That’s similar ot how we pronounce the “t??n” construction in Central PA (West Central…Altoona area), too. Moun’n, for mountain, especially.
Wollongong = WOOL-ng- gong (the G does double duty)
Kuring-gai = Kuh-RING - guy
Coogee = COULD-jie
Canowindra = c’-NOUN-dra
Vaucluse = Vor-CLOOZ
Tarago = TARRA-go, not t’RAH-go
Tarana = Tarra-NAH
Nyngan = Ning-G’N (the G does double duty)
Ourimbah = uh-RIM-b’
Wallerawang = wuh-LAIR-uh-wang
All guaranteed to confuse the newbies…
More Massachusetts here…
Worcester: Wooster, Woostah, or Wister are all acceptable. War-chest-er is not.
Athol: Ath-all, not At-hol
Leominster: Lemon-ster, not Lee-oh-minster
All I can think of for now.
I’ve been living here for nearly five years now and I still have trouble with some of the local place names
Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen
Ystrad Mynach
Llanelli
Godre’r-graig
Mynydd Allt-y-grug
shudder
Durham, NC.
Pronounced “DUR-um”
Once someone asked me how to get to “dur-HAM”
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Good ol’ rural Utah has some…interesting names.
Mantua: MANdaway
Bicknell: BICKn’l
Hurricane: HURRiken
Manti: Man-tie
Oquirrh (mountains): Ochre
And Panguitch is exactly how you pronounce it, it’s just a really freaking awesome name.
Exactly. I swear they do it just to piss me off.
…or pronounces it woishington instead of warshinun, although the southern accent has been hunted to extinction around here, so it’s no wonder.
Either they’re not as local as they say they are or they’re messing with people. Given the sense of humor of people who work on the Sim games, it could very well be the latter. 
From the Tronna area (Southern Ontario). All of these are towns or cities unless otherwise indicated:
Etobicoke: ih-TOE-bih-coe, or ee-TOE-bih-coe. The final ‘ke’ is silent.
Roncesvalles (Avenue): RON-sess-vailz.
Kerr (Street, in Oakville): kurr.
Yonge (Street): yung.
Weber (Street, in Waterloo): WEE-burr.
Omemee: oh-ME-me.
Barrie: berry. Rhymes with mary, merry, and marry.
And how could I forget Peterborough (I was born there).
Peterborough: PEE-dur-burl.
In Nashville, there’s a street named “Demonbruin”.
It’s pronounced “DEE-mum-BREE-un”.
Really.
Campbell, OH - pronounced Camel
North Lima, OH - Lie-muh, not Lee-muh
I was corrected on these a number of times when I moved up this way. I still have problems pronouncing Campbell as Camel (especially when I have relatives with the last name Campbell, pronounced like you expect it to be pronounced).
In Colorado Springs, there is a street named “Cache La Pudre” which I tried to pronounce in French.
No such luck.
The locals prounounce it Cash La Pooder.
Nooksak.
Actually, it’s somewhere in between the two. “P’yallup” (like the “P” sound in front of “y’all” with “up” at the end) is best. Usually, the best you can get transplanted people to say is the way Cervaise wrote it. Sorta like the people who think they’re hip when they say “NOR’lins.”
Of course, someone already mentioned Willamette. The tourists say it “WILL-a-mette.” It’s “wil-LAM-ette.”
I laugh at the newbies who say “Lake Os-WAY-go” (Lake Oswego)(it’s “os-WE-go”), “ah-LO-Ha” (Aloha, it’s near Beaverton) (here, it’s uh-LOW-uh, the “h” is not pronounced), “TIG-ard” or “TIE-GUARD”(Tigard – pronounced “TIE-gurd”) or don’t even know what to do with Champoeg Park (try “sham-POO-ey”).
Then there’s the TV commercials for the get-rich-quick-no-money-down seminars at your local airport hotel - they keep mispronouncing Multnomah as “Multinomah.” Drives me freakin’ nuts.
Don’t even get me started on the easterners who say “OR-i-GONE.” Hangin’s too good for 'em.
And, if you’re ever going to fit in here, you have to learn to never say you’re going to the “beach” or the “seaside” (unless you mean the town Seaside) or the “ocean” - the only acceptable phrase here is going to “the coast.”
Hey! I’m learning! Slowly. I’m from a place with many native names, along with french names, so my guesses at some of them aren’t usually too horrendous. Mostly just tongue-twisters. I can sling “pyoo-AL-up” with the best of youse, now. I even went to the fair last year. Got a T-shirt, too. And a little purse that looks like a sheep. I named her Lambo. They loved her in Leavenworth.
I did mess up Des Moines a lot when I first moved here, though, but was corrected often, since I lived next to it. (Well, Boulevard Park, close enough).
Names people trip over back in my homeland: Digdeguash, Pocologan, Mirimichi, Piskahegan, Magaguadavic, Manawagonish, Neguac, Lepreau, Letete, Letang, Bouctouche, St. Croix, Meductic, Boiestown, Maquapit Lake, Passamaquoddy, Nauwigewauk, Plumweseep, Quispamsis, Apohaqui, Waweig… probably more I’m not thinking of.
I used to live near the Will-uh-metty River. :mad:
Here in San Jose, there’s a street called Alum Rock, pronounced with the accent on the “A” (like the powder) not like Alumni. New radio DJ, in his first traffic report, says it wrong and is simultaneously laughed at by thousands.
Near where I grew up are the fine towns of Milan (MY-lin), IL and Orion (Or-ee-un), IL. My mom also grew up near Miami (My-am-uh), OK.
Yes on Bala Cynwood – but the preferred pronunciation of Schuylkil is more like “SKOO-kul,” with the “kul” almost swallowed.