent. I've heard too many English speakers mangle the name trying to pronounce it à la Française... "Mon-Trrrrrrray-aaahl"

Of course, we have countless English names that got a new Frenchy pronunciation over the years as well...

I think English Canadians say Kuh-beck and Mun-tree-all; Americans say Kwuh-beck and Mon-tre-all. 

Quant à moi, j'ai étudié le français, j'aime rester au courant et je passe donc beaucoup de temps sur Internet en français, je voyage parfois à Montréal acheter des livres, et je sais donc bien prononcer Montréal et Québec à la française (ou à la québécoise).  Mais j'hésiterais d'essayer à imiter un "accent québécois" (si UN accent québécois existe...) : j'ai appris le français "international" et je vise une prononciation parisienne ou bruxelloise, à laquelle j'arrive sans doute avec un accent américain.

Apologies to everyone else for a bit of French for our friend from Quebec.

Quote from: RJ145 on February 03, 2011, 10:28:20 PM
Faneuil Hall in Boston is apparently pronounced FAN-ILL hall. My whole life I've always pronounced it FAN-U-ELL

kinda halfway between the two.  two syllables: FAN-YULL. 

Or Fa-nuhy.

Hey Michael.

Dans mon cas, c'est l'inverse : j'habite dans une région où il y a très, très peu d'anglophones (malgré la proximité de l'Ontario et de l'état de New York), et j'ai essentiellement appris l'anglais moi-même. (Ce qu'on apprend à l'école est loin d'être suffisant...).

In my case it's the opposite: I live in an area almost devoid of native English speakers (despite being close to Ontario and New York State), and I learned most of my English by myself. (What they teach us in schools is far from enough...).

yeah, the L sometimes gets dropped when suffixed with "Hall".  It gets replaced by a mild pause.  FAN-YUH HALL.  I tend to pronounce it "FAN-YULL HALL" but my Boston accent isn't all that pronounced.  (I lived in Boston from age 5 to 18, coming over with a native knowledge of Hungarian and no knowledge of English at all.  I think the Hungarian accent and the Boston accent kinda ended up canceling each other out.)

I just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents:

Lafayette, IN -usually pronounced by locals as la-fee-ett, not la-fay-ett

Lousiville, KY - Loo-uh-vul is how most folks say it, although the middle syllable is often said quickly enough that it disappears into Loo-vul

Melbourne, FL - most locals pronounce it Mel-bern, most NYers and snowbirds say Mel-born

Pinellas County has always bugged me. The proper pronounciation would be "pee-nay-ahs", but it's actually pronounced Pie-nell-as

As for "La Canada", it's pronounced "La Can-ya-da" because that 'n' is actually an 'ñ'. "La Cañada" is the actual spelling (as per the city website). It's a completely different letter, but most people replace it with an 'n' because it's easier to type and often isn't signed. In fact, the only time I've seen an 'ñ' on a BGS is in Denver for Peña Blvd, the road to the airport.

Quote from: realjd on February 05, 2011, 09:52:17 AMAs for "La Canada", it's pronounced "La Can-ya-da" because that 'n' is actually an 'ñ'. "La Cañada" is the actual spelling (as per the city website). It's a completely different letter, but most people replace it with an 'n' because it's easier to type and often isn't signed. In fact, the only time I've seen an 'ñ' on a BGS is in Denver for Peña Blvd, the road to the airport.

Ã' and ñ are often signed in New Mexico, where the letter appears in quite a few placenames (Española, for example).  However, the tilde is nonstandard and is not formed in a consistent way from sign to sign.  In particular, I have never known New Mexico to form the tilde the same way it is formed in natively Spanish-speaking jurisdictions like Mexico and peninsular Spain--generally as a straight rather than curved stroke over the letter.  This is how it is often written by native Spanish speakers as well.

The Roadgeek alphabet series use curved-stroke tildes.

Both French and Spanish orthography offer the option of omitting tildes and other diacritics for words and phrases which appear in all-uppercase.  Given this, La Cañada, LA CAÃ'ADA, and LA CANADA are all correct.  This is why I tend to look at the usage of all-uppercase before I conclude that a display has been fabricated by someone with no knowledge of or interest in getting a foreign language right.

there are some button copy signs down here in San Diego that have the tilde for Rancho Peñasquitos.  The tilde is cut out from some other button copy glyph and it is adequate enough but certainly not completely professional.

I do believe the newer retroreflective replacement signs also have the tilde, but since I barely pay attention to those, I do not know how well they are done.

Quote from: Michael in Philly on February 03, 2011, 09:49:00 AM
Yesterday, there was a Columbus, Ohio, TV reporter on the Weather Channel, interviewing people who'd gotten stuck by the weather on US 33 (which he called "US 33") in Union County.  One person, we were told, was on her way from Columbus to "Bellafountain."  Can I assume he meant Bellefontaine, and is that pronunciation authentic?

Incidentally, every time Senator Sherrod Brown's on TV, I learn something about Ohio place names, because he always starts talking about "when I talk to people in Cleveland, or Zanesville or Gallipolis," except it's not the same places every time.  (Gallipolis is not, as I would have expected, Gall-IH-puh-lis, but Gall-ih-puh-LEESE.)

Right on both.  Bellefontaine is Bell-fountain and Gallipolis is Gall-uh-po-LISS (or LEASE, depending on who you talk to.)

Anyone else see this?

Quote from: J N Winkler on February 05, 2011, 10:48:34 AMBoth French and Spanish orthography offer the option of omitting tildes and other diacritics for words and phrases which appear in all-uppercase.

I think they removed that option in French since modern typesetting tools no longer have limitations in putting diacritics on capitals.

Quote from: realjd on February 05, 2011, 09:52:17 AM
I just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents:


As for "La Canada", it's pronounced "La Can-ya-da" because that 'n' is actually an 'ñ'. "La Cañada" is the actual spelling (as per the city website). It's a completely different letter, but most people replace it with an 'n' because it's easier to type and often isn't signed. In fact, the only time I've seen an 'ñ' on a BGS is in Denver for Peña Blvd, the road to the airport.

I grew up in La Canada, or technically, the name of the community is "La Canada Flintridge." Actually, the big signs on I-210 (such as at the offramps to Angeles Crest Highway or Foothill Boulevard) do place the tilde over the "n" in "Canada."

