S/O Place names that are pronounced differently

[RootAnn]

Either differently than you thought or differently than the word is normally used. Please include any places that many people mispronounce, too.

My example from the other thread was Norfolk, Nebraska. By natives, it is clearly said, Nor-fork-- as in, the Nor(th) Fork of the river.

My DH lived in Norfolk, VA for a few years and I seem to remember the second syllable sounding much more like the "F" word. I can't figure out how to represent the first syllable, but it didn't sound like /or/ was in there. More like an /ah/?

[Lady Florida.]

From the other thread -

AL bany NY vs. Al BENNY GA, though the GA city is spelled the same as the NY one.

My oddly named friend from the other thread (Zona) is from Louisville, Kentucky. I always pronounced it Loo-ee ville. She says it's Loo-ville. 

I know there are more, many in the southern U.S., but I can't think of them offhand.

[Miss Tick]

Isn't it Ver-SAYLS, IL and Beatrice, NE is Be-A(short a sound)-tris and Peru, IN is PEE-ru (often, anyway)

[RootAnn]

8 minutes ago, SusanC said:

Isn't it Ver-SAYLS, IL and Beatrice, NE is Be-A(short a sound)-tris and Peru, IN is PEE-ru (often, anyway)

Nebraska sure has a lot of these. I can speak to Beatrice, NE. It is like you said:  Bee/a/triss. Middle syllable like the a in mat.

Papillion, NE is Pah-pill-yon. 

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Prescott, AZ is pronounced PRES-kt (second syllable as in biscuit)  We really need a schwa symbol on these boards.

Local outrage continues here in the Albuquerque, NM area over the pronunciation of a little mountain town named Madrid (same spelling as the place in Spain), but long pronounced MA-drid (accent on first syllable).  It's been pronounced that way for a couple hundred years, but folks still want to come in and tell us we're wrong for not using the Castilian Spanish pronunciation.

[J-rap]

Worcester, MA.  We don't live there, but lived near there for awhile.  We were so confused at first by how people there pronounced it!  (More like Worster.)

[Lady Florida.]

7 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Worcester, MA.  We don't live there, but lived near there for awhile.  We were so confused at first by how people there pronounced it!  (More like Worster.)

I have a cousin who moved there and had to learn how to pronounce it. I remember when she told me "We live in Worcester, they call it Worster". 

[SeaConquest]

We have the Cahuenga Pass and Cahuenga Blvd in Southern California (pronounced Kuh-wang-guh).

[theelfqueen]

Calais, ME is Callus. Not Cal-ay.

 

[SquirrellyMama]

Madrid, IA is Mad-rid

Nevada, IA is Nuh-va(long a)-duh

Kelly

Edited December 2, 2018 by SquirrellyMama

[Mbelle]

I hear names and cities in my state mispronounced on the radio all the time.   Lately it's McDonough   mispronounced as Mcdunugh instead of mcdahnagh.  A lot of people move to NC and say Rally instead of Rah-lee for Raleigh, NC. 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Mbelle

[Rachel]

Peer instead of Pierre, SD

Ver-sales, KY instead of the French  Versailles

Cal-Gary Canada

Louisville, Ky has about 4 or 5 pronunciations but none are Lewis-ville.

Hurrican WV instead of Hurricane. 

There are many more but those are the few off the top of my head. 

[fairfarmhand]

Here in my area, any area with ville on the end is pronounced vuhl. 

As in shelbyville Tn is Shelby-vuhl.

mcminville Tn is McMin-vuhl

[Junie]

Lancaster, Pennsylvania is often mispronounced.  It is not LAN-castor, it is more like LANK-a-stir.

[Selkie]

A few in Illinois:

Cairo is pronounced Care-oh.

Des Plaines is Dez-Plains.

Milan is Mye-lun.

[TechWife]

Beaufort - there is Beaufort NC and Beaufort SC.

It's Bo-fort in NC (as in Beauregard) and Bu-fort in SC (as in beautiful).

[Farrar]

Vienna, Virginia is pronounced like Americans pronounce the city in Austria. But Vienna, Georgia is Vie-EN-uh. Once, I accidentally said it the other way and my father loudly corrected me. "You mean VIE-EN-UH?" Sorry, my Georgia roots, I got Yankee-ized.

[TechWife]

42 minutes ago, Selkie said:

A few in Illinois:

Cairo is pronounced Care-oh.

Des Plaines is Dez-Plains.

Milan is Mye-lun.

My dh says Cairo IL is pronounced Karo - like the syrup. When he says it, it sound like "Kay-row" to me.

Vienna, IL is Vie-anna.

He turns on his southern accent when he says the names of these towns!

