Why is it that some folks (mostly senior citizens, it seems like) pronounce Missouri “Missoura” and Hawaii “Awaia”? Is there some sort of basis or reason for this?
They’s ig’nant.
Oi dun roightly know, guv’na, mebbe it’s an oc-cent, roight?
I don’t know. I’ve lived in the deep south all of my life so needless to say, I’ve heard some pretty thick drawls…but I don’t ever recall hearing someone under the age of say…60ish say Missoura or Awaia
The reason is actually quite interesting.
From the beginning the name of the state was “Missouri.”
However, in the 19th century theater, there developed a certain type of stock “hick” character. This character would be portrayed as rather slow and stupid and he would always say he was from “Virginny” or “Alabammy.” The Y sound at the end became the sign of a hick.
People from Missouri changed the pronuciation to Missoura so they wouldn’t be thought stupid. As the stock character slowly faded (the last I can think of was in the “L’il Abner” comic strip"), people went back to the original pronunciation.
In any case, it may not have helped. The reason Missouri was originally called the “Show me” state was that their residents were considered too stupid to understand simple instructions; they had to be shown everything.
RealityChuck, I’m not sure where you’re getting your information, but the derivation of “show me” is pretty clear.
"Why is Missouri nicknamed the “Show Me State?”
Missouri became known as the Show Me State in 1899, when Congressman Willard D. Vandiver said: “I come from a country that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I’m from Missouri. You’ve got to show me.”
As for Missour-ee vs. Missour-ah, it’s simply a pronunciation thang. People from generally north of the Missouri River tend to pronounce it Missour-ee. People from the Ozarks tend to pronounce it Missour-ah.
While stationed at Fort Leonard Wood we pronounced it “Misery”.
as an Illinoisian who went to school in Missouri, i’d say there was a 50/50 split, with the older people more Missoura ingrained, but plenty of youngin’s. Usually the Missouras asked me about Illinoiz. Mizzou was smack in the middle of the state, so we had people from north and south, and that gag with Bart floating down the Mississippi leaving Missouri into Missoura was prety accurate.
My friend is 19, lives in Oklahoma and has family from the southwestern part of Missouri; he says “Missourah”.
Old folks and rednecks say Missourah. They also warsh their hands. Old folks are just people that have the accent of the south. Rednecks are just stupid. When I talk to an old guy with a crewcut telling me about Missourah, I think “that’s class”. When I talk to a mullet sporting, chicken wing sucking, cornbread sopping redneck talking about Missourah, I think “what a stupid Mo Fo”.
It also depends on where you are. In the east and north, it is generally Missouri. The further west or south you go, the more you hear Missourah. It’s an accent thing. Most people say New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota. Locals say New Yawk, Wiscawnson, Minnesootuh, doncha know, ya you betcha, oofta.
Hey! My dad is 58 and he says both of those!
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Including but not limited to, yes?
Posting from Northwest Missouri, here.
I’m of the opinion that “Missouri” and “Missourah” are actually two different states. However, according to political advertising, it seems like Misssourah is getting more benefits.
Mrs. HeyHomie is from Iron County, southeastern Missouri, WAAAAYYYYY deep into those woods and Ozark mountains.
She, and all her family, have always said “Missouri” and will run screaming from the exits if someone says “Missoura.”
Re: The Show-Me State:
“Show Me” the way out of this cave.
“Show Me” your driver’s license (when the state trooper pulls you over for doing 66 in a 65 zone.
I have noticed a similar phenomenon with Saint Louis. The older people and southerners say “saint lew-ee” while younger folk say “saint lew-is”
Funny but I have never heard anyone say “lew-is-ville” it is always “lew-ee-ville” as in Kentucky
St. Louis has always been St. Louis with an s to the natives, and no one says “St. Looey” except for Baba Looey (a cartoon character) and outsiders from places like Chicago who don’t know how to pronounce it.
Even in the po white tr-- um, underprivileged areas of South St. Louis, like Soulard, where soda is pronounced “sodee,” still would not use any pronunciation but St. Louis.
Once when I was going to Saint Louis University, I got high with a guy from Des Peres, Missouri, and we shared a laugh as he parodied its name as “Despair, Misery.”
As a lifelong resident of the St. Louis area who has attended five universities and holds degrees from three of them–including a ranked in The Best Law Schools in America, I can assure you that not everyone who says “Missouruh” is “an ignorant redneck”. It is the pronunciation I tend towards.
For whatever it is worth, people have often remarked that I speak with unuual distinctness and clarity for a Midwesterner, a fact I attribute to having undergone as a child extensive speach therapy to overcome a congenital defect. People tend to have little self-effacement about how they speak, but as I have been able to work as a radio announcer, and have had no trouble speaking in open court as an attorney, I assume this assessment is accurate.
Until recent decades, “Missouruh”, was in fact, the preferred pronunciation. One might argue that this pronunciation is not phonetic, but this argument amonts to nothing. Neither are the correct pronciations of Arkansas, Illinois and Iowa phonetic. People were, in any case, saying the word Missouri long before it was being written in Roman characters.