Alot of thse are either near me or family:
Matteson IL - pronounced like Madison WI (south suburb of Chicago)
Oconomowoc, WI - O-con - O - mo - walk (WI 16 at WI 67)
Sauganash IL - Saw - ga - nash (neighborhood on the North side of Chicago)
Lake Koshkonong WI - Lake Kosh - co - non (just north of Janesville)
Wyocena WI - Why - see - na (WI 22 north of WI 16)
Winneconne WI - Win - a - con - ee (WI 116 west of US 45)
Leicester, England - Les - ter or Les - tah depending on where in England you come from.
Schnectady NY - Ski - neck - ta - dee (I-90 at I-88)
Houston St in New York City is pronounced House - ton not like the Texas city.
Markesan WI - Mark - i - zaan (WI 44 north of WI 73)
Waupun WI - Wa - pon (WI 49 and WI 26)

There is a road in Albemarle County, Virginia, just north of Charlottesville, named Rio Road. Local residents pronounce it with a long "I" sound: RYE-o, like rye bread with an "o" on the end. Many theories abound for the rationale but nobody really knows why it's that way. It just is.

The name of the town of Buena Vista, Virginia, is pronounced "byoo-na vista," similar to what someone else noted elsewhere.

People from Roanoke often pronounce their city's name sort of like "RAH-noke," although I don't think it's something they do consciously in an attempt to be different or perverse.

When I lived in North Carolina I noted how you could always tell the people who moved down from up north because they mispronounced the name of the state capital. The "a" in "Raleigh" is pronounced like "ah": "RAH-lee." People from New York almost always pronounce it as "aw," resulting in "RAW-lee." In this case I've always thought the North Carolina pronunciation is normal and the New York pronunciation is the oddity.

The name of Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello, is pronounced like the musical instrument ("chello"), but there is a town in upstate New York whose name is spelled the same way but is pronounced like "sello." Since the word is Italian, I presume that Jefferson's pronunciation is correct and that the New York pronunciation developed because someone didn't know the origin of the word.

Quote from: 1995hoo on July 05, 2011, 10:43:15 AM
there is a town in upstate New York whose name is spelled the same way but is pronounced like "sello."

The one in Minnesota is also pronounced like this.

Alachua, Florida exists in Alachua county; both the city and county names are spelled the same. But the county name is pronounced "ah-lat-chew-ah" (soft A), but the city name is pronounced "ah-lat-chew-A" (hard A) by the locals to distinguish the two.

When traveling, I either politely ask, or wait until I've heard I few locals say it first. As if the camera isn't enough of a giveaway...

Quote from: 1995hoo on July 05, 2011, 10:43:15 AM
There is a road in Albemarle County, Virginia, just north of Charlottesville, named Rio Road. Local residents pronounce it with a long "I" sound: RYE-o, like rye bread with an "o" on the end. Many theories abound for the rationale but nobody really knows why it's that way. It just is.

Rio Grande, Ohio is pronounced the same way.  No idea as to why here, either.

Quote
The name of the town of Buena Vista, Virginia, is pronounced "byoo-na vista," similar to what someone else noted elsewhere.

And not far from there is Botetourt County, VA with its backwoods BOT-uh-tott pronunciation.  Sometimes I wonder if things in that part of VA aren't pronounced goofy just so people get lost and stay the hell out :)

Seriously...no one mentioned Kissimmee?

It's pronounced either "Ka-sem-ee" or "Kuh-sem-ee".

On pain of death, do NOT pronounce it "Kiss-im-mee" or the locals will have to show the police where they buried your body! :ded:
They REALLY resent it! :-D

Quote from: 6a on July 06, 2011, 04:06:16 PM

Quote from: 1995hoo on July 05, 2011, 10:43:15 AM
There is a road in Albemarle County, Virginia, just north of Charlottesville, named Rio Road. Local residents pronounce it with a long "I" sound: RYE-o, like rye bread with an "o" on the end. Many theories abound for the rationale but nobody really knows why it's that way. It just is.

Rio Grande, Ohio is pronounced the same way.  No idea as to why here, either.

Quote
The name of the town of Buena Vista, Virginia, is pronounced "byoo-na vista," similar to what someone else noted elsewhere.

And not far from there is Botetourt County, VA with its backwoods BOT-uh-tott pronunciation.  Sometimes I wonder if things in that part of VA aren't pronounced goofy just so people get lost and stay the hell out :)

It's not just that part of Virginia. Tazewell County is pronounced "TAZ-well," with "taz" sounding like the first three letters of "Tasmania" (short "a" sound).

During my brother's first year of college at William & Mary he lived in a dorm named Taliaferro. But the name was pronounced like "Tolliver" (with the "o" having an "ah" sound, like the last name of former NFL/CFL quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver).

Here are some from Utah:

Tremonton: TREE-mon-ton.
Layton: LAY-n (with a glottal stop where the dash is - pronouncing the "t" just sounds weird here).
Tooele: Too-ILL-uh.
Weber: WEE-burr.
Hooper: HOOH-purr (first vowel rhymes with that of "book," like in Nebraska).
Paragonah: Pear-a-GOO-nuh.
Duchesne: Do-SHANE (you'd be surprised how many will go around saying "Do-chesney).
Hurricane: HER-ih-kehn.
Mantua: MAN-oo-ey.
Alta: the first "a" is as in "apple," not "all."
Salina: Suh-LIE-nuh.


As for Boise, even Salt Lakers will pronounce it "Boy-zee." That's how far you have to go to lose the "Boy-cee" pronunciation.

More Wisco.....

Mondovi: (mon-doh-vee)

Eau Claire: (oh-claire)(like the Irish last name O'Claire)

Waunakee: (wan-uh-key)(like 'want a key' with out the 't' in want)

Menomonie: (men-nom-nee) or (mon-nom-nee)(the last 'o' is mostly silent)

Prescott: (press-cot)

Alma: (el-ma)

In MN

Rochester: (rod-chester)

Quote from: on_wisconsin on July 08, 2011, 05:10:53 AM

Eau Claire: (oh-claire)(like the Irish last name O'Claire)

this sounds close enough to the original French to not be a particular unusual pronounciation.  "eau" as "oh" is fairly standard American bastardization of French.

Quote from: on_wisconsin on July 08, 2011, 05:10:53 AM
In MN

Rochester: (rod-chester)

As a lifelong MN resident, this one is new to me. I always thought it was Raw-Chester.

For the Alma entry, is it also pronounced that way in Alma Center or just in Alma?

The one in WI is very simply AL-mah. (Alma)

And please what ever you do in Joliet, don't call it Ju-LEE-it or Ja-LEE-it. It is Joe-LEE-it.  There had been an ordinance, don't know if it still on the books, that you could spend the night in jail for mispronouncing the city name.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on July 08, 2011, 10:17:57 AM
"eau" as "oh" is fairly standard American bastardization of French.

...not our fault they can't spell their own language properly. They practically invented the silent letter.