 

 

Edited December 2, 2018 by TechWife

[RootAnn]

2 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

My oddly named friend from the other thread (Zona) is from Louisville, Kentucky. I always pronounced it Loo-ee ville. She says it's Loo-ville. 

Oh, oh! Another Nebraska-funny. The Louisville, NE is pronounced Lewis-ville!

[Bootsie]

Houston--prononced Hue-ston in Texas but How-ston in NYC.  

[Lady Florida.]

6 minutes ago, Farrar said:

Vienna, Virginia is pronounced like Americans pronounce the city in Austria. But Vienna, Georgia is Vie-EN-uh. Once, I accidentally said it the other way and my father loudly corrected me. "You mean VIE-EN-UH?" Sorry, my Georgia roots, I got Yankee-ized.

I knew there was another Georgia one but couldn't remember it. I lived near both Albany and Vienna when I had my first teaching job in Americus. I remember scratching my head over both pronunciations. 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Lady Florida.

[SKL]

Lima Peru and Lima Ohio

Miami

New Orleans

St. Louis / Louisville

Arkansas

Cuyahoga

Poughkeepsie

Thames

Geneva

Worcester

Missouri

Newfoundland

etc etc etc....

[Farrar]

Just now, Lady Florida. said:

I knew there was another Georgia one but couldn't remember it. I lived near both Albany and Vienna when I had my first teaching job in Americus. I remember being scratching my head over both pronunciations. 

Yeah, the Albany one cracks me up a bit. My - as the Chinese would say - ancestral village is Cordele, Georgia. When the kids were little, we'd go and it was always a stretch to find things to do. So we'd drive to Albany sometimes. To, as my grandmother would say, "Go to the animal park in Al-BIN-ee." Because apparently even "zoo" is too exotic for south Georgia.

[DesertBlossom]

In AZ there's a Mogollon Rim that doesn't sound at all like you'd expect. 

Hurricane, UT is pronounced HURRikun

[Selkie]

14 minutes ago, TechWife said:

My dh says Cairo IL is pronounced Karo - like the syrup. When he says it, it sound like "Kay-row" to me.

Vienna, IL is Vie-anna.

He turns on his southern accent when he says the names of these towns!

 

 

Making it more confusing, I've always heard that out-of-towners call it Cay-ro, but locals pronounce it Care-oh.🙂

[Lady Florida.]

10 minutes ago, Farrar said:

Yeah, the Albany one cracks me up a bit. My - as the Chinese would say - ancestral village is Cordele, Georgia. When the kids were little, we'd go and it was always a stretch to find things to do. So we'd drive to Albany sometimes. To, as my grandmother would say, "Go to the animal park in Al-BIN-ee." Because apparently even "zoo" is too exotic for south Georgia.

OT but that area of Georgia was a whole different world to me than the one I was used to in Florida. By moving north I moved deeper into the south. This was in the late 70s. Carter was president (yeah, I'm that old - got my first teacher's retirement check from the State of FL on Friday). I had the same doctor as Billy and Miss Lillian. I once saw Gloria at the Waffle House in Americus.  The ex. ed school where I taught was in Ellaville but I had an apartment in Americus. We would go to either Albany or Columbus if we wanted to drive farther. 

[TechWife]

7 minutes ago, Selkie said:

Making it more confusing, I've always heard that out-of-towners call it Cay-ro, but locals pronounce it Care-oh.🙂

He grew up about 100 miles from there. I think by So IL standards, that means he isn't a local.😉

[ThisIsTheDay]

3 hours ago, RootAnn said:

 

My DH lived in Norfolk, VA for a few years and I seem to remember the second syllable sounding much more like the "F" word. I can't figure out how to represent the first syllable, but it didn't sound like /or/ was in there. More like an /ah/?

I live nearby. We pronounce it Nor-fik. lol

[bolt.]

Calgary: Cal-garry to outsiders, Cal-gree to locals.

[MeaganS]

Miami, Oklahoma is pronounced My-am-uh. 

Edited December 2, 2018 by MeaganS

[Lady Florida.]

3 hours ago, RootAnn said:

Please include any places that many people mispronounce, too.

 

KissIMMee Florida. Many people think the accent is on Kiss and they think that's funny/cute, but it's on the second syllable. This is common though with place names all over the country that derive from Native American names.

My own city of Titusville is often mispronounced. The i in Titus is long not short. I've been on the phone with customer service people who seem hesitant to pronounce it because they want to give that first syllable the short i sound and you can tell they're uncomfortable. 🙂  It's named after the founder Henry Titus (not the same guy Titusville PA is named for), who won the right in a dominoes game. If the other guy had won I'd live in Riceville instead.

