Say it loud, say it proud...

[dalesys]

Then there is the state of Hydroxide Ten.

[bunnyboy]

♫Do the Puyallup!♫ I've even heard people mispronounce Skagit a lot. And I heard one guy pronounced Sehome as "Say-Homie", which I don't see how you get unless you're trying way too hard. Nanaimo, Saanich, Comox, Osoyoos... And where I work has a native name has been garbled soooo many ways. (And when people ask how to spell it, even I have to stop and think about it.)

Remember the old WAMu radio ad with people trying to pronounce local names?

Just for starters it's not renTAWN, BALLard, or LEE-ven-vurth (I've heard all three from non-locals). It's closer to RENtn, balERD, and leh-VUN-wurth.

And those are all European names.

[manybellsdown]

Well these aren't super hard, but slightly interesting. We also have many Native American names.

People from out of state can't pronounce Puyallup, but if they listen to commercials for the fair they get it pretty fast. There is also a Vancouver, Washington; some people think the only Vancouver is British Columbia. And there is a town called Des Moines where you say the last S. Last, Tsawwassen, which is a small town near Vancouver BC. It's the only way to get to Point Roberts, which is a wonderfully strange tiny peninsula which is completely disconnected from the US. That's right, the only way to or from is by boat, or drive all the way around through Canada.

I've only been in WA for 18 months now, I haven't quite figured out Puyallup yet. My problem has been that I'm a California girl, so my mouth wants to pronounce all the Qs in the Spanish fashion - like a K. But up here they're the full "kwuh" sound. Issaquah kept coming out as "Issa-ka" for a while. And I still think Sequim sounds dirty.

[bunnyboy]

And I still think Sequim sounds dirty.

Little secret, everybody does, even if they won't admit it.

And for those who don't know, it's pronounced skwim.

I still wonder how people get confused on Snoqualmie. For some reason it always comes as snow-kwal-uh-me.

[Racket_Man]

Can I ask you a question? I have an American friend that told me off for pronouncing St Louis with the French pronunciation (Loo-ee). Was she right to tell me off? She said it's pronounced 'St Lewis', and Louis in America is always pronounced Lewis.

This confused me as another American friend came from Louisville, Kentucky (pronounced Loo-ee)

.

The simple answer is Louisville <> Louis, so the rule doesn't apply

The more complex rule is : the rules vary. e.g.
Des Moines, Iowa - 's' not pronounced.
Des Plaines, Illinois - 's' pronounced in the town name, not the state name.

HTH. oh, of course it doesn't.

edited to add: St.Loo-ee was still acceptable in the early to mid 20th century, and you do still hear it that way sometimes, but it's getting rarer, more used like an affectionate diminutive.

as a person born and raised in St. Louis, MO The preferred pronunciation is St. Lewis not Louie. It kinda irks me when I listen to the BBC (especially during the recent troubles there) and have 3 different news presenters pronounce it 3 different ways.

I aslo got in trouble with the Des Pere MO and Des Plaines IL difference.

I lived for many years in Des Plaines IL but at first pronounced it DE(silent S) Plaines as I was used to DE(silent S) Pere (nice well to do suburb) in St. Louis county.

[flybye023]

Howdy, neighbor! My state doesn't have too many difficult names; the most difficult city to pronounce is probably Tualatin. We just have weirdly-named towns like Drain, Boring and Wankers Corner. (Not to mention the fact that North Bend is actually 200-some miles WSW of Bend...!)

Well, there's Aloha (ah-LOW-uh) and Tigard (TIE-ɡərd).

The one that bugs me most is Boise, Idaho. It's BOY-see, not BOY-zee

[katzklaw]

The other members here in Cheeseheadland can confirm that at least half of the town and area names in our state (and some of the surrounding states) are Native American names or words or weird pronunciations of say German/Norweigen/Polish/etc. names or words.

I believe that all news persons who come in from out of state are required to spend at least a couple of weeks learning how to pronounce the local/state town names.

indeed. having worked where i am for the last 3 summers i've had to learn the proper pronunciations of such charming names as Lac Courte Oreilles, Namekagon, Chequamegon, and many other similar tongue twisters...


plenty of Native American names in NJ too... where i've lived in Pequannock and Hopatcong. gotta love it

[earl colby pottinger]

Parry Sound

There are may places in Canada that are not pronounced the way they are spelled. Places with native names are notorious for being difficult to pronounce, and have letters that are not pronounced or the emphasis is on a different part of the word that you'd expect. Or you have names that are English but pronounced completely different by the locals. For example: Topsail - Tops'l, Pouch Cove - Pooch Cove; Baie de Vert - Bay de Vert (not 'Bay de Ver' with a silent t)....just to name a few.