Quote from: formulanone on July 08, 2011, 02:29:05 PM

...not our fault they can't spell their own language properly. They practically invented the silent letter.

says the speaker of the language in which "Woolfardisworthy" is a two-syllable word.  (it's pronounced "woolsy")

also the language in which "Enroughty" is pronounced "Darby", which is a real "what the deuce" (pronounced "what the fuck").

^ I'm from the south, we don't keep letters silent, we slur 'em together.

Quote from: formulanone on July 08, 2011, 02:29:05 PM

Quote from: agentsteel53 on July 08, 2011, 10:17:57 AM
"eau" as "oh" is fairly standard American bastardization of French.

...not our fault they can't spell their own language properly. They practically invented the silent letter.

At least French is fairly consistent, once you know the rules.  We're the ones that have eight different ways of pronouncing "ough."

Quote from: Michael in Philly on July 08, 2011, 05:04:31 PMAt least French is fairly consistent, once you know the rules.  We're the ones that have eight different ways of pronouncing "ough."

No. (Don't get me started.)

Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on July 08, 2011, 10:40:45 PM

Quote from: Michael in Philly on July 08, 2011, 05:04:31 PMAt least French is fairly consistent, once you know the rules.  We're the ones that have eight different ways of pronouncing "ough."

No. (Don't get me started.)

Shouldn't that be "neau"????   :D

Pompano Beach, Florida: I'm amazed how many people pronounce this as "pom-PAN-oh" or even "pomp-a-NOW". It's either "POM-pa-no" or "pomp-a-no" (no as in "know").

One of those things I took for granted (I had family there for years) until I worked that town for a year.

Quote from: hobsini2 on July 08, 2011, 12:50:55 PM
The one in WI is very simply AL-mah. (Alma)

Having spent the majority of my childhood growing up within 20'ish miles away from there, that pronunciation (al-ma) was a way to tell outsiders from locals (el-ma is correct).

A few for Iowa:

Buena Vista (county and university): BYOO-na VISS-ta

Charlotte: shar-LOT

Churdan: chur-DAN

Delhi: DEL-high

Guttenberg: GUT-in-burg

Lamoni: la-MOAN-eye

Madrid: MAD-rid

Maquoketa: ma-KO-keh-tah

Nevada: ne-VAY-duh

Quasqueton: KWAS-keh-tahn

Sigourney: SIG-er-nee

Tripoli: tri-POH-luh

Waukee: wah-KEY

Also, even though this is not the official pronunciation, some locals pronounce Urbandale "ur-BAHN-duh-lay" as a joke.

Some from Louisiana:

Thibodaux: TIB-i-do
Houma: HO-ma (though according to someone from that town, supposedly the real hardcore locals say HOO-ma)
Chalmette: Chal-MET
Meraux: MURE-o
Lafayette: La-fee-YET
Pointe Coupee: Point ku-PEE
Des Allemands: des ALL-munds
Metairie: MET-uh-ree (not met-AIR-ee or Metry)
Calcasieu: KAL-ka-shew
Plaquemines: PLAK-min or PLAK-uh-min (same for the city of Plaquemine, which is located nowhere near Plaquemines Parish - btw Plaquemines means "persimmon" in French)
Gardere: Gar-DEER (I have heard gar-dee-ray erroneously)
Iberville: The street in New Orleans is EYE-ber-vil, the parish is EH-ber-vil
Avoyelles: a-VOY-ils (I have also heard a-VOLLS from area residents)
Rapides: rap-EEDS
Ouachita: WASH-eh-taw
Catahoula: Kat-ah-HOO-la (so far as I know)
La Place: La-PLAHSS (acts like one word)
Tchefuncte: Chuh-FUNK-tuh
Tchoupitoulas: CHOP-eh-TOO-lus (don't count this as definitive, this is considered notoriously hard to pronounce)
Amite: I have heard a-MEET for the river, but AY-mit for the town in Louisiana and county in Mississippi
Lafourche: la-FOOSH
Bossier: BOH-zher
Natchitoches: NAK-uh-tish (though I keep the phonetic pronunciation handy so I can remember how to spell the name)
Lecompte: luh-KUMPT
Caddo: KAH-do
Boutte: I have always heard boo-TEE
Vacherie: VACH-uh-ree
Port Barre: Port BA-ree
Montegut: MON-teh-gyu
Vidalia: vi-DAIL-ya (might be different in other states so just thought I'd throw that in)
Brusly: BROO-lee
Maurepas: MAW-ruh-paw
Many: MAY-nee (IIRC)
My personal favorite - Iowa: I-o-WAY
And of course, New Orleans is Noo OR-lunz, or Noo OR-lyunz for the true yats

Worst mispronunciation I have come across: BAY-tone ROOG for BR

Quote from: huskeroadgeek on June 01, 2010, 10:34:31 PM

Quote from: golden eagle on June 01, 2010, 08:44:39 PM


What's the correct way of pronouncing Louisville in Kentucky? I've always pronounced it as Louie-ville, but my understanding that it's really like lou-a-vull. BTW, Louisville in Mississippi is the way it's spelled, Louis-ville.

I've heard that the pronunciation of Louisville, Ky. is based somewhat on the background of the person. People with a more southern background say Loo-ah-vul, but those with a more northern background say Louie-ville. Just about every other Louisville around the country I have heard of is pronounced Loo-is-ville.

In Louisiana I've developed a theory that if you drew a horizontal line through the state across Alexandria, most towns with "ville" at the end north of that line are pronounced "vull"
Ex: Rayville, Crowville, Farmerville, Bienville

However, down south most of those spelling are pronounced "ville"
Ex: Mandeville, Madisonville, Donaldsonville, Abbeville

Pineville is right in the center and I hear it both ways


and someone earlier mentioned Lafayette in Louisiana as opposed to other places.  I've always heard "Laffy-ETT"  like in Laffy Taffy

Indiana:

Pulaski = Puh-lass-KAI
Versailles = Vur-SAY-ulz
Osceola = OH-see-oh-luh
Kosciusko = KOZ-ee-aus-ko

Michigan:

Charlotte = Shar-LOT

Quote from: cabiness42 on August 02, 2011, 03:23:51 PM

Kosciusko = KOZ-ee-aus-ko

that doesn't sound to be all that far off the correct Polish pronunciation.

