# How do you pronounce "Appalachian"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2020, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390 "2020-02-23T08:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/1 "2020-02-23T08:45:24Z")
I’ve heard two different ways of pronouncing “Appalachian”: “a-puh-LAY-shuhn” and “a-puh-LATCH-uhn.” Which do you prefer? And where are you from? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/2 "2020-02-23T08:51:10Z")
Sorry, it ate my poll. Now I can’t add one. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/3 "2020-02-23T08:53:09Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve heard two different ways of pronouncing “Appalachian”: “a-puh-LAY-shuhn” and “a-puh-LATCH-uhn.” Which do you prefer? And where are you from? This [site](https://coalfieldstocornfields.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/appalachia-the-pronunciation-matters/) suggests the latter pronunciation is used by the natives. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/4 "2020-02-23T09:45:49Z")
When I moved to central Kentucky, I was corrected, and the dictionary confirmed – it’s LATCH. In those days, dictionaries were still prescriptive, they didn’t care who they offended. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/5 "2020-02-23T11:38:12Z")
I grew up in NYC saying (not particularly often) a-puh-LAY-shun. After moving to Indiana, I heard the ap-PLATCH-an, or ap-uh-LATCH-an pronunciation for the first time. I looked it up, and found that the 3rd version is “preferred,” while the second is “acceptable.” The first time I met someone from the region, I asked her how she said it, and of course, she gave me the 3-syllable version. What I mostly tend to say now, though, is ap-uh-LATCH-an. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/6 "2020-02-23T11:56:18Z")
I hear both, but prefer ay-pal-ay-cheein. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/7 "2020-02-23T12:05:43Z")
In New England, home of the Appalachian Mountain Club, it’s a-pah-lay-shun . ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/8 "2020-02-23T12:21:52Z")
On some online maps, the top of my neighborhood is labeled “Appalachian Mtns.” So, I’m a “local”. 😉 App-uh-lay-chi-un. (The latter two syllables ~slurred together.) Don’t recall anyone using a “shi” pronunciation in my presence. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/9 "2020-02-23T12:58:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve heard two different ways of pronouncing “Appalachian”: “a-puh-LAY-shuhn” and “a-puh-LATCH-uhn.” Which do you prefer? And where are you from? I grew up with the former and still tends to be my usual pronunciation, though I sometimes use the latter, as that is the more local pronunciation to the area. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/10 "2020-02-23T13:02:12Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > On some online maps, the top of my neighborhood is labeled “Appalachian Mtns.” So, I’m a “local”. 😉 > > App-uh-lay-chi-un. (The latter two syllables ~slurred together.) Don’t recall anyone using a “shi” pronunciation in my presence. [Here’s an example of the “shi” pronunciation](https://youtu.be/_zuOnvK1dwI?t=24). The way that narrator says it (let the video play for a few more seconds to hear “Appalachian” a few more times) is how I grew up hearing and saying it. I try to say it more like “Apple-atcha” these days. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/11 "2020-02-23T13:12:53Z")
As I type this, I’m sitting in my cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains and can see the Appalachian Trail running along a ridge top out my window. I pronounce it latch. The lay pronunciation is more common in the northern portion of the region. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/12 "2020-02-23T14:15:39Z")
The late great WV author Jim Comstock told the story that the Garden of Eden was located in West Virginia. When Adam and Eve noticed their nakedness, Eve said to Adam, “If you don’t stop looking at me that way, I’m going to throw this apple atcha.” And that is historical fact of how Appalachia got its name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/13 "2020-02-23T15:46:33Z")
I live very near the Appalachian Trail and have often hiked sections of it. Around here (eastern PA just across the NJ border) it is the a-puh-LAY-shuhn Trail. I figure the a-puh-LATCH-uhn version is more likely be heard farther south. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/14 "2020-02-23T16:08:38Z")
Definitely the “atch” pronunciation in WNC. It’s very clearly the correct appellation. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/15 "2020-02-23T19:36:59Z")
Growing up in Ohio, we pronounced it /hɪldʒæk/. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/16 "2020-02-23T19:46:41Z")
I pronounce it “APP-a-LAY-shun,” but I’m not from around there. But, at least I don’t pronounce “Appalachia” as “APP-a-lah-CHEE-ah,” like Les Nessman. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/17 "2020-02-23T19:49:06Z")
It’s ‘latch’ in my head. I can’t say I ever had a reason to say it aloud. (Maybe I talked about it while reading the ‘Foxfire’ books) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/18 "2020-02-23T20:00:12Z")
Maybe I’m misreading the Latin-spelling pronunciations but I pronounce it æpəletʃən - app-a-laitch-in. The only word I can think of that rhymes with the third syllable is the name for the letter “H”. That doesn’t seem quite the same as how I read the option in the OP of “æpəleʃən” which to me is pronounced the same as the word “Appellation”. I definitely pronounce the two words differently. That said, when I use the word “Appalachia” without the “n”, I tend to use the southern pronunciation which seems to be æpəlætʃə and agrees exactly with what others have said. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/19 "2020-02-23T20:19:41Z")
Appalachia ends in New York State not that many miles from where I live. I’ve always heard the “ch” rather than the “sh” pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390/20 "2020-02-23T20:54:35Z")
Appalach. Kind of like “Apple-Latch.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-appalachian/848390.md?page=2)