I have owned my cabin near Parry Sound for twenty plus years and I still can not say the name of the provincial park just south of me proper.

This is a park that my land run into and I have canoed on it's lakes over a hundred times. I can name the lakes (English names) no problem, but the park's name I always get wrong.

[rapana1]

I grew up in the suburb of Mangere, which translates literally as "lazy". The soil is rich volcanic loam, and you don't have to work it much to get crops to grow well- hence the Maori name.
The "a" is pronounced as in "arch", the "e" as in "left", so MA nge re. But because Kiwis are notoriously lazy in pronouncing things in any language, most people just say Mangry, rhyming with angry.
I had this discussion once with an older co-worker of New Zealand European (aka Pakeha) descent. She insisted on saying all Maori placenames the lazy way, and I asked her why she never pronounced them the way they were supposed to be said. She basically replied that she always had said them like that, and everyone she knew did, and it didn't really matter.
I said that I felt it did, that it was a matter of pride and respect to the naming of a place.
I asked- "Why do you say Mannycow instead of MAnuKau? What if I just said ACKland instead of Auckland?"
She replied indignantly, "But it's NOT ACKland!"
I grinned and said, " Well, it's not Mannycow!!"

[Kit-Ginevra]

For the record, the longest placename in the world comes in at 85 letters. Their short forms are at 57 letters and a nice round 7 letters. It also has long forms at 92 and 105 letters respectively.

The name? Taumata*whakatangihanga*koauau*o*tamatea*turi*puka kapiki*maunga*horo*nuku*pokai*whenua*kitanatahu.

This is a place in New Zealand and apparently translates to a man with big knees playing his nose flute to his loved one. The 105-letter version is slightly more romantic, although has references to a slit penis.

And if you listen to the recording, I swear you can hear something that sounds like a "fuck" thrown in there somewhere. http://www.korero.maori.nz/sound/pla...-p-w-k-t-t.mp3

As a Kiwi You probably did- WH is sounded as F so Whakatane is pronounced Fok-o-to-nay. I was born in Ohauiti (O-how-eat-ee or O-high-eat-ee) and lived near Maunganui (mon-ga-new-ee)

For those wanting to give their teeth a workout,try this song..

http://folksong.org.nz/ivebeeneverywhere/

And just when you've got into the rhythm,they throw in something like an Oxford or Thames just to catch you out

[rapana1]

Don't forget this classic Kiwi rock song to help with your pronunciation... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2q1y2OD4jI XD

[Ophbalance]

Gobless PA and our Native American names. I went to PSU Berks campus, which is right next to the Tulpehocken river (Tulp ehl hock en). We also have conshohocken (con sha hock en) down in the corner of the state. There's Tamaqua (Tom ah qwa), which is part of Schuylkill (Skool kool) County. And it bloody kills me when WNEP continues to pronounce it Skool kill. My wife is from Schuylkill County but we met in Berks county.

[Argabarga]

Ah, you've heard the joke about Intercourse a million times then (Have Family in Reading)

Indian names, you hate the ones they did use, but shudder upon reading a list of known Iroquois Chieftains, how bad they COULD have punished you by using ones even HARDER to pronounce.

[Ben_Who]

My roommate is inexpressibly unforgiving to anyone who mispronounces his precious Massachusetts place names. God help you if he's within earshot should you pronounce "Faneuil," "Peabody," or "Billerica" wrong. You will have unleashed the beast. Frankly, I'm shocked that he doesn't bite my head off about "Boston."

Which is a bit rich coming from someone who can't pronounce any celebrity name more complicated than Cary Grant. Try to start a conversation with him about "Macaulay Culkin" or "Leonardo DiCaprio" sometime. Not to say that he doesn't give it a shot, and bless his heart he does try so hard, but the noises he makes will make you wonder whether he needs a paramedic.

[Ironclad Alibi]

The song I've Been Everywhere has been everywhere. I didn't realize it was originally an Australian song having only heard the Hank Snow version. Here are the ones I found.

Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, United States, England, Texas, World of Warcraft, Sweden, Hebrides, Denmark, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Utah, RuneScape, Northern Ireland, Simcoe-Muskoka, Alberta, Minecraft, Michigan, Wisconsin, Philmont New Mexico, China, and Asia.

Parody I've Used Every Swear - NSFW