Quote from: Urban Prairie Schooner on July 16, 2011, 09:19:32 PM
Some from Louisiana:

Thibodaux: TIB-i-do
Houma: HO-ma (though according to someone from that town, supposedly the real hardcore locals say HOO-ma)
Chalmette: Chal-MET
Meraux: MURE-o
Lafayette: La-fee-YET
Pointe Coupee: Point ku-PEE
Des Allemands: des ALL-munds
Metairie: MET-uh-ree (not met-AIR-ee or Metry)
Calcasieu: KAL-ka-shew
Plaquemines: PLAK-min or PLAK-uh-min (same for the city of Plaquemine, which is located nowhere near Plaquemines Parish - btw Plaquemines means "persimmon" in French)
Gardere: Gar-DEER (I have heard gar-dee-ray erroneously)
Iberville: The street in New Orleans is EYE-ber-vil, the parish is EH-ber-vil
Avoyelles: a-VOY-ils (I have also heard a-VOLLS from area residents)
Rapides: rap-EEDS
Ouachita: WASH-eh-taw
Catahoula: Kat-ah-HOO-la (so far as I know)
La Place: La-PLAHSS (acts like one word)
Tchefuncte: Chuh-FUNK-tuh
Tchoupitoulas: CHOP-eh-TOO-lus (don't count this as definitive, this is considered notoriously hard to pronounce)
Amite: I have heard a-MEET for the river, but AY-mit for the town in Louisiana and county in Mississippi
Lafourche: la-FOOSH
Bossier: BOH-zher
Natchitoches: NAK-uh-tish (though I keep the phonetic pronunciation handy so I can remember how to spell the name)
Lecompte: luh-KUMPT
Caddo: KAH-do
Boutte: I have always heard boo-TEE
Vacherie: VACH-uh-ree
Port Barre: Port BA-ree
Montegut: MON-teh-gyu
Vidalia: vi-DAIL-ya (might be different in other states so just thought I'd throw that in)
Brusly: BROO-lee
Maurepas: MAW-ruh-paw
Many: MAY-nee (IIRC)
My personal favorite - Iowa: I-o-WAY
And of course, New Orleans is Noo OR-lunz, or Noo OR-lyunz for the true yats

Worst mispronunciation I have come across: BAY-tone ROOG for BR

The only one I disagree with is Lecompte. I worked about 10 miles from there and it sounds like Luh-COUNT...no P sound. I used to love quizzing my out of state friends in college on this stuff if we were on road trips.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 02, 2011, 03:28:42 PM

Quote from: cabiness42 on August 02, 2011, 03:23:51 PM

Kosciusko = KOZ-ee-aus-ko

that doesn't sound to be all that far off the correct Polish pronunciation.

Um, no.
I gave up my attempt to learn my ancestral language after a month, but I do know how to pronounce it.  It's approximately kawsh-CHUSH-koh.

Quite a few in Kentucky. For some places, longer town names are abbreviated by taking out the middle syllable, for example, Barbourville sounds like Bar-vull. 

As for French names, Monticello is mon-ti-sello, Versailles is ver-sales.

Apparently Loyall, KY is pronounced like "lull."

Hindman has a long I, so the Hind rhymes with mind.

There's a small town near me called Fisty, but it's pronounced "fiesty" and the neighboring town is Dwarf, so the fire department is the Fisty-Dwarf Volunteer Fire Department. It's just fun to say.  :thumbsup:

I'm sure there's many more in Kentucky too.

Quote from: mgk920 on June 01, 2010, 11:16:53 AM
Wisconsin:

-What is the EASIST and FASTEST way to tell the out-of-staters from the locals?  Ask them to pronounce 'Shawano' (a city and county in the northeastern part of the state).  It is 'SHAW-no', *NOT* 'sha-WA-no'!

-Also, MANY national network sports guys get Green Bay wrong.  It is 'green-bay' (equal light accent emphasis on each word), *NOT* 'GREEN-bay'.

Others:
-Berlin and New Berlin - 'BER-lin' (yep, the WWI thing in those two places, too);
-Menasha - 'muh-NASH-uh' (*NOT* 'mi-NaSH-uh' - long 'A', not a short 'a', in the middle syllable);
-Beloit - same way as in Detroit (city in Michigan), *NOT* the French way;
-Ripon (birthplace of the GOP!  :D ) - 'RIP-in' (*NOT* 'ri-PON', as in the city in California);
-Wausau - WA-SAW (equal strong accent on both syllables which rhyme with each other, *NO* 'r' sounds).
-Racine - 'ruh-SCENE', *NOT* 'RAY-scene'.

Mike

here is the right, and wrong way to pronounce some of these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcQCtFlENA

The city of Staunton, VA is pronounced "STAN-ton". The U is silent.

My favorite (and one I looked through 7 pages without finding) comes from southern Gratiot (GRAH-sh*t) County in Mid-Michigan (NOT Central MI):

Pompeii. Not like the ancient Roman city, but POMP-ee-eye.

I don't know if my blood pressure can sift through 7 pages of this thread to address a couple of Louisiana things.

New Orleans is pronounced "New Or-linz" carefully blending the w before the Or as if the W was in the orleans part.
HOWEVER... if you're talking about the parish (which has the same boundaries as the city) you say Orleans Parish. (rhyming with jeans).  The ONLY time you pronounce Orleans like jeans is when you see it without the New in front of it. 
or-LEANS Parish... or-LEANS parish School Board... or-LEANS Parish Prison...

But, New OR-Linz Police Department... New OR-Linz Saints... New OR-Linz City Council. 

Hardcore locals with the Y'at dialect (See wikipedia) might pronounce it New Wallinz.  NEVER should you say N'awlins.  No locals say anything remotely like that.  It just means tourists looking stupid trying to be cool.  I should stress that the "New" in New Orleans is always distinguishable and heard. 

-------------

Lafayette, LA is pronounced Laugh-ee-yet.    Laugh as in hahahaha, not Loff like waffle. 

When visiting Washington in 2006, learned that Camas is pronounced KAM'-uhs

A bunch of pronunciations for place names in Washington are listed at http://www.ap.org/washington/pron.html

QuoteWhen visiting Washington in 2006, learned that Camas is pronounced KAM'-uhs

Wait, how do normal people pronounce it?

Quote from: lamsalfl on October 30, 2011, 11:43:30 PM
I don't know if my blood pressure can sift through 7 pages of this thread to address a couple of Louisiana things.

New Orleans is pronounced "New Or-linz" carefully blending the w before the Or as if the W was in the orleans part.
HOWEVER... if you're talking about the parish (which has the same boundaries as the city) you say Orleans Parish. (rhyming with jeans).  The ONLY time you pronounce Orleans like jeans is when you see it without the New in front of it. 
or-LEANS Parish... or-LEANS parish School Board... or-LEANS Parish Prison...

But, New OR-Linz Police Department... New OR-Linz Saints... New OR-Linz City Council.

