Place names mispronounced - why.
 

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.

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.

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

Try living on Long Island, Patchogue, Hauppauge, Syossset, Nissequogue, Shinecock, Mattituck etc...

Lots of towns named after local tribes.

Lots of variables... where people are from, language dialects, and maybe the level of education achieved.. I live in Louisville... pronounced Looahvul by those who live here, and Lewisville by most everyone else... who knows...

What do you call Napier?

Napier :D

Worchester = Wooster always puzzled me.

Me too! Gloucester = Glustah as well :)

One that always drove me nuts was Latrobe, PA.

Apparently, if you're from western Pennsylvania, you say lay-trobe. Not lah-trobe.

And Ephrata and Lititz are fun as well.

Baltimore? Bawl-mer.

There's no R in Washington! Aka Warshington.

Wilkes-Barre.
Heard it pronounced..
Wilkes-Berry
Wilkes-Berra
Wilkes-Bar
Wilkes-Barra

I can understand how it is difficult for you. I mean look where you're from. How do you pronounce these places?

Dunedin
Rotarua (Roto-Rooter?)
Whangarei
Invercargill
Pukekohe (Puke Kohay?)
Whanganui

In Boston, "what do you mean there is an "R" in "Market".

In Los "Angeliss" or I should say in SoCal, we have La Canada "(La Canyada)" and La Jolla (La hoya)", and others. I won't even try to do a phonetic on Sepulveda.

Portland has a few..

Couch St. pronounced Kooch st.
Terwilliger - Ter willy ger

Suh Pull Va Da

"Sep Ul veda" is what I get from tourists.

Where on Earth does "Austin Martin" come from?

NYC.
Houston Ave/street
Pronounced Houseton.

Lemme axe you about Brisbane......it's Bris-bin! :)

People from just about everywhere pronounce Syracuse as See-ra-cuse. People from Syracuse pronounce it Sara-cuse.

I'm still not sure what's the proper pronunciation of Caheunga (for those in LA). Is it Cowinga? Or Cahunga?

Vallejo

ALWAYS mispronounced. Even by me. Otherwise no one understands.