jeb@eisx.UUCP (Jim Beckman) (08/22/83)
windy* asked for other places with names that change pronunciation. This doesn't exactly hit the mark, but it comes close. There is a river in Kansas called the 'Marais des Cygnes'. (Some parts of Kansas have a lot of French-descended people) The accepted pronunciation, at least what I learned, was Mare-uh-des-seen with a primary accent on the last syllable, secondary on the first. One of the funniest incidents (but not the only one) broadcast by the little radio station that served my hometown occurred when the news announcer hadn't read the news over beforehand, and ran into that name on the air. I can't reproduce his attempt, but it must have had at least 8 or 9 syllables. We also got a chuckle out of this guy's repeated references to the amount of 'derbus' left in the streets after a thunder storm. Another thought: the Arkansas River flows across southern Kansas, where it is widely referred to as the 'Ar-Kansas' River. The Kansas River itself, in the northeast part of the state, is often called the 'Kaw'.
oz@rlgvax.UUCP (THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ) (08/23/83)
Up near Rochester (YAZ BOSS) NY is a town called Chilie, it is (of course) pronounced Cheye lye (it rhymes with "my lie") I think it is the snow that does it to them... OZ seismo!rlgvax!oz
jes@ulysses.UUCP (08/23/83)
Please. That's Chili, near Rochester. Don't forget Charlotte (pronounced sha-LOT). My favorite is Madrid, NY (pronounced MAD-rid). -- Jonathan Shopiro
jab@ritcv.UUCP (John A Biles) (08/23/83)
It's more than just "commonly called" the Ar-Kansas river;
it's the law. That's right, the Kansas legislature in its infinite
wisdom passed a law requiring said stream to be pronounced Ar-Kansas
within the borders of the sunflower state. Rather parochial.
My favorite mispronunciation was one of our own campus DJ's
renaming the LA Dodger's pitcher Fernando "Venezuela".
- Al Biles, RIT
{allegra, seismo}!rochester!ritcv!jab4563eab@whuxk.UUCP (08/23/83)
One of my favorite place names with unusual pronunciation is a small town in northern Vermont named "Island Pond." The locals use a vaguely French pronunciation, something like "Ecelahn Pahn." hF
jab@ritcv.UUCP (John A Biles) (08/23/83)
That's "Chili," not "Chilie," but your pronunciation is correct.
We also have Charlotte pronounced shar-LOT (second syllable stressed).
- Al Biles, RIT
{allegra, seismo}!rochester!ritcv!jabtca@houxa.UUCP (08/23/83)
Has anyone out there been to Calais (rhymes with Dallas) Maine? ay-yuh! Tom (I left my heart in Maine) Addison Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ
ddw@cornell.UUCP (David Wright) (08/24/83)
From: ddw (David Wright)
To: net-misc
There's also a Thames River in Connecticut, and the name is pronounced like
it looks (i.e., not "Temz" like the one in England; I believe that the English
one also used to be pronounced this way but that the Hanoverian rulers of
England just couldn't manage that "th" sound).