Funny, I went there back in summer 2010 for a national church youth gathering. When the mayor came to speak to all 25,000 of us, he always pronounced "New Orleans" with 4 syllables. (New Or-le-ans)

yeah old people tend to do that

The local pronounciation for Toronto actually has no t's = Churono

There is a Beaufort in both North Carolina and South Carolina, pronounced differently.

Also, anything ending with "cester": Worcester, Gloucester (both exist in Massachusetts and other places too)

And every Berlin in New England (MA, NH, CT) has the accent on the first syllable because of WWII.

DeKalb

IL:  pronounced as it is spelled
GA:  The "l" is not pronounced - De cab, and Ponce de Leon Avenue there is pronounced as if it was in English, don't use the French pronunciation there.

Newark, DE is Nooh ark and not like New Jersey that says it as written. 
Bogota, NJ does not say it like the Columbians do.  I believe it is Boh go tah.

Louisville, OH is pronounced like it should with it being Louis and not Louie!

NYC which has a Houston Street pronounces it House-ton Street.

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL is pronounced with the e's as eeeh and not ayh as an e in Spanish is pronounced like the letter A in English.  That must be the cheap way to say it and over time it got accepted that way, but in proper Spanish Pon tee Veedra is incorrect!

Corolla, NC is pronounced KER-AW-LAH, not KER-OHL-LA.

Quote from: hobsini2 on July 08, 2011, 12:50:55 PM
And please what ever you do in Joliet, don't call it Ju-LEE-it or Ja-LEE-it. It is Joe-LEE-it.  There had been an ordinance, don't know if it still on the books, that you could spend the night in jail for mispronouncing the city name.

Yes, the ordinance is still on the books.  It's actually pronounced similar to Joliette, Quebec as it is the same family.  Joliette, Quebec was named for an descendant of Louis Jolliet.  The original spelling was Jolliet and modernized in French later to Joliette.  We retain a version of the older spelling.  Interestingly enough, the mall here is pronounced the same way - "lou-ee joh-lee-et", rarely "loo-is" unless spoken by ignorant Chicagoans in ads (we call it "lou-ee mall" for short).

Boston is pronounced Bah ston by Bostonians even though most of us say Boss-ton.

Quote from: 1 on August 10, 2013, 09:45:11 PM
There is a Beaufort in both North Carolina and South Carolina, pronounced differently.

Also, anything ending with "cester": Worcester, Gloucester (both exist in Massachusetts and other places too)

And every Berlin in New England (MA, NH, CT) has the accent on the first syllable because of WWII.

Berlin in Wisconsin also has the different accent as well, though its my understanding that his was a WWI switch, not a WWII switch. WWII didn't see as much if an 'anti-German' sentiment as an 'anti-nazi' sentiment, while WWI was all 'anti-German' with sauerkraut being renamed 'victory cabbage' and whatnot.

Somewhere in the first two pages, a poster wrote that "Ar-Kansas" is the pronunciation in at least part of the state for the river. It's said that way from Colorado border to Oklahoma border, influenced by the fact that everywhere the river runs in Kansas is in the Wichita media market, so the weathermen and newscasters have spread that pronunciation throughout the area.

However, here in southeast Kansas, you'll find people saying it both ways because some aren't aware it's pronounced "Ar-Kansas" instead of "Ar-kan-saw." When you're in the Joplin media market, neither the river nor the town come up very often.

There are a couple of very small towns near me with interesting pronunciations:
Xenia, Kansas. It's pronounced "Zee-nee." Silent A.

Bronaugh, Missouri. There's no real consistency. Seems like the old timers say "Burr-noll" whereas younger people say "Burr-naw." In neither is there an indication that there's a G in the word. And I've actually heard some people pronounce it as though it starts with a "V" instead of a "B", so you get "Ver-noll."

And I've heard the occasional mangling of "Chanute" (Proper: Sha-noot; mangled: Sha-noo-tay) and Salina (Proper: Sa-ly-nuh; mangled: rhymes with "Salinas").

Liberal, Missouri seems to be pronounced with a slight hint that there's an E. Liberal, Kansas is said more like "Lurr-brull".

Quote from: apeman33 on August 17, 2013, 09:08:15 PM
Liberal, Kansas is said more like "Kahn-surrv-tivv".

:bigass:

Not much in Minnesota, but here's what I have to offer:
Wabasha: first syllable is stressed. WAH-ba-shaw
Willmar: I've heard a South Dakotan say will-MAHR, but it isn't. it's WILL-mur.
Luverne: pronunced LOVE-urn.
Le Center and Le Sueur: "Le" is not pronunced as "Lay," rather it's like "the."
Isanti: pronunced with a flat A. i-SAANT-ee, not i-SAHNT-ee.
Cloquet: this isn't anglicized. it's CLO-kay.
Kasson: I've heard CASE-in from somewhere, but in the Rochester area, it's always kASS-in.
Motley: No moats here. It's pronounced like Mötley Crüe.

Quote from: 1 on August 10, 2013, 09:45:11 PM
Also, anything ending with "cester": Worcester, Gloucester (both exist in Massachusetts and other places too)

Yes, what about anything ending with "cester"?

(If I'd brought it up, it would be to point out the difference from anything ending with "chester".)

Quote from: roadman65 on August 10, 2013, 10:08:18 PM
Newark, DE is Nooh ark and not like New Jersey that says it as written. 
Bogota, NJ does not say it like the Columbians do.  I believe it is Boh go tah.

Louisville, OH is pronounced like it should with it being Louis and not Louie!

NYC which has a Houston Street pronounces it House-ton Street.

yawn

Berlin, CT, with the stress on the first syllable, said as BER-lin. Supposedly, the locals wanted to distance themselves from the Prussian capital early last century.

It drives us from Connecticut nuts when an outsider says NEW Haven instead of New HAY-ven.

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on August 17, 2013, 11:27:07 PM

It drives us from Connecticut nuts when an outsider says NEW Haven instead of New HAY-ven.

Everyone around NYC/NJ says NEWhaven.

Advance (Add + Vance, like the name), NC.

Although that does sound like "advance" with a southern accent, there is no other way to pronounce the town's name.

There's also "Boon-a" Vista, Winston-Salem, NC's richest neighborhood.

Maryland: 

Havre de Grace is correctly pronounced as haverduhgrace.

Anne Arundel County is pronounced as annahrundul or annRUNdel (and with so many boring and duplicated county names (Montgomery comes to mind - my home county is Montgomery County, Maryland) across the U.S., there is one and only one county named for Anne Arundel).

Galena is pronounced GAHlayna.

Mount Rainier is rain-E-er, not like the mount in the Pacific Northwest.

