Places that are pronounced differently than you think

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Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by jztemple2 »

So we have a mini-van we bought in the capital of South Dakota several years ago. Every once in a while someone sees the dealer decal on the back and asks us about Pierre, SD, pronouncing it in two syllables like the French name. We gently correct them and note that it is pronounced as a one syllable name that sounds just like a place where you tie up boats, a pier.

So this got us wondering how many other places we could think of that look like they would be pronounced one way but are usually pronounced another. We could think of Cairo, Illinois, usually pronounced "kay-ro" or perhaps "car-oh" and New Madrid, Missouri, which most people in the area pronounce as "new mad-rid".

Any other ones folks care to post?
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Brian »

Having grown up in Minot, ND (pronounced MY-not) it was always fun to hear it mispronounced in various media (TV, Movies, even Video Games) the rare times it came up.

Seems everybody wants to pronounce it like a French word so it comes out as mihn-Oh and sometimes, like in the linked video, MY-noh.

Edit: And then there's Norfolk, NE.
The name "Norfolk" is traditionally pronounced "Norfork" by Nebraskans. When the city was founded (as a village) in 1881, it was named after the "north fork" of the Elkhorn River, but abbreviated as "Norfork". The United States Postal Service, however, thought that "Norfork" was a mistake and changed the name to "Norfolk". This became the official spelling, but the local pronunciation did not change.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Holman »

Atlanta has an important avenue named for the Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon. You can tell someone isn't from the city when they pronounce it in the correct manner ("Pons day-lee-OHN") rather than as "PONTS duh LEE-onn."

I now live just uphill from the Schuylkill River, which flummoxes non-Pennsylvanians and driving apps. It's a Dutch word pronounced "SKOO-kull" and that means something like "hidden river."
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by gilraen »

A suburb of Denver is named Louisville - the "s" is not silent, since the naming had nothing to do with the King of France. So it's pronounced "LOO-is-vil" and not like the one in Kentucky.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Brian »

The one that caught me out was Des Plaines, IL.

I pronounced it as one would expect to pronounce Des Moines (deh Moy-n) so I said Deh Plane and was rather curtly informed that it as pronounced "Des Planez"
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Rumpy »

Oh, fun thread. I think there are a lot of European locations that sound a lot different than the way they look. Ireland and Wales are full of confounding place names that just don't look like they make a lot of sense, to an English speaker anyway. They look like someone's had a bad sneeze.

In a kind of reverse way, I've come across some place names that are derived from French, but don't sound that way at all due to the way a community has adopted them and let the language drift.
Brian wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:35 pm The one that caught me out was Des Plaines, IL.

I pronounced it as one would expect to pronounce Des Moines (deh Moy-n) so I said Deh Plane and was rather curtly informed that it as pronounced "Des Planez"


That almost sounds like a ghetto-ized version of the famous Fantasy Island line, "Des Planez, boss! Yo!"
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Holman »

Biloxi, Mississippi is "Buh-LUX-ee."

(The musical Guys and Dolls has a song that rhymes it with "The Roxy," which is very wrong.)
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Brian »

Rumpy wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:35 pm That almost sounds like a ghetto-ized version of the famous Fantasy Island line, "Des Planez, boss! Yo!"
And then there's Lead, SD.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Jaymann »

There is a town northeast of San Diego named Poway. I will always pronounce it POW-way, but apparently it is a Native American word pronounced Poe-why.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Brian »

Kinda like Puyallup, WA.

Most people not familiar with it pronounce it as some variation of Pile-up.
Spoiler:
It's pronounced, Pew-AL-əp
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Isgrimnur »

Bowie, TX
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by jztemple2 »

Brian wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:59 pm Kinda like Puyallup, WA.

Most people not familiar with it pronounce it as some variation of Pile-up.
Spoiler:
It's pronounced, Pew-AL-əp
And how is "əp" pronounced?
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by jztemple2 »

Isgrimnur wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 6:11 pmBowie, TX
?? Is it not pronounced "bow-eee"?
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Brian »

I would assume it's boo-wee, after James Bowie.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Holman »

jztemple2 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 6:25 pm
Brian wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:59 pm Kinda like Puyallup, WA.

Most people not familiar with it pronounce it as some variation of Pile-up.
Spoiler:
It's pronounced, Pew-AL-əp
And how is "əp" pronounced?
The upside-down "e" is the phonetic symbol for the schwa.
1) What does /ə/ mean?

The symbol /ə/ is a special vowel in English. It is the symbol used to write the most common vowel in English –it is a weak vowel that is pronounced as ‘uh’. You can hear schwa pronounced and record your pronunciation here.

This vowel is so important in English that it has its own name. It is called ‘schwa’. Schwa is a weak vowel used in many unstressed syllables in English.