Several times I have heard historians of the area state that “Missouruh” appears to be the original and authentic pronunciation of the state name. The story cited above about “Virginnee” is a new one on me. It may be entirely correct, but I should be very interested to see some actual contemporary citation to support it as the reason the pronunciation developed.
I am 47, and recall that the “Missouruh” pronounciation was much more prevalent when I was a child. In fact, I remember that as late as the 1970s there was a local radio commercial which made fun of an east coast type who said “St. Louiee Missoureeeee”.
In former times people within the state said “Missouruh” and people outside of the state tended to say “Missouree”. This is still the case with the St. Louis/St. Louie dichotomy. A few years ago I rented a video of “Meet Me in St. Louis” which included a promotional trailer and was surprised to hear the announcer say “St. Louie”. I had never before heard the name of the movie said other than as spelled.
The composer of the original song had meant the name to be pronounced “St. Louis”. When the song is sung in its entirety, there is an oppening passage which gives context to the remainder of the verses. The song is about a woman writing to her estanged husband in hopes of affecting a reconciliation. She tells him to meet her in St. Louis if he wishes to save their marriage. His name is “Louis”, hence, “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis”. Had the composer wished to have had the husband addressed as Louie, and the song pronouced otherwise, he would have written “Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie”.
If the “Missouree” pronunciation has been gaining greater currency within the state in recent times, this is attributable to the increasing mobility of American society, and the fact that television and radio have tended to diminish the existence of regional accents. As everyone has some kind of accent, it hardly makes sense to suggest that a pronunciation marked by an accent is necessarily wrong.
A good many people who are particularly well-spoken invariably say “Missouruh”. Among them are broadcasters Alistair Cooke and John Chancellor.
In fact, the name of the state may properly be pronounced either way. I shall leave it to other posters to denounce one another as “ignorant” for pronouncing “either” as “I-ther” or “E-ther”.
As a lifelong resident of the St. Louis area who has attended five universities and holds degrees from three of them–including a law school ranked in The Best Law Schools in America, I can assure you that not everyone who says “Missouruh” is “an ignorant redneck”. It is the pronunciation I tend towards.
For whatever it is worth, people have often remarked that I speak with unuual distinctness and clarity for a Midwesterner, a fact I attribute to having undergone as a child extensive speech therapy to overcome a congenital defect. People tend to have little self-effacement about how they speak, but as I have been able to work as a radio announcer, and have had no trouble speaking in open court as an attorney, I assume this assessment is accurate.
Until recent decades, “Missouruh”, was in fact, the preferred pronunciation. One might argue that this pronunciation is not phonetic, but this argument amonts to nothing. Neither are the correct pronciations of Arkansas, Illinois and Iowa phonetic. People were, in any case, saying the word Missouri long before it was being written in Roman characters.
Several times I have heard historians of the area state that “Missouruh” appears to be the original and authentic pronunciation of the state name. The story cited above about “Virginnee” is a new one on me. It may be entirely correct, but I should be very interested to see some actual contemporary citation to support it as the reason the pronunciation developed.
I am 47, and recall that the “Missouruh” pronounciation was much more prevalent when I was a child. In fact, I remember that as late as the 1970s there was a local radio commercial which made fun of an east coast type who said “St. Louiee Missoureeeee”.
In former times people within the state said “Missouruh” and people outside of the state tended to say “Missouree”. This is still the case with the St. Louis/St. Louie dichotomy. A few years ago I rented a video of “Meet Me in St. Louis” which included a promotional trailer and was surprised to hear the announcer say “St. Louie”. I had never before heard the name of the movie said other than as spelled.
The composer of the original song had meant the name to be pronounced “St. Louis”. When the song is sung in its entirety, there is an oppening passage which gives context to the remainder of the verses. The song is about a woman writing to her estanged husband in hopes of affecting a reconciliation. She tells him to meet her in St. Louis if he wishes to save their marriage. His name is “Louis”, hence, “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis”. Had the composer wished to have had the husband addressed as Louie, and the song pronouced otherwise, he would have written “Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie”.
If the “Missouree” pronunciation has been gaining greater currency within the state in recent times, this is attributable to the increasing mobility of American society, and the fact that television and radio have tended to diminish the existence of regional accents. As everyone has some kind of accent, it hardly makes sense to suggest that a pronunciation marked by an accent is necessarily wrong.
A good many people who are particularly well-spoken invariably say “Missouruh”. Among them are broadcasters Alistair Cooke and John Chancellor. It is also the pronunciation used by a number of prominent natives of the state, such as the current U.S. Attorney General, although I will admit I agree with him on practically nothing else.
In fact, the name of the state may properly be pronounced either way. I shall leave it to other posters to denounce one another as “ignorant” for pronouncing “either” as “I-ther” or “E-ther”.
By the way, it is my observation that well-spoken people who are actually from Louisville pronounce the name of their city with a short “i” as in “hit” or “his”; “loo-i-vil”.