Taneytown is TAWneetown.

In the Commonwealth of Virginia:

I see that Staunton has already been mentioned upthread, but what about Galax?  Pronounced GAYlax.

Varina is varEYEna.

In Texas:
Joshua is Josh uh way (the younger people don't say it that way now)
Eldorado is El duh ray duh
Leakey is Lakey
New Braunfels is New Braunsfels or New Braunsfel to many people, though not accepted locally
the Pedernales River is the Perden alice
Italy is It lee
Marathon is Mare uh th'n, but Alpine is Al pine
Balmorhea is Bal morray
Miami is Mye amm uh
McLean is McLane
Mexia is (usually) Muh hay uh

One more from Minnesota:

Mahtowa (mat-o-wa). I thought for the longest time it was "mah-TAO-wa".

There's a town called "Beroun" but I've never heard its name said so I'm not sure if it's pronounced "baron" or "ber-OON".

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on August 21, 2013, 09:31:49 PM
There's a town called "Beroun" but I've never heard its name said so I'm not sure if it's pronounced "baron" or "ber-OON".

ber-OWN.

The real way to say Kissimmee in Florida as I am sure tourists are calling it Kiss a me LOL!

How about ubiquitous mispronunciations? "Worchester", MA–I don't know where people insist on finding an "H" in the spelling of "Worcester"! Or "Lane Caster", PA–anyone who's spent time there (despite the assertions of a certain TV journalist I saw recently) knows "Lancaster" rhymes with "prankster".

Or ubiquitous misspellings? "Binghampton", NY. Who is this Binghamp fellow, and why would they name a city after him?

Quote from: empirestate on August 22, 2013, 02:05:32 AM
Who is this Binghamp fellow, and why would they name a city after him?

Maybe he's buried here: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.71925,-89.31078&z=15&t=T

Quote from: empirestate on August 22, 2013, 02:05:32 AM
How about ubiquitous mispronunciations? "Worchester", MA–I don't know where people insist on finding an "H" in the spelling of "Worcester"! Or "Lane Caster", PA–anyone who's spent time there (despite the assertions of a certain TV journalist I saw recently) knows "Lancaster" rhymes with "prankster".

I would claim that "Woosta" and "Lankster" are mispronunciations, themselves.  it's a matter of "what is accepted by fiat", as opposed to "what conforms to the general rules of English".

Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 20, 2013, 09:42:48 PM
Maryland: 


Taneytown is TAWneetown.

Taney County in Missouri is pronounced either TAY-nee or TAN-ee. I've heard the former most often for the county, but Lake Taneycomo seems to often be pronounced like the latter.
One of my pet peeves locally in Lincoln and a way to tell later arrivals from longer residents is the pronunciation of the unincorporated town of Cheney and the street named Old Cheney Rd. as "CHAY-nee", instead of "CHEE-nee", which is correct. This undoubtedly comes from the pronunciation of former Vice-President Dick Cheney's name as "CHAY-nee"(who was born in Lincoln and whose name was originally pronounced "CHEE-nee"). I believe Cheney, Washington is also pronounced "CHEE-nee".

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 22, 2013, 12:33:11 PM

Quote from: empirestate on August 22, 2013, 02:05:32 AM
How about ubiquitous mispronunciations? "Worchester", MA–I don't know where people insist on finding an "H" in the spelling of "Worcester"! Or "Lane Caster", PA–anyone who's spent time there (despite the assertions of a certain TV journalist I saw recently) knows "Lancaster" rhymes with "prankster".

I would claim that "Woosta" and "Lankster" are mispronunciations, themselves.  it's a matter of "what is accepted by fiat", as opposed to "what conforms to the general rules of English".

English is a funny language.  It has rules and routinely breaks them.  It also pirates words from other languages and bastardizes them while leaving some here and there with their original spelling and pronunciation.  And two different dialects may be as mutually intelligible as Spanish and French.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 22, 2013, 12:33:11 PM

Quote from: empirestate on August 22, 2013, 02:05:32 AM
How about ubiquitous mispronunciations? "Worchester", MA–I don't know where people insist on finding an "H" in the spelling of "Worcester"! Or "Lane Caster", PA–anyone who's spent time there (despite the assertions of a certain TV journalist I saw recently) knows "Lancaster" rhymes with "prankster".

I would claim that "Woosta" and "Lankster" are mispronunciations, themselves.  it's a matter of "what is accepted by fiat", as opposed to "what conforms to the general rules of English".

Well, conforms with English in general, or with English place-names? A quick survey of toponyms in actual England would quickly show that surprising pronunciations are more the rule than exception, and thus no longer surprising. In fact, I've been known to successfully guess the pronunciation of an unfamiliar place-name based on rules I've gleaned from ones like Worcester and Lancaster; and closer to home, I've certainly noticed some definable rules in Upstate NY pronunciations as well.

(One example: In non-Indian names, initial vowels, particularly "A", tend to be short: Albion, Avon, Almond, which all begin with "A" as in "cat". But medial and terminal[!] vowels, particularly "A", tend to be long: Nunda, Ischua, Pulaski, Chili, which rhyme with "Sunday", "fish away" and, roughly, "The last guy" and "jai alai".)

Quote from: empirestate on August 22, 2013, 06:58:50 PMNunda, Ischua, Pulaski, Chili

those first two aren't native names?  Pulaski is Polish and I certainly know approximately how that sounds in the original Polish.

terminating "Chili" in a long I is just ... stupid.

Since when did "Pulaski" have a long A?  Around Chicago, it's pol-lah-skee.

Quote from: Brandon on August 22, 2013, 07:31:45 PM
Since when did "Pulaski" have a long A?  Around Chicago, it's pol-lah-skee.

similar to the original Polish; the middle syllable rhymes approximately with "bar"; though it is shorter, more like the one in "Bart".

however, I'm pretty sure the skyway in New Jersey has the middle syllable rhyme with "cat".  (Steve?)

(wait, that is short A.  long A is the sound in "train".  then what is the sound in "bar"?  long schwa??)

we won't get into the Polish "l", which is really a "ł" and pronounced closer to English "w".

Quote from: Brandon on August 22, 2013, 07:31:45 PM
Since when did "Pulaski" have a long A?  Around Chicago, it's pol-lah-skee.

U.S. 40 between Baltimore City and the Maryland/Delaware border (and across the line in to Delaware as far as its junction with U.S. 13) is named the Pulaski Highway.  Always pronounced Pull-ah-ski.

Added on edit:  I do not claim to know what the correct way to pronounce Casimir Pulaski's name in Polish is, but I do  know that there has long been a substantial Polish-American population in and around Baltimore.  If Pull-ah-ski was very wrongly pronounced, I would think that the speakers of Polish in and near Charm City might have complained.