For example, the word ‘computer’ has a ‘schwa’ in the first syllable. Native speakers don’t pronounce the ‘o’ vowel in the first syllable, we make that vowel weak – it becomes a very weak ‘uh’ … kuhmPUter.

Another good example is the word ‘today’. Native speakers don’t pronounce the first vowel as ‘o’, we use the weak vowel schwa so it sounds more like ‘tuhday’.

This vowel is so important in English that it has its own name. It is called ‘schwa’. Schwa is a weak vowel used in many unstressed syllables in English.
We have the schwa because sounds and written letters do not entirely match up.
Last edited by Holman on Sun May 02, 2021 6:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by jztemple2 »

Holman wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 6:34 pm The upside-down "e" is the phonetic symbol for the schwa.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by dbt1949 »

Hogeye is pronounced "boon"- "doks".
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Blackhawk »

Pronounced correctly? I've lived in multiple places where they keep changing the pronunciations of place.

Reno has Oddie Boulevard. When I lived there when I was young, it was 'oad - ee'. When I moved back as an adult, everyone called it 'Odd-ee."

Likewise Ely, Nevada. For a while it was 'ee-lie', like you'd expect. Then it was 'ell-lee' ( or 'Ellie'.) I have no idea what it is now.

I now live very near Vigo County, Indiana. I lived there for years. Nobody in that town can agree on whether it is 'vee-go' or 'vie-go.' (It is vee-go, like the Carpathian.)
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Kraken »

Mass. is full of such places. Worcester is WOOS-tah. Medford is MEHfud. Scituate is -- well, not whatever you're thinking -- SIT-yoo-ut. Quincy is KWINzee. Even Boston has different pronunciations depending on where you live (e.g., BAHS-tun, BOSS-tun, BAWS-tun).
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by hentzau »

Illinois is filled with those. There’s a little town near Peoria named “San Jose”, where they pronounce the J. My grandmother lived in New Delhi (pronounced dell-hi). And near where I grew up we had New Berlin (burr-lin) and Athens (long a).
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Jaymann »

I think things like the schwa help explain why sometimes non-native English speakers seem to speak the language better than native speakers, whose speech is so full of schwa, idioms and contractions. Someone just fully speaking the actual text sounds funny to us.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Holman »

Jaymann wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 6:51 pm I think things like the schwa help explain why sometimes non-native English speakers seem to speak the language better than native speakers, whose speech is so full of schwa, idioms and contractions. Someone just fully speaking the actual text sounds funny to us.
Au contraire!

Written and spoken versions of the same language often encode meaning differently, although of course they're co-dependent. Whether one or the other is more "correct" is a matter of cultural politics.

A *purely* written language would never be spoken at all. The closest we get to that today is people studying something like ancient Greek or Sanskrit for reading-only purposes, but even then much is lost because enunciation so often affects meaning.

I suppose computer code counts as a purely written language, but it makes no sense without translation into another tongue, and it is famously bad at poetry.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by YellowKing »

We have a major street named "Kerr Avenue." Depending on who you talk to, they'll pronounce it either like "Car" or like "Cur."

It's a source of heated debate, and at one point the local news tried to get to the bottom of it by finding descendants of the original person the street was named after. Unfortunately THEY can't even agree how it's pronounced, with one side of the family saying "Car" and the other saying "Cur."

It's a mystery that may never be solved. (FWIW, as a native I've always pronounced it "Car" and that's how it's going to stay).
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by LawBeefaroni »

There's a street in the town where I grew up called "Paulina." Pronounced "Paul-EEN-uh".

When I moved to Chicago and took the Brown Line north, I asked the guy in the booth (they had people in the booths back then) if the train went to the Paulina stop. He said, no, didn't. I looked confused for a second and looked at the map behind him. He said curtly, "Nope, doesn't go to Paul-EEN-uh. Does go to Paul-LINE-uh though." And laughed and then ignored me.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by hepcat »

Back in the rural area of Ohio I grew up in, there’s a small town next door to my hometown called Berlin. Apparently it was pronounced just like you would think....until World War 2 when they supposedly changed the pronunciation so that the emphasis was on the first three letters of the name (think Merlin).

There are numerous cities that are hard to pronounce around that area too, mostly due to a combination of Amish, German and Indian names. My favorite is Gnadenhutten.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Here are some British places I recall hearing Americans bollocks-up:

Edinburgh (Scotland)
Wrong: Edin-burg as in Pittsburgh
Right: Ed-in-buh-ruh

Marylebone (London)
Wrong: Ma-ree-lee-bone / Mary-lee-bone
Right: Mar-lee-bone

Leicester (Leicestershire)
Wrong: Lay-ches-ter
Right: Les-ter

Gloucester (Gloucestershire)
Wrong: Glos-es-ter / Glotch-est-er
Right: Glos-ter

Worcestershire (Lea & Perrins)
Wrong: Wer-ches-ter-sheer / War-ches-ter-shy-er
Right: WOOster-sher
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Holman »

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 8:28 pm Here are some British places I recall hearing Americans bollocks-up:
I dated a girl in Birmingham (Alabama) whose father was from Birmingham (England).