[historically accurate]

From the other thread:

Pierre, SD is peer.

One from my area:

Genoa, IL is Jin-NO-uh.

[DesertBlossom]

1 hour ago, Arctic Mama said:

..... okay. I have to know.  How does one say it?

Mogollon is pronounced something like MUG-ee-yon.

[RootAnn]

13 minutes ago, beckyjo said:

Genoa, IL is Jin-NO-uh.

How else would you pronounce this? (This one makes sense to me--as does Unadilla as U-nah-dill-ah.

[Rachel]

32 minutes ago, bolt. said:

Calgary: Cal-garry to outsiders, Cal-gree to locals.

The way I grew up hearing it is with the emphasis on the Cal and gary being a softer sound but still three syllables. My husband’s corporate office is there. He said all his coworkers from there say it as if it is a man’s name, Cal Gary. But you are saying the locals pronounce it more the way I grew up hearing it but the gary sort of a single syllable. I’ve never been there but find it interesting that such a simple seeming word has subtle pronunciation differences. 

[cintinative]

22 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

There is a small town north of here that is spelled Bellefontaine.

 

Whenever they mention it on the news, like for the weather or whatever, the newscaster calls it bell fountain.    I just can't get that pronunciation out of that spelling.  

I was going to mention this one! I haven't figured that one out either!

 

[historically accurate]

3 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

How else would you pronounce this? (This one makes sense to me--as does Unadilla as U-nah-dill-ah.

https://www.howtopronounce.com/genoa/  

The link has the correct pronunciation for the city in Italy. 

 

[cintinative]

here's one--Russia, Ohio is pronounced "Roo-shee"

[RootAnn]

3 minutes ago, beckyjo said:

https://www.howtopronounce.com/genoa/  

The link has the correct pronunciation for the city in Italy. 

Ah! Thanks.

[klmama]

Typically it would be pronounced JEN-o-uh.

[Momto6inIN]

4 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

From the other thread -

AL bany NY vs. Al BENNY GA, though the GA city is spelled the same as the NY one.

My oddly named friend from the other thread (Zona) is from Louisville, Kentucky. I always pronounced it Loo-ee ville. She says it's Loo-ville. 

I know there are more, many in the southern U.S., but I can't think of them offhand.

People in Indiana call Louisville "LOO - uh - vuhl" with an extra syllable in the middle that almost gets lost but not quite.

[bolt.]

19 minutes ago, Rachel said:

The way I grew up hearing it is with the emphasis on the Cal and gary being a softer sound but still three syllables. My husband’s corporate office is there. He said all his coworkers from there say it as if it is a man’s name, Cal Gary. But you are saying the locals pronounce it more the way I grew up hearing it but the gary sort of a single syllable. I’ve never been there but find it interesting that such a simple seeming word has subtle pronunciation differences. 

There’s also something a bit more like “Cal -g(ah)ree” which I kind of associate with newscasts, and other situations where it’s local people, but they are trying to be a bit clear and careful. Maybe that’s part of the mix.

[Lady Florida.]

11 minutes ago, Momto5inIN said:

People in Indiana call Louisville "LOO - uh - vuhl" with an extra syllable in the middle that almost gets lost but not quite.

Actually that last syllable sounds more like my friend pronounces Louisville KY too. It was more like Loo-vull than loo-ville.

Edited December 2, 2018 by Lady Florida.

[Lady Florida.]

The one that always gets me is Mackinac in Michigan which I believe is pronounced Mackin- aw. No ck sound at all at the end, is that right Michigan folks?

[SeaConquest]

27 minutes ago, kdsuomi said:

 

I was born and raised in southern California and have never heard anyone say kuh-wang-gun. My mom who was also born and raised in southern California hasn't, either. We've only every heard kuh-hung-ah.

 

I don't know what to tell you. I am a third generation Angeleno, and it is pronounced kuh-wang-guh:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahuenga,_California

[SeaConquest]

A local real estate agent:

 

[Kanin]

They know you're not from PA if you say Lan-cas-ter instead of LANC-a-ster. There's also Schuylkill County, pronounced Skoo-kull. I think. Still not 100% sure on that one.

[Kanin]

People "from away" always say Bang-er for Bangor rather than Bang-gor, Maine. 

[math teacher]

I grew up near the Ouchita River. WASH i taw

[Just Kate]

4 hours ago, DesertBlossom said:

In AZ there's a Mogollon Rim that doesn't sound at all like you'd expect. 

Hurricane, UT is pronounced HURRikun

 

Wow! There is a Hurricane in WV as well and that’s exactly how it’s pronounced.