Unique local pronunciations for place names

[Ian]

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

[agentsteel53]

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

[agentsteel53]

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?

[Ian]

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.

[shoptb1]

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

[corco]

Haha 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

[Ian]

Haha 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.

[corco]

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

[usends]

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

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

[corco]

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"

[agentsteel53]

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.

[Brandon]

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.

[Ian]

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  )

Here are some more MA names...

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

[BigMattFromTexas]

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

[english si]

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)

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

Gloucester: 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

[golden eagle]

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.

[bugo]

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

[corco]

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.

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

[huskeroadgeek]

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.

[allniter89]

Houston, DE is pronounced House-ton

[bugo]

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."

[mapman]

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

[huskeroadgeek]

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).

[brownpelican]

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) 

[Mr_Northside]

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.