Unique local pronunciations for place names

[kj3400]

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

Not quite, it's Bal-mer.  

Well that's usually how I pronounce it.

[nyratk1]

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)

[Michael in Philly]

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.

[jwolfer]

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.

[Michael in Philly]

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.

[Chris]

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"?

[Michael in Philly]

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"?

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. 

[yanksfan6129]

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"?

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.

[Dr Frankenstein]

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.

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...

[RJ145]

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

[Scott5114]

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".

[corco]

BOY-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).

[Michael in Philly]

BOY-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....

[Michael in Philly]

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.

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.

[agentsteel53]

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. 

[Dr Frankenstein]

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...).

[agentsteel53]

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.)

[realjd]

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.

[J N Winkler]

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.

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.

[agentsteel53]

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.

[6a]

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?

[Dr Frankenstein]

Both 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.

[hm insulators]

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."

[hobsini2]

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)

[1995hoo]

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.