David Wright
{vax135|floyd|allegra|decvax|ihnp4|uw-beaver}!cornell!ddw
ddw.cornell@udel-relay
ddw@cornell (Arpanet and CSnet)prgclb@ihuxm.UUCP (08/24/83)
There's a suburb northwest of Chicago named Des Plaines, and people in this area pronounce it "Dez Planes." I heard that the city planner from Des Plaines ran into the city planner from Montreal at a conference a few years ago, and the Montreal city planner said something like, "I see you're from 'Day Plaw'." (Pardon my VERY crude approximation of French phonetics). To which the Des Plaines city manager replied, "No, Dez Planes!" Carl Blesch Bell Labs - Naperville, Ill. IH 2A-159, (312) 979-3360 ihuxm!prgclb
okie@ihuxs.UUCP (08/24/83)
Speaking of French names that have been (dare I say it?) perverted in the Southwest, take the case of Bois D'Arc Creek near Ponca City, Oklahoma. My two semesters of college French tell me that it should sound like "bwa d'ahr" (near-silent "c"). My relatives tell me it should sound like "bow dark." And to make matters worse, in Lousiana (or "Loozanna" if you're from there) it's often pronounced "boys deeark." B.K. Cobb BTL, Naperville, IL
oz@rlgvax.UUCP (THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ) (08/28/83)
Of course any New Yorker worth his salt (?) always pronounces Long Island Long Eyelint, and New York, New Yalk. OZ seismo!rlgvax!oz
fhm@cbosgd.UUCP (08/28/83)
Out here in Ohio (pronounced "uh-HI-ya") there is a town whose name is Chauncey which is called "chancy" by its residents. By the way, the local university is called "O-shoe" by some of the announcers on its radio station (WOSU). Frank Myers (born and raised in "uh-HI-ya", and proud of it) Bell Labs, Columbus cbosg!fhm
ziegler@lzmi.UUCP (08/29/83)
As a native Rochesterian, I have to inform you that the name of that town
is "Chili", not "Chilie" as it showed up here on lzmi. That, however, is
not the worst of the strange pronunciations to come from that town. I
always favor the suburb of Rochester known as "Charlotte", pronounced
"schlott".
Joe Ziegler
...pegasus!lzmi!ziegler
P.S. By the way, any native will tell you that Rochester is pronounced
as two syllables, leaving out the middle one.sullivan@cmcl2.UUCP (08/29/83)
#R:eisx:-58500:cmcl2:7500005:000:111
cmcl2!sullivan Aug 29 07:58:00 1983
Also from Vermont,
`Barre' is pronounced `Barry', and
`Montpelier' is pronounced `Mount-peel-e-er'
--
David Sullivan UUCP: ...!floyd!cmcl2!sullivan
(212) 460-7287 ARPA: SULLIVAN@NYUjab@ritcv.UUCP (John A Biles) (08/30/83)
I thought it was Long Geilant.
- Al Biles
{allegra, seismo!rochester!ritcv!jab4563eab@whuxk.UUCP (08/30/83)
Seems to me that quite a few obvious names have been omitted.
Have you ever been to Norlins, LA? How about Ballmer, MD? San Antone, TX?
Pier, SD?
By the way, the proper pronunciation for the island to the east of NYC is
"Lawn Guylind."
Chip
whuxk!4563eabza16ao@sdccsu3.UUCP (za16ao) (08/30/83)
How about Mackinac Island? The Canadians say "Mackinaw" - the Michiganders say "Mackinack".
lesliem@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Leslie Madden) (08/31/83)
Another Southwest perversion: Canyon de Chelley...Chelley is pronounced 'shay'...but novices tend to pronounce it 'shelly'...a source of big yucks on Anthro field trips.
benson@dcdwest.UUCP (Peter Benson) (08/31/83)
Seems to me I remember an article about the speech patterns of my friends in Ballmer, MD that came out some years ago. My two favorite Baltimore-isms were: par amour - something you cut your lawn with hard street - received pronunciation of Howard street I strove long and hard to remove the vestiges of my Maryland accent, losing my ethnicity in the process. Peter Benson decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!benson
grw@fortune.UUCP (Glenn Wichman) (09/01/83)
I have often suspected that Arizonans pronounced the names
of their cities in strange ways so that they can tell natives
from tourists (very important in Arizona). Although I may be
giving things away here, if you are in Arizona (northern anyway,
my knowledge of north is greater than of south), the following
rules apply:
Seligman is pronounced se-LIG-min, not SEL-ig-min.
Prescott is invariably pronounces Press-Kit.
I assume most of you know that Tucson is pronounced Too-sahn,
not Tuk-sun.
-Glennirish@ihuxb.UUCP (09/03/83)
Re: Mackinac Island The majority of Michiganders, of which I'm one, say "Mackinaw". It's mainly the out-of-staters that say "Mackinack". The Canadians say "Say, I went to Mackinaw Island last weekend, eh, and ..." Laura @ BTL IW ...ihnp4!ihuxb!irish
rgh@inmet.UUCP (09/15/83)
#R:tekecs:-207100:inmet:6400056:000:213
inmet!rgh Sep 14 08:00:00 1983
Actually, a lot of natives of Dorchester MA pronounce it something
like "Daach'st(a)", as two, or sometimes one, syllable. But you
folks at home shouldn't try this.
