dmr (12/07/82)
Before chuckling too snidely about the way American provincials pronounce the names of towns named after European cities, we might consider how speakers of English say, and spell, the names of various cities as compared to the way their residents do. Such places as Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Geneva, Munich, Brussels, The Hague, Copenhagen, Moscow, Prague, Vienna spring to mind. It seems rather inconsistent to sneer at the citizens of Des Plaines for pronouncing S's, given the standard English pronunciation of "Paris."
olmstead (12/09/82)
Dennis Ritchie's point is well taken (and painfully apparent to anyone who lives in California and speaks Spanish), but I'd pick a nit or two concerning our pronunciation of the name "Rome," since English changed the spelling from the Italian "Roma."
dag (12/23/82)
I don't know if you folks discussing town names have done this one - Mantua, Ohio --> Pronounced "Mahnaway" by the natives... Daniel Glasser (Used to go to school outside of there) ...!decvax!sultan!dag