Pulaski, NY is pronounced Pul-as-sky

Quote from: Brandon on August 22, 2013, 07:31:45 PM
Since when did "Pulaski" have a long A?  Around Chicago, it's pol-lah-skee.

It doesn't; guess it's not such a good example of the long medial vowel, which is a less consistent rule. It's there as a long final vowel specimen.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 22, 2013, 12:33:11 PM
I would claim that "Woosta" and "Lankster" are mispronunciations, themselves.  it's a matter of "what is accepted by fiat", as opposed to "what conforms to the general rules of English".

The only response I can think of is from the musical "My Fair Lady."  In the song "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man?" Professor Higgins refers to the English language:  "In America, they haven't used it in years."

And "Woosta" is NOT how the locals say it (I lived there for 21 years).  There's someone driving around Worcester with a vanity plate "WUSTA."  That's more like it (WUSS-tah).

Quote from: Big John on August 22, 2013, 08:56:11 PM
Pulaski, NY is pronounced Pul-as-sky

As are (with the emphasis on the middle syllable) Pulaski Highway in Delaware, and Casimir Pulaski Elementary School in Wilmington, DE.

Quote from: SidS1045 on August 23, 2013, 09:34:24 AM
And "Woosta" is NOT how the locals say it (I lived there for 21 years).  There's someone driving around Worcester with a vanity plate "WUSTA."  That's more like it (WUSS-tah).

yeah, "oo" as in "book".  I've always seen it spelled "woosta" or even "woostah" when people are making fun of the Boston accent.  "pahk, the cah in Hahvahd yahd" and that kind of thing...

The "woosta" pronunciation is almost certainly derived from the same origin that gives us Worcestershire sauce (wusta-sheer). I assume it's British. They "compress" a lot of pronunciations like that.

Anything that ends in "cester" is strange:

Worcester, Gloucester, Leicester

Cirencester is the best - even the locals have gone with a more 'like how its spelt' pronunciation. It was 'sister' or 'sisister', now it is 'sirensester'. Or, more usually, the short form of 'siren'.

Towcester is 'toaster'. But that makes sense, as toa is how you would pronounce 'tow' (pull things along - not that I can think of another meaning) anyway - rhyming with 'bow' that is a knot in shoe laces, rather than 'bow' that is the front of a ship.

Americans have a lot of trouble with the -cesters, but Brits have no problem at all - they are all consistently 'ster' (except Ciren-). The joke is that lie-ces-ter square was named to rile up American tourists (it is pronounced lester square). American's can't even pronounce it as-spelt: Lei is not the same as Lie, now is it?

Loughborough is brilliant - the midlands university town is 'Luffbra' and Loughborough Junction railway station in South London is 'Luffbura'. The station is often nicknamed after poor pronunciation attempts (apparently some get so flustered that Junction goes wrong). To be fair - there are two 'ough's there and it is the letter group with the most pronounciations (and uses two different ones in the word). /ʌf/, /ɒf~ɔːf/, /ɔːθ/, /aʊ/, /oʊ/, /ɔː/, /uː/, /ə/, /ʌp/, /ɒk/ and /ɒx/ = 11 (10 UK English, 6 US English).

Quote from: english si on August 23, 2013, 12:23:38 PM
Loughborough is brilliant - the midlands university town is 'Luffbra' and Loughborough Junction railway station in South London is 'Luffbura'. The station is often nicknamed after poor pronunciation attempts (apparently some get so flustered that Junction goes wrong). To be fair - there are two 'ough's there and it is the letter group with the most pronounciations (and uses two different ones in the word). /ʌf/, /ɒf~ɔːf/, /ɔːθ/, /aʊ/, /oʊ/, /ɔː/, /uː/, /ə/, /ʌp/, /ɒk/ and /ɒx/ = 11 (10 UK English, 6 US English).

Interesting. I never would have guessed that. On I-55 in St. Louis, there's an exit for Loughborough Ave. When we went past it on a church trip, my pastor, who lived in St. Louis for a few years, pronounced it "LO-bo-ro". The two "-ough's" were pronounced the same.

Quote from: english si on August 23, 2013, 12:23:38 PM
Loughborough is brilliant - the midlands university town is 'Luffbra' and Loughborough Junction railway station in South London is 'Luffbura'. The station is often nicknamed after poor pronunciation attempts (apparently some get so flustered that Junction goes wrong). To be fair - there are two 'ough's there and it is the letter group with the most pronounciations (and uses two different ones in the word). /ʌf/, /ɒf~ɔːf/, /ɔːθ/, /aʊ/, /oʊ/, /ɔː/, /uː/, /ə/, /ʌp/, /ɒk/ and /ɒx/ = 11 (10 UK English, 6 US English).

Any Monty Python fan worth his salt knows "Loughborough". Hell, from them I learned more about not only British history and culture, but worldwide, than from anywhere in my own formal education.

...yet more reminders that while Americans spell words in English improperly, the British truly destroy it by pronunciation.

Quote from: english si on August 23, 2013, 12:23:38 PM
Loughborough is brilliant - the midlands university town is 'Luffbra' and Loughborough Junction railway station in South London is 'Luffbura'.

In the exclusive and expensive Spring Valley and Palisades neighborhoods of the Northwest part of the District of  Columbia, there is Loughboro Road (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=loughboro+road+n.w.+%26+Glenbrook+Road+N.W.+Washington+d.c.&hl=en&ll=38.935194,-77.101064&spn=0.00933,0.01929&sll=38.935662,-77.102952&sspn=0.00933,0.01929&gl=us&hnear=Loughboro+Rd+NW+%26+Glenbrook+Rd+NW,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20016&t=m&z=16), almost certainly having gotten its name from Loughborough.   It is pronounced Loffboro (and yes, people that are "not from here" sometimes have great difficulty pronouncing it correctly, especially that first syllable).

It intersects with  Dalecarlia Parkway, N.W. (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=dalecarlia+parkway+n.w.+%26+loughboro+road+n.w.+washington,+d.c.&hl=en&sll=37.6,-95.665&sspn=38.593229,79.013672&hnear=Dalecarlia+Pkwy+NW+%26+Loughboro+Rd+NW,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20016&t=m&z=16) (the only street name that I am aware of in D.C. that is named for a Nordic province (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalarna)), which also gives some people problems.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 22, 2013, 12:33:11 PM

Quote from: empirestate on August 22, 2013, 02:05:32 AM
How about ubiquitous mispronunciations? "Worchester", MA—I don't know where people insist on finding an "H" in the spelling of "Worcester"! Or "Lane Caster", PA—anyone who's spent time there (despite the assertions of a certain TV journalist I saw recently) knows "Lancaster" rhymes with "prankster".

