Place names you always mispronounce (like Mackinac and Greenwich)

[Scott5114]

Yeah, because unlike English speakers with French names, we can pronounce English names.

You pronounce Sherbrooke and Shefford with English rhoticity?

I've never heard Liliana speak, but I watch a guy on YouTube who lives in Sherbrooke, and he pronounces it just like you would expect it to be pronounced in English. (He mostly speaks English on YouTube; I don't know if he changes the pronunciation when he speaks in French, since he mostly uses French on his channel for math and swearing.)

[formulanone]

You pronounce Sherbrooke and Shefford with English rhoticity?

To my hearing this word sounds a lot like Rotisserie and I was ready to make a chicken joke and confusion would ensue.

[kphoger]

Not even going to bring up Mille Lacs in the Minnesota discussion? 

I have in-laws up in Mille Lacs County.  As I recall, they pronounce it Mulax.

[kernals12]

The defunct town of Greenwich MA was actually pronounced "Green Witch". I don't believe any others were pronounced in such a way.

No doubt they inspired the Wizard of Oz

Edit: Adding to the coincidence, the town was destroyed by... water (it was flooded by the creation of the Quabbin reservoir)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich,_Massachusetts

[Rothman]

Matteson IL. Looks like Matte-son, but pronounced Mat-tes-on, confusingly close to Madison.

Heh.  Mat-te-son is more natural to me on this one.

[flan]

The Minnesota Nicollet and the Wisconsin Nicolet (one L) were different people.

Both were French, though. I would be surprised if Joseph Nicollet pronounced the T at the end of his name.

[Henry]

War cess ter MA

I usually pronounce that as "war-ses-STER", what it looks like.  How one gets "woo-STAH" out of it blows my mind.

For some dumb reason, as a kid I always thought the name had an H in the middle, making it "Worchester", and pronounced it almost the same way as Dorchester (the main difference being "were" instead of "wore" for the first syllable).

Back to the "green witch" reference pertaining to Greenwich, the way the city in CT and time zone are pronounced can also inspire another famous green character, as if you say it fast enough, you get "grinch".

[JayhawkCO]

Not even going to bring up Mille Lacs in the Minnesota discussion? 

I have in-laws up in Mille Lacs County.  As I recall, they pronounce it Mulax.

More 'Mill-axe".

[TheCatalyst31]

how locals pronounce the city name doesn't resemble how one would say Détroit in French.

Thus how the locals pronounce it is wrong. One of the worst offenders of this is Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

It's not wrong. Just because a place name's origin is French, that doesn't mean that the pronounciation needs to remain in French when its not the language spoken by the locals. 

I can understand the reaction. Growing up in a place where "Faribault" and "Cloquet" are pronounced in a very close approximation of the French way, hearing the way Michiganders pronounce "Calumet" feels pretty jarring. I also had to train myself not to say "Bel-wah" when referring to Beloit, Wisconsin.

Calumet City, Illinois is also very much not pronounced the French way. On the topic of Chicago suburbs, Joliet isn't either, and Des Plaines is especially far off.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Good thing I don't have to mention Buena Vista, Colorado often. As a native Spanish speaker I would likely "butcher" that, by pronouncing it the way it should be. It is not written "Biuna Vista" after all, like they insist to say it.

And I really like to mispronounce Greenwich as "Berbegal" , especially in reference to the Meridian (even though it is not the same as GPS Zero, the IERS Meridian, and I've redefined my "Berbegal Meridian" to match this one instead).

[epzik8]

Cairo, Illinois for me is "ky-ro" and not "kay-ro" as the local pronunciation is.

[Rothman]

Good thing I don't have to mention Buena Vista, Colorado often. As a native Spanish speaker I would likely "butcher" that, by pronouncing it the way it should be. It is not written "Biuna Vista" after all, like they insist to say it.

And I really like to mispronounce Greenwich as "Berbegal" , especially in reference to the Meridian (even though it is not the same as GPS Zero, the IERS Meridian, and I've redefined my "Berbegal Meridian" to match this one instead).

