Place names mispronounced - why.

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by MattKellett

Not sure how they pronounce Prudhoe Bay in Alaska.

In Alaska, it's "Prew-dough Bay". Definitely not Prude-hoe - LOL!

The northwest is full of fun ones from Coquille pronounced by most as "co-keel" but correctly pronounced as closer to "co-quill" or "co-kweel" by the tribe. Up in Idaho, the town of Ponderay is often a butchered French pronunciation but it is actually spelled like it looks = "pon-der-aye."

For the record, Oregon is "ore-uh-gun" not "ore-EEE-gone" or "oree-gone".

edit - see Her oberst post - town is Ponderay and lake is still Pend Oreille which is the one with the butchered pronunciation...

angela

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Laneco

Up in Idaho, the town of Ponderay is often a butchered French pronunciation but it is actually spelled like it looks = "pon-der-aye."



angela

But just for fun, the lake gets to keep the French Spelling...



Kootenai and Owyhee are some other fun names from my home state!

[HarryD]

I'll play, as heard in NYC

My friend who lives on Houston (house ton) Street is going to Houston (Hughes ton) Texas.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by HarryD

I'll play, as heard in NYC

My friend who lives on Houston (house ton) Street is going to Houston (Hughes ton) Texas.

Ha, I've never noticed that one and it's a biggie.

Soho = South of house ton. Soho = South of Hughes ton, yup doesn't sound right

[mattdavis11]

Nah lens. New or leans. Nor leans. New leans. Nor lens.

San Angelo down here is Sanjello. Locals prefer Anjello.

Las Vegas is Lost Wages. YLMBB.

[HarryD]

Nah lens. New or leans. Nor leans. New leans. Nor lens.

San Angelo down here is Sanjello. Locals prefer Anjello.

Las Vegas is Lost Wages. YLMBB.

Nope per my wife (a LA Native) the kerwrect way to say it is Nawlins.

[Bill Douglas]

A hundred and fifty years ago they called New Zealand Land of the long white cloud. I'm guessing the Maoris would like to call it Land of the wrong white crowd.

There has been a big emphasis on correctly pronouncing local place names. Lake Taupo, we say Lake Tawpoe, but the newsreaders etc call it Lake Toe-paw.

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by HarryD

Nope per my wife (a LA Native) the kerwrect way to say it is Nawlins.

I Shouldn't have spaced it. Going to Nahhhlens soon?

Have family there, many grew up in Baton Rouge and La fay ette.

[Bill Douglas]

Atlanta is easy, you just drop the t.

[johnco]

Looisana... Louweesiana

[scottmandue]

Have any of you folks been to Hawaii?

[Tervuren]

I'm just glad none of you live in the town of Record, and have to deal with correcting people on how to pronounce the town name...

I guess maybe if your parents gave you a name that most people will always pronounce differently than intended, you tend to be pretty laid back about such stuff.

There is one that bugs me though. You have out of towners that have moved here, try to correct or vent at people from Lancaster on how to pronounce their own city/county name. I just roll my eyes when I hear it, and mentally contemplate correcting them on how to pronounce whichever is relevant to where they are from: "New Yuk", "Bastun", or "Nuh Jeersey".

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Why do people have to mispronounce placenames so much.

Where I live in Wellington; everyone calls it Wellingtin. Auckland is Orklynd. Gisborne said a Gizbin.

Pronounced BF Egypt.

I'm always correcting people with Los Angeles. Here in NZ and Britain everyone calls it Los Angelees and I explain it's pronounced Los Angeliss.

Prounounced "sheet-hole".

Also Newark (airport) gets said a Nu-wick.

Pronounced "superfund site".




Serial, everyone else is pronouncing it correctly, the locals are wrong.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Ha, I've never noticed that one and it's a biggie.

Soho = South of house ton. Soho = South of Hughes ton, yup doesn't sound right

Bill,

Are you from the US? I notice that too when I was in NYC. I have never heard it called house ton before.

[Norm K]

A few from areas in which I've lived ...

Puyallup = Pew-all-up

Sequim = Squim

Willamette = Will-am-it

Pend Oreille = Pon-der-ay

Oregon = Ory-gun (Go Ducks!)

and my personal favorite, Natchitoches = Nack-a-dish

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

. . . You have out of towners that have moved here, try to correct or vent at people from Lancaster on how to pronounce their own city/county name.".

How would you say it? Being from England and a lot of the county and cities names in your area of S.C. originating from England, I'd say that was Lan cass tuh, but I could accept Lan cast er. There is a HUGE variation of accents and dialects in England between towns which are only a few miles apart that pronunciation can vary massively.

Try these from Northamptonshire ( North amp ton shear to the locals) in England. Even relatively local locals get the village name wrong. I know there is at least one guy on the forum from the area, so he'll probably know . . .



The River Nene is sometimes pronounced "Nen" and sometimes "Neen"
Cogenhoe is pronounced "Cook no"

[jcommin]

Try ordering a Smithwicks instead of a Schmidicks.

Detroit is a French word. Why do we pronounce the "t" it is silent in French. Should be pronounced DeTroi

Des Moines is another French word. We pronouce De (s is silent) Moine (s is silent)

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by look 171

Bill,

Are you from the US?

No, I'm a dirty Kiwi, but I like it in the US And lots of my friends are from the Los Angeles area.

[oldE]

Near Saint John New Brunswick, across the bay, is a small town of Quispamsis. Rumor has it that a tourist walks into the coffee shop and asks, "How do you pronounce the name of this place?"
The girl behind the counter very slowly says,"Tim Hor-tons."

Around here we have lots of fun with Kejimkujik.

In northern Nova Scotia, there is a village named Leicester. I grew up calling it Lye-ces-ter. When we got to the UK for the first time I was advised it was prounounced, Les-ter.

What are you gonna do?

Best
Les

[Hawkeye's-911T]

How about "Cairns" in North Queensland - Bill (bottom left hand corner) might be able give you the Aussie pronunciation of the town's name.

Cheers
JB