How many US cities share a common (but mispronounced) name with a world city?

Another Berlin (“BER-lin”) is in Connecticut.

Lubeck (“loo-BECK”), Maine

Here are some more weird Ohio towns:

Russia (pronounced RUE-shee)
Versailles (pronounced ver-SAILS)

I happen to originally be from Piqua. Pronounced PI-quah.

Within just a few miles of each other in Tennessee, you will find Milan (MI-lin) and Medina (Muh-DI- Nuh). We also have a Paris and Newbern close by.

But I’ll bet y’all don’t have a Skullbone like we do!

I may be mistaken, but I believe that the U.S. way of saying these words is not “wrong” – just different.

Qazzz–you beat me to “Russia.” I was so excited about actually having something to contribute, too. :slight_smile: Damn small world.

I’ve heard that a lot of cities were pronounced like the original until WWII, when they changed the pronunciation as an easier solution than changing the town name. Possibly apocryphal, but it certainly makes sense.

Man, this country can destroy foreign words!

Of course, I live in a city where there really and truly is a Socrates (SO-crates) Street, so who knows! (We won’t discuss Peniston! :D)

And speaking of street names, there’s a “Huger” street in my town. But it’s not pronounced “HYOO-ger” or “HYOO-jer.” Nope. It’s “yoo-JEE.” It was named after a local family, and that’s how they pronounced their name.

I go to college in Moscow ID, and I here both pronounciations about equally.

Do you hear them here or there, Dread? :smiley:

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Wow, it’s fun to finally start a thread that’s getting some responses! This is totally addicting!

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Indiana (Espania, to some) has a few.

Lafayette is Laffy-yet or Lay-fee-yet to many.

Our Versailles, like the one in Illinois, is Ver-sails.

Peru is often Proo or PEE-ru.

San Pierre is Sand Peer.

Not precisely on point, but funny: there’s an Arab, Alabama, pronounced AY-rab.

Anyone know how Worcester (Mass) is pronounced? My spidey-sense is telling me “wore-cess-ter” but you never know…

Toledo, OH – tu-LEE-doh

Toledo, Spain – tol-AY-doh

–Cliffy

In New York State:

Massena, is the large village (and surrounding town(ship)) adjacent to the main U.S.-side locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Unlike the city in Sicily, it’s Mah-SEE-nuh. Just southeast of it is a village named Norfolk, usually pronounced NOR-fork. (BTW, how does one pronounce the English city? I’ve heard of various Norfolks being NOR-folk, NOR-foke, NOR-fawk.)

Traveling south, one comes to POTS-dam, CAN-tuhn, and GUHV-er-NEW-er (Potsdam, Canton, and Gouverneur), and then the little fishing resort of Chaumont (shuh-MOE). South of this is Pierrepont Manor, which is indiscriminately PEER-point or PEER-pahnt to natives. Southeast heading towards Utica are Copenhagen, which has the normal English pronunciation and spelling of the Danish capital of Kopenhavn, then Lowville (LAU-vihl), and Port Leyden (LIE-duhn). South of Utica is New Berlin, with the accent on the BER.

And of course the river which empties into the Delaware at Philadelphia, and the county in Pennsylvania named after it, is the Schuylkill, which is SKEE-kihl. US highways 15, 17, and 29 come together in rural Virginia at Warrenton, which is WARE-in-tuhn. And the proper pronunciation of the first major city you come to in North Carolina as you head south on I-95 is Rocky MAOUNT, with a Daown-East twang to it – it should be a slant-rhyme with Mao or Tao – although Raleigh has a TAO Auto Repairs named after its founder, Thomas A. Owens, which is pronounced TAY-oh, rhyming with the word in the Banana Boat Song.

In Ireland and the UK we say “Mos-co” too. In fact, neither pronunciation is correct, since the city is actually pronounced “Moskva”.

Indiana also has a Milan (MY-lan), it’s where the movie Hoosiers takes place.

More from Indiana…
We also have a Milan (MY-lan), a Vevay (VEE-vee), and a Russiaville (ROO-sha-ville).

Slightly off topic, but I know that in downtown Baltimore there is a Eutaw Street (pronounced Utah).

Also in the state of Kansas the Arkansas River is pronounced Ar-KAN-sas.

Berlin, NH had the name of the town officially changed during WWII, or so I heard. They made the new pronounciation berlin, so as not to be confused with them pesky Nazi’s.

May be urban legend, but this story is widely told around that area.

Oh, and Haverhill, MA (Haver-il) has a very different pronounciation than Haverhill, FL (Hav-er-hil).

WUS-ter