# Erin Burnett of CNN: Trump campaigning in "wah-KEE-sha Wisconsin" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167 "2016-09-28T23:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/1 "2016-09-28T23:06:29Z")
She doesn’t know how to pronounce Waukesha. ::facepalm:: ETA: Les Paul is the Wizard of Waukesha. How could she not know that?! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/2 "2016-09-28T23:14:07Z")
Where, again? Look, I know Waukegan and Weehawken. Heck, I know Ouagadougou and Hagatna and Pago Pago. This place? Only read it in print, never \*heard \*it pronounced until today. ---
**Author:** ![Hayden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/91b2a8/32.png) [@Hayden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hayden)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/3 "2016-09-28T23:17:11Z")
Ha! Waukesha County resident here. I was just watching that and had a chuckle as well. Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/4 "2016-09-28T23:41:24Z")
I have never heard of the place. How do you say it? Her pronunciation is similar to the one I would pick. That said, Erin Burnett could mispronounce my four letter last name that is also a common word and I still wouldn’t get mad at her. She is really hot and certainly not dumb. How about you try some place names close to where I have lived: Nacogdoches, TX Natchitoches, LA Leicester, MA Worcester, MA Tchoupitoulas Street New Orleans, LA Royal Street New Orleans, LA Lake Chaubunagungamaug, MA I would bet good money that most people get them very wrong. Knowing the accepted pronunciation of every obscure place in the U.S. isn’t realistic for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/5 "2016-09-29T00:07:32Z")
WAH-kuh-shaw It’s a small city, but I would think a newscaster would get it right. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/6 "2016-09-29T00:11:08Z")
With all the people to fault in the news (and in this world) You’re going after Erin Burnett? She’s like the Rocky Road Ice Cream of the News…! I’m pretty sure that even if you were deathly allergic to her and had just jammed 2 epi-pens into your leg before swelling up and exploding, you’d STILL say, “Buth… thath Erinth… Thee’s Tho Thweet…! Ah… ahth doh bwame herwa ath Awl!!!” \* \*\* \*\* \*\* \*\* \*\* \*\* \* _ **boom** _ ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/7 "2016-09-29T00:27:01Z")
There’s even easier ones people mispronounce. How about Berlin, CT? It’s not pronounced the same was as the city in Germany. Nor is Cairo, IL pronounced like the city in Egypt. There are many examples like that with U.S. cities. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/8 "2016-09-29T00:31:30Z")
It just seems that, by now, there should be a pronunciation database for all cities in the U.S. And that the pronunciation could be indicated on the teleprompter. Still, I’d think it funnier if it was Trump and his group mispronouncing it, even as they campaigned there. They of all people should have talked to a resident. That’s what I thought this was going to be about, on first glance. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/9 "2016-09-29T00:48:00Z")
Ask your average resident of the region (city or county) how things are in Waukesha and they’ll invariably reply “Waukeshitty”. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/10 "2016-09-29T01:01:33Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Ask your average resident of the region (city or county) how things are in Waukesha and they’ll invariably reply “Waukeshitty”. Pronounced “wah-KEE-shitty”. > [@OldGuy](#): > > There’s even easier ones people mispronounce. How about Berlin, CT? It’s not pronounced the same was as the city in Germany. Nor is Cairo, IL pronounced like the city in Egypt. > > There are many examples like that with U.S. cities. Seems odd, yet there is a small town in Ontario called Delhi which is pronounced nothing like Delhi or New Delhi in India. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/11 "2016-09-29T01:12:04Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > WAH-kuh-shaw > > It’s a small city, but I would think a newscaster would get it right. I wouldn’t. The top national news anchors in the country mispronounced “Kabul” for a long time, a time when Kabul was in the news quite a bit more than Waukesha ever has been. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/12 "2016-09-29T01:53:14Z")
Waukesha, it’s over by OH-cuh-NO-muh-walk, right? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/13 "2016-09-29T01:59:12Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > ETA: Les Paul is the Wizard of Waukesha. How could she not know that?! Well, I didn’t know that about Les Paul and Waukesha until I actually had reason to spend a week in Waukesha this summer. It’s really not that well known a town. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/14 "2016-09-29T02:09:50Z")
Oh, and what I would have imagined it sounding like, never having heard it before? Sort of like “Whoa Ke$ha” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/15 "2016-09-29T02:15:29Z")
I live in St. Louis where the locals celebrate its French heritage by pronouncing every place name horribly, horribly wrong. And my wife is from Cleveland where, I swear, no two people pronounce Cuyahoga the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/16 "2016-09-29T02:20:56Z")
I recall the old Wausau business insurance commercials, where someone would pronounce it “Warsawr,” then was corrected to “Waw-saw”. Kentucky has a city called Versailles. It’s not “Vair-sigh” as in French, but “Vur-sales,” as in Kentucky-speak. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/17 "2016-09-29T04:21:20Z")
Waukesha was home to Fonzie’s alleged rich cousins with whom he supposedly planned to spend Christmas in a classic “Happy Days” episode that every true American is quite familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/18 "2016-09-29T05:26:08Z")
I’d need a link but as a lifetime Milwaukee resident (bordering Waukesha). Both pronunciations are pretty common, but it’s mostly just residents (and only IME, half at best) that say WauKEEsha) most others way WauKUHsha. Similarly, nearly everyone 'round here says Ruhseen, people that live in the city of Racine seem to incorrectly pronuce it like a bunch of rednecks, Rayseen. I’m not sure which way she mispronounced it, but (again) IME 90% of the people say wauKUHsha and I bump into plenty of people that say wauKEEsha. If you (as a major media outlet talking head), asked someone how to say it, and you asked someone that lived there, there’s a good chance they’d say wauKEEsha. Right or wrong, it’s certainly not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/19 "2016-09-29T10:21:02Z")
It’s also fun to get folks from somewhere else to try and pronounce [Oconomowoc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oconomowoc,_Wisconsin) Most start by using an “s” sound for the first c, sometimes even for the last c. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167/20 "2016-09-29T10:24:51Z")
I would have made both “k”, but that’s just because that’s what they would be in Spanish and I revert to my mother tongue when faced with unknown names. I actually happened to get them right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erin-burnett-of-cnn-trump-campaigning-in-wah-kee-sha-wisconsin/767167.md?page=2)