Randy Hudson {harpo,decvax!cca!ima}!inmet!rghalw@houxo.UUCP (A.WIEMANN) (09/19/83)
OK, how do you pronounce "Houston" as in "Houston Street" in New York City, the area south of which is known as "Soho" for SOuth of HOuston, natch. Ready? It's not hyou-ston, but house-ton! Say it a few times out loud until it sounds natural. Alan Wiemann, Greenwich (gren-itch) Village, NYC
timo@dadla-b.UUCP (09/20/83)
Something brought up by the recent Miss America contest... an anyone out there guess the proper pronounciation of Louisville, Kentucky? (residents need not apply. hint: Miss Kentucky got it wrong (I was soooo... appalled!)) where angels fear to tread, to'c
rlp@cbscd5.UUCP (R L Platt) (09/20/83)
Then there's Clumbus, Ahia.
eric@washu.UUCP (Eric Kiebler) (09/21/83)
How could we forget Dez Parez (Des Peres) MO, or the ever-lovin Peebdee Mass, not ta menshun Wusta Mass... eric ..!ihnp4!washu!eric
marty@hpfclq.UUCP (09/21/83)
#R:eisx:-58500:hpfclq:8900001:000:381 hpfclq!marty Sep 12 13:15:00 1983 I learned to pronounce the Mares des Cygnes river as mare-da-seen with the secondary accent on the first syllable. I remember feeling betrayed in grade school when I realized that the Ar-kansas river should be pronounced Arkansas. In Colorado there is a town spelled Saguache which is pronounced Sa-watch. marty csu-cs!hpfcla!marty
coproc3@iwu1a.UUCP (coproc3) (09/23/83)
I grew up (mostly) in Kirkwood, Mo. (right next to Des Peres), and we sometimes called it "Dez Parez", but it is really pronounced "D' Pear". Nick Di Masi
preece@uicsl.UUCP (09/27/83)
#R:eisx:-58500:uicsl:7500029:000:228 uicsl!preece Sep 26 12:46:00 1983 I've always been amazed that Chicago had the taste to name a street after Goethe and amused that the pronunciation has become go-thee (actually that's not a great approximation, it's more like the 'thy' at the end of 'worthy.')
filed01@abnjh.UUCP (H. Silbiger) (09/27/83)
The correct pronunciation for Louisvill is "Lewelville"
ljw@trsvax.UUCP (10/07/83)
#R:tekecs:-207100:trsvax:53600008:000:1449 trsvax!ljw Sep 29 08:34:00 1983 The correct pronunciation of Louisville, Kentucky, if you believe the bumper stickers, is "Louavul". Actually, mostly those on the east end of town use that pronounciation. Those on the southwest part and lively Shively area usually use the "Loueeville" pronounciation, as do many of the blacks in West Louisville. Thus you can usually tell where a Louisvillian is from (or what part of town influences him/her most) by how he/she pronounces the name. On the other hand, Louisville, Nebraska (known most for its habit of padlocking churches that do not think church schools should be required to have 98% of the books in its library, as required by an anti-religious state law, to be on non-religious subjects) is pronounced the same as Lewisville, Texas. Getting back to "San Joz", the original title of this series of articles, here is a question for you -- is a person from Cupertino a Cupertinan or a Cupertinian? Believe it or not, the city council there did not know and used both interchangeably in its newsletter. At one point they surveyed the citizens (including myself) to see what they prefered, but I do not think they ever published the results. (For those who do not know, Cupertino is a suburb of San Jose and Sunnyvale, and is a former fruit orchard -- a fact that explains a lot about the people who live there!) Larry J. West (former Louisvillian and Cupertin[i]an) (presently living in Foat Wuth, Taxus)
andyb@dartvax.UUCP (10/16/83)
Berlin, Vt. is "berLIN",
Berlin, N.H. is "BERlin".
Andy Behrens
(living in Vt., working in N.H.)