# How do you prounce Connecticut? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892 "2009-07-31T17:51:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/61 "2009-08-02T00:35:11Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > You have a different vowel in “put” and “book”? At this point, I don’t even know. I’ve always been much better with consonants than vowels. I think the sound I’m going for is the upside-down capital omega in IPA: /ʊ/. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/62 "2009-08-02T00:52:28Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > At this point, I don’t even know. I’ve always been much better with consonants than vowels. I think the sound I’m going for is the upside-down capital omega in IPA: /ʊ/. Ah. That’s how I pronounce both vowels. I have heard people pronounce Connecticut similar to that, but it’s closer to the French schwa because it’s so short. A lot of people use it (incorrectly) at the end of _bonjour_, if you aren’t sure what sound I mean. (In my hillbilly dialect, it’s also the u in sure, as people don’t open their mouth far enough or move their tongue fast enough to get the “proper” /ʊ/.) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/63 "2009-08-02T01:18:50Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > Even more annoying is the fact that there’s Mackinaw City on the mainland and Mackinac Island offshore. Also Fort Mackinac on the island, Fort Michilimackinac on the mainland, and the Mackinac Bridge connecting the lower penninsula with Yooperland. All of them use the “naw” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/64 "2009-08-02T02:16:37Z")
As for Ds and Ts, here’s one: Denton, in Texas. Not being from near Denton, I tended to pronounce the T as a T whenever it came up. One day, a lady from there asked me why I pronounced it like that. She said it was … well, not exactly “Dendon,” but ever the softest stop before the final consonant. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/65 "2009-08-02T04:30:39Z")
How about Tucson AZ? Anyone pronounce the C in that? Yachats OR is another name with a silent C. This name makes a good shibboleth for telling Oregonians from non-Oregonians. Not that we need another one of those – there’s plenty of others. Any more silent Cs? Would Silent Cs make a good band name? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/66 "2009-08-02T04:35:25Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > How about Tucson AZ? Anyone pronounce the C in that? A BBC weatherman did one time. 😃 Which reminds me of the _Bangkok Post_ one time spelling the state “Arisona.” They tend to go with British spellings here and so went a little overboard in changing the Zs to Ss. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/67 "2009-08-02T05:23:19Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > How about Tucson AZ? Anyone pronounce the C in that? They do here in Panama when pronouncing the name of the Hyundai SUV. Spanish is spelled the way it sounds, so Spanish speakers will pronounce words that way. I find it a bit jarring when I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/68 "2009-08-02T16:14:49Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > And as Gramps Simpson pronounces it: > > _It’ll be a long time afore I recognises Missora_ I think the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a survey roughly 20 years ago that had 1/3 of Missouri’s population favoring the “Missour-uh” pronunciation. We’ve elected governors that use it. (John Ashcroft was a Missour-uh man.) ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/69 "2009-08-02T21:08:44Z")
Pronunciation also It also depends on where in CT you’re from. There’s the Yankee Northwest corner, the Boston/Rhode Island upper east, and the metro NY lower west. I grew up in the lower corner, and have a near Long Island accent. We put chawklit on our ice cream and pronounced it Kinnetta-kit. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/70 "2009-08-03T16:52:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever heard “Conencticut” without the final “t”, or with a very faint one, but I could almost see it pronounced with a terminating glottal stop. I wonder if some American dialects do this. I’m originally from Rhode Island, and I would often hear it pronounced: ``` K'neddiki[t] ``` where the [t] represents a glottal stop. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/71 "2009-08-03T17:10:24Z")
Then there are places which annoy me by being pronouced exactly as they are spelled. Take, for example, **Forked River, NJ**. I always thought it was one syllable: “Forkt”, but no, they gotta fool ya by pronouncing it exactly as spelled: Four-kehd. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/72 "2009-08-03T19:44:17Z")
> [@c\_goat](#): > > I’m from Long Island > > We pronounce it kuh-NET-uh-cut > > 😉 I’m from Long Island and I’ve never heard anyone pronounce the last syllable as “cut”. I sure as hell don’t - I’m with the local CT guy - kuh Net uh kit. We - I == some of us ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/73 "2009-08-03T21:46:50Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The final “t” is generally not voiced, as it is at the beginning of a word. Thank you, I couldn’t come up with the right term. > [@Colibri](#): > > They do here in Panama when pronouncing the name of the Hyundai SUV. Spanish is spelled the way it sounds, so Spanish speakers will pronounce words that way. I find it a bit jarring when I hear it. I sort’a had the opposite problem in Costa Rica. It took me several months to realize that an “arby” was an RV4 - and my Spanish coworkers didn’t believe it until they’d confirmed it with the locals. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/74 "2009-08-04T14:52:31Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Then there are places which annoy me by being pronouced exactly as they are spelled. Take, for example, **Forked River, NJ**. I always thought it was one syllable: “Forkt”, but no, they gotta fool ya by pronouncing it exactly as spelled: Four-kehd. Kind of like Newark, Delaware, which is pronounced “New Ark” to distinguish it from Newark (“New’rk”), NJ. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/75 "2009-08-04T15:07:51Z")
> [@JonathanTheRed](#): > > I spent a haypenny to buy some Woostershire sauce from Mr. Fanshaw. Yeah, don’t you Brits go hasslin’ us 'bout no silent letters. That’s _Wooster_ sauce. ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892/76 "2009-08-04T15:22:48Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I’m from Long Island and I’ve never heard anyone pronounce the last syllable as “cut”. I sure as hell don’t - I’m with the local CT guy - kuh Net uh kit. > > We - I == some of us I think you’re right, I’ve been saying it out loud and I must have been forcing myself to say cut. If I say it fast it comes out like kit. The ‘UH’ part was what I was really trying to point out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prounce-connecticut/504892.md?page=3)