How do you pronounce it?

[gigi]

“Budapest or Budapesht? Kiper Belt or Kuiper Belt? Houseton or Hyouston? Van Wick or Van Whyk?”

Budapesht. Also Prishtina.
Never heard of this belt and have never had occasion to say it.
Hyouston in Texas and Houseton in NYC.
Van Wick.

I watched a documentary about Jerzy Popiełuszko over the weekend and realized I’ve been mispronouncing Lech Walesa all these years. And I may start saying Varsava for Warsaw.

[Riemann]

@DCnDC

McLean, VA is not “mick-LEEN” like some kind of low-calorie sandwich from McDonald’s, but rather “mick-CLANE” (and it’s specifically “CLANE” and not “LANE”; the “CL” sound is important).

It seems to me that “muh-CLANE” and “mc-LANE” are aurally indistinguishable.
Or are you saying that it’s really pronounced with two velar stops that are not run together, as in “mc-[agogic pause]-CLANE”? That would be really odd.

[Gordon_Urquhart]

If a person pronounces the name of the state “Colo RAH doh,” you can be pretty certain that they’re not from “Colo RAD o.”

[DCnDC]

@Riemann

It seems to me that “muh-CLANE” and “mc-LANE” are aurally indistinguishable.
Or are you saying that it’s really pronounced with two velar stops that are not run together, as in “mc-[agogic pause]-CLANE”? That would be really odd.

I’ve heard it. It’s subtle, but there’s a difference. Not quite like they’re saying “Mick Lane” like they’re completely separate words, but there is definitely the briefest of pauses where it should be as close to one syllable as a two-syllable word can be; the point is, the majority of emphasis should be on the “CLANE.”

.

[LSLGuy]

@DCnDC

…
Conversely, Taneytown, MD is “TAWNEY-town” and not “TAY-nee-town” or “TAN-ee-town.”

OTOH, Taney county in Missouri is definitely “TAY-nee”.

[elfkin477]

@guestchaz

I bolded this part, cause I’ve never heard anybody pronounce the name Don Quixote any other way than Kee yoh tee or sometimes Kee hoh tee. Where are you that people commonly say Don Kwiksut? Eh, American English is a funny language.

now I wonder if the star trek character Cahotey (spelling?) is supposed to be some sort of reference to Quixote

Kwiksut is as he said the traditional English pronunciation. We’re not English, but he probably is. I have heard Brits say it that way, as baffling as that is.

[UDS]

@Riemann

It seems to me that “muh-CLANE” and “mc-LANE” are aurally indistinguishable.

As I say them in my head, based on how they are written here, they are completely distinguishable.

Of course, I have no way of knowing whether how I say them in my head bears any relationship to what the writer intended, and presumably it’s not how you’re hearing them in your head. But in my native Hiberno-English consonants are very definitely coloured by adjacent vowels, and with a consonant at the break between two syllables it matters hugely whether it is coloured by the preceding vowel or the succeeding vowel.

It’s the ‘l’ which is changing here, not the ‘c’. Thinking about it, in “mc-LANE” I am forming the ‘l’ with my tongue further forward that it is in “muh-CLANE”.

[california_jobcase]

There are plenty of places with weird pronunciations, and Georgia is no exception. McDonough is Mack Donna, for instance. Albany is All Benny. If those don’t seem too strange try Taliaferro, the name of the least-populated county in the state.

“Tolliver”

[thelurkinghorror]

@california_jobcase

There are plenty of places with weird pronunciations, and Georgia is no exception. McDonough is Mack Donna, for instance. Albany is All Benny. If those don’t seem too strange try Taliaferro, the name of the least-populated county in the state.

“Tolliver”

Those first two seem cromulent to my West coast eyes. Maybe Mick Donno is how I would assume, and the very hoity toity town of Albany, California is pronounced that way.

I knew how to pronounce that last one from experience, but it’s no weirder than the very British Featheringstonehaugh (fanshaw) or St. John (sinjin). Ta(g)liaferro is a prominent Virginia name: Taliaferro - Wikipedia.