In conversation, he always treated the two names as entirely distinct words.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

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LawBeefaroni wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 8:17 pm There's a street in the town where I grew up called "Paulina." Pronounced "Paul-EEN-uh".

When I moved to Chicago and took the Brown Line north, I asked the guy in the booth (they had people in the booths back then) if the train went to the Paulina stop. He said, no, didn't. I looked confused for a second and looked at the map behind him. He said curtly, "Nope, doesn't go to Paul-EEN-uh. Does go to Paul-LINE-uh though." And laughed and then ignored me.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Suitably Ironic Moniker »

Oxford, Mississippi is located in Lafayette county, pronounced la-FAAAY-et. I blame it on them being Mississippians.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by dbt1949 »

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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

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Brian wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:35 pm The one that caught me out was Des Plaines, IL.
You should have guess it was pronounced the same as the river by the same name that runs through it.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Jeff V »

Kraken wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 9:16 pm The Germans looked confused, until one said "No, San go-ARR." Everyone except Wife had a good laugh over that.
There's a lot of that in The Philippines...all vowels are pronounced. We did a weekend at a resort in the town of Maasin -- not "Massin" but "Ma-assin."
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Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Based on what I’ve seen so far, this thread should be retitled “Places that are mispronounced or misspelled by locals”. :P

I’ll throw in a local one. One of the main streets here is called “Huger” street.

HUGH-ger? No.
HUGH-jer? No.
You-JEE (French, I guess)
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Rumpy »

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 8:28 pm Here are some British places I recall hearing Americans bollocks-up:

Edinburgh (Scotland)
Wrong: Edin-burg as in Pittsburgh
Right: Ed-in-buh-ruh



Worcestershire (Lea & Perrins)
Wrong: Wer-ches-ter-sheer / War-ches-ter-shy-er
Right: WOOster-sher
These two trip me up the most. Hidden pronunciation rules combined with words that look so different to their sound make for some awkward situations sometimes.
dbt1949 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 9:25 pmNew Orleans
See, this one I feel is a rather special case. There are many french speaking people in that region, but also in general, a large mix of culture that has come together in one of the most pronounced ways. Orleans is based on a French town name "Orléan", and I feel the English pronunciation is at least close enough to the original pronunciation, to the point that I'd never trip over it.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by dfs »

Near me in Ohio there is a town named Russia....since the 1950's years it has been pronounced as if it rhymes with Moo-She.
We also have a Versailles....which rhymes with burr-sales.

I spent a few years in New Orleans and the trick to pronouncing it like a local is to make it two syllables with an R in between. Nah-R-lins isn't exact, but it's pretty close to how they pronounce it.

The good folks of Louisville do a weird thing so that it almost comes out lul-ville. For the life of me, I can hear it, but I can't actually say it the way they do.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by LawBeefaroni »

dfs wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 9:11 am Near me in Ohio there is a town named Russia....since the 1950's years it has been pronounced as if it rhymes with Moo-She.
We also have a Versailles....which rhymes with burr-sales.
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dfs wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 9:11 am I spent a few years in New Orleans and the trick to pronouncing it like a local is to make it two syllables with an R in between. Nah-R-lins isn't exact, but it's pretty close to how they pronounce it.
Nwar-lins

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dfs wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 9:11 am The good folks of Louisville do a weird thing so that it almost comes out lul-ville. For the life of me, I can hear it, but I can't actually say it the way they do.
It's always sounded like Luhuh-ville to me. 2 syllables.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by AWS260 »

Houston Street in NYC is pronounced HOW-stun. It took a very long time after I moved here for that to start sounding natural.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Jaymon »

another one from Washington, derived from the native tongue Sequim when pronouncing it the e is silent 'sqwim'
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by gilraen »

AWS260 wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 9:27 am Houston Street in NYC is pronounced HOW-stun. It took a very long time after I moved here for that to start sounding natural.
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think

Post by Unagi »

I just have a funny story to tell on this topic, although it’s a bit turned on it’s head:

I went to college in Boulder, CO - and there is a prominent street there named Baseline Rd.

For some reason, a visiting relative of mine assumed the name of the road rhymed with Vaseline. Turning ‘Baseline’ into a 3 syllable word.

When I corrected her, we both couldn’t imagine why she invented this new pronunciation of the word.

We still laugh about it to today.
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