See Buena Vista, VA

[SEWIGuy]

In the Quad Cities area...

Orion, IL is pronounced OR-ee-un
Milan, IL is pronounced MY-lun
Camanche, IA is pronounced KA-manch

[webny99]

Not even going to bring up Mille Lacs in the Minnesota discussion? 

I have in-laws up in Mille Lacs County.  As I recall, they pronounce it Mulax.

I can concur with this from how I have heard it pronounced. Maybe slightly closer to Millax, but that's pretty close.

Edit:

More 'Mill-axe".

Whoops, I missed this! Point stands

[hotdogPi]

I pronounce Mulax (but not Mille Lacs) "mew-lax".

[kphoger]

Sorry, I had a hard time communicating that pronunciation in text form.  What I've heard is more like M'lax.

[route17fan]

I'm sure there locales with tons of mispronounced words. Off the top of my head:

NY - Valatie (Va-lay-sha)

OH - Russia (near Toledo) (ROO-she)

I don't know how either happens, but as they say "It is what it is" 

[kphoger]

Good thing I don't have to mention Buena Vista, Colorado often. As a native Spanish speaker I would likely "butcher" that, by pronouncing it the way it should be. It is not written "Biuna Vista" after all, like they insist to say it.

We used to have an office in NW Arkansas, and we had a Mexican-American tech there for years.  One of the towns we serviced in the area was Bella Vista, which of course is pronounced Bell-uh Viss-tuh.  But whenever he called in and got me on the phone, knowing I speak Spanish, he'd pronounce it the Spanish way, and often in an over-the-top way, like Beh-yah Veeeeeees-tah.

[kphoger]

A lot of people in this area pronounce Hutchinson as if it were Hutchison.

I used to pronounce Neodesha as Nee-oh-DEE-shuh, till I found out it's actually Nee-OH-duh-shay.

Similarly, I used to pronounce Chickasha (OK) as CHICK-uh-shaw, till I found out it's CHICK-uh-shay.

And I'm still not sure if Cotulla (TX) is Kuh-TULL-uh or Kuh-TYOO-luh.  Maybe both are correct.  I go back and forth between, so it's possibly I get it wrong half the time.  But at least not all the time!

[mgk920]

how locals pronounce the city name doesn't resemble how one would say Détroit in French.

Thus how the locals pronounce it is wrong. One of the worst offenders of this is Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

It's not wrong. Just because a place name's origin is French, that doesn't mean that the pronounciation needs to remain in French when its not the language spoken by the locals. 

I can understand the reaction. Growing up in a place where "Faribault" and "Cloquet" are pronounced in a very close approximation of the French way, hearing the way Michiganders pronounce "Calumet" feels pretty jarring. I also had to train myself not to say "Bel-wah" when referring to Beloit, Wisconsin.

Calumet City, Illinois is also very much not pronounced the French way. On the topic of Chicago suburbs, Joliet isn't either, and Des Plaines is especially far off.

Ditto Calumet County, WI.

Mike

[bandit957]

About 30 years ago, all the libraries around here had a book listing all the Kentucky place names and how they were pronounced. It was a yellow and blue book. But I haven't seen it in an awfully long time.

[kphoger]

In my experience, this is at least 95% accurate:

https://www.texasalmanac.com/drupal-backup/images/topics/TownPronunciationGuide.pdf

[JayhawkCO]

Sorry, I had a hard time communicating that pronunciation in text form.  What I've heard is more like M'lax.

This is pretty accurate. It's mostly schwa.

[kphoger]

Meanwhile, France just neatly sidesteps the whole matter by changing the spelling of the place name.  They don't pronounce Dunkirk correctly, so they just change it to Dunkerque instead.

We should do this.  Des Moines becomes Demoin.  Baton Rouge becomes Battin Rouge.  Saint Paul stays the same.

[Big John]

Soo Saint Marie