Unique local pronunciations for place names

[cpzilliacus]

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, 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. (the only street name that I am aware of in D.C. that is named for a Nordic province), which also gives some people problems.

[tchafe1978]

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.

[mUtcd33]

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

[wxfree]

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.

[elsmere241]

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

[Alps]

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.)

[DSS5]

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.

[cpzilliacus]

Wind Gap, PA - Windgap (like one word)

Big Bear, California - Bigbear

[cpzilliacus]

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.

[Brandon]

Wind Gap, PA - Windgap (like one word)

Big Bear, California - Bigbear

Grand Rapids, Michigan - Granrapids

[Alps]

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.

[Brandon]

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

[Dr Frankenstein]

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?

[Alps]

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.

[DSS5]

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.

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.

[tchafe1978]

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!

[national highway 1]

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