I would claim that "Woosta" and "Lankster" are mispronunciations, themselves.  it's a matter of "what is accepted by fiat", as opposed to "what conforms to the general rules of English".

And then you have Lancaster, WI which is pronounced Lan-cas-ter. Funny how the same place name can have two different pronunciations in two different parts of the country.

New Tripoli, PA - trip-OLEY not TRI-poley
Tamaqua, PA - TAH-MAH-QUA not TAM-EKWAH
Hokendaqua, PA - HOCKEN-DAWKWAH not HOKEN-DAKWAH
Wind Gap, PA - Windgap (like one word)
Ephrata, PA - EFFORTA not Ef-ratta
Mohnton, PA - Mone-tin not Mon-ton
Oley, PA - OLEE not OLE

Quote from: tchafe1978 on August 24, 2013, 12:29:00 AM
And then you have Lancaster, WI which is pronounced Lan-cas-ter. Funny how the same place name can have two different pronunciations in two different parts of the country.

The differences can be even closer than that.  The city near Dallas is LANK ister, while the street in Fort Worth is LANG cast er.

Quote from: tchafe1978 on August 24, 2013, 12:29:00 AM
And then you have Lancaster, WI which is pronounced Lan-cas-ter. Funny how the same place name can have two different pronunciations in two different parts of the country.

Try (at least) three:
Newark, New Jersey is NEW-erk
Newark, Delaware is NEW-ark (or New-ARK if correcting someone who tries to pronounce it like the other one)
Newark, Ohio is something like "Nerk" - all one syllable

Quote from: elsmere241 on August 24, 2013, 08:38:14 PM

Quote from: tchafe1978 on August 24, 2013, 12:29:00 AM
And then you have Lancaster, WI which is pronounced Lan-cas-ter. Funny how the same place name can have two different pronunciations in two different parts of the country.

Try (at least) three:
Newark, New Jersey is NEW-erk
Newark, Delaware is NEW-ark (or New-ARK if correcting someone who tries to pronounce it like the other one)
Newark, Ohio is something like "Nerk" - all one syllable

Newark, NJ is also definitely one syllable, to avoid confusion with NOO YAWK. ("The city" also helps with that.)

Also worth mentioning (I thought of this after seeing it pronounced wrong on the news) is that there is only one correct pronunciation of "Appalachian," it's App-a-LACH-ian, never App-a-lay-shun.

Quote from: mUtcd33 on August 24, 2013, 06:39:49 PM
Wind Gap, PA - Windgap (like one word)

Big Bear, California - Bigbear

Quote from: DSS5 on August 25, 2013, 09:34:01 AM
Also worth mentioning (I thought of this after seeing it pronounced wrong on the news) is that there is only one correct pronunciation of "Appalachian," it's App-a-LACH-ian, never App-a-lay-shun.

Consistent with how Apalachicola, Florida is pronounced (even though it is rather far from any  mountains).

App-a-LACH-ian seems to be how it is pronounced south of the Mason-Dixon Line. 

I have heard App-a-lay-shun more in places north of there.  And I have usually heard the "northern" pronunciation  when used with the Appalachian Trail (I don't know why).

IMO, App-a-LACH-ian sounds better.

Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 25, 2013, 10:29:02 AM

Quote from: mUtcd33 on August 24, 2013, 06:39:49 PM
Wind Gap, PA - Windgap (like one word)

Big Bear, California - Bigbear

Grand Rapids, Michigan - Granrapids

Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 25, 2013, 10:33:24 AM

Quote from: DSS5 on August 25, 2013, 09:34:01 AM
Also worth mentioning (I thought of this after seeing it pronounced wrong on the news) is that there is only one correct pronunciation of "Appalachian," it's App-a-LACH-ian, never App-a-lay-shun.

Consistent with how Apalachicola, Florida is pronounced (even though it is rather far from any  mountains).

App-a-LACH-ian seems to be how it is pronounced south of the Mason-Dixon Line. 

I have heard App-a-lay-shun more in places north of there.  And I have usually heard the "northern" pronunciation  when used with the Appalachian Trail (I don't know why).

This. I didn't know about the alternate Southern pronunciation until someone I know from North Carolina mentioned it. Both pronunciations are equally valid, it's just a regional dialectical difference.

Quote from: Steve on August 25, 2013, 07:31:23 PM

Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 25, 2013, 10:33:24 AM

Quote from: DSS5 on August 25, 2013, 09:34:01 AM
Also worth mentioning (I thought of this after seeing it pronounced wrong on the news) is that there is only one correct pronunciation of "Appalachian," it's App-a-LACH-ian, never App-a-lay-shun.

Consistent with how Apalachicola, Florida is pronounced (even though it is rather far from any  mountains).

App-a-LACH-ian seems to be how it is pronounced south of the Mason-Dixon Line. 

I have heard App-a-lay-shun more in places north of there.  And I have usually heard the "northern" pronunciation  when used with the Appalachian Trail (I don't know why).

This. I didn't know about the alternate Southern pronunciation until someone I know from North Carolina mentioned it. Both pronunciations are equally valid, it's just a regional dialectical difference.

There seem to be quite a few of these split between north versus south.  Charlotte is another example.

Charlotte, NC - SHAR-let
Charlotte, MI - sure-lot

I don't know if I'm missing a rule or some history, or if there's just no way to know just by reading the name, but as a French Canadian, I always have trouble with names like Portsmouth, Plymouth, Falmouth, etc. Are all names ending in -mouth pronounced "-muth" and not "-mawth", or are there exceptions?

Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on August 26, 2013, 03:09:46 PM
I don't know if I'm missing a rule or some history, or if there's just no way to know just by reading the name, but as a French Canadian, I always have trouble with names like Portsmouth, Plymouth, Falmouth, etc. Are all names ending in -mouth pronounced "-muth" and not "-mawth", or are there exceptions?

Dartmouth, Yarmouth... sure seems like it.

Quote from: Steve on August 25, 2013, 07:31:23 PMThis. I didn't know about the alternate Southern pronunciation until someone I know from North Carolina mentioned it. Both pronunciations are equally valid, it's just a regional dialectical difference.

I can tell you for certain that the university is only pronounced one way, and ESPN should do something about that color commentator who couldn't seem to figure that out during the Montana game yesterday.

Here is a fun site that pronounces every place name in Wisconsin for you:

www.misspronouncer.com

And no, it's not WES-con-sin!

Wollongong - Wool-len-gong
Leichhardt-LY-kart