Mr. Butrscotch just reminded me of one in his home state, Montevideo, Minnesota, pronounced Monte-VID-eo. Ouch.
We have a Milan in Michigan pronounced MY-LUN.
Of course Hell Michigan is prounced the same way as its more famous predecessor.
Of subject, but near my in-laws in West Virginia there’s a town called Hurricane but it’s pronounced HUR-RI-KIN.
Aberdeen: Maryland, North Carolina
Aetna: Kanasas
Agra: Kansas, Oklahoma
Cadiz: Ohio
Manchester: New Hampshire
Nazareth: Pennsylvania, Texas
Bethlehem: Pennsylvania
Friedberg: North Carolina (now a community but a town in the 18th and 19th century)
Wachovia/Wachau: North Carolina (later changed to Salem, now half of Winston-Salem)
Italy: Texas
Naples: Florida
But are they pronounced any differently than the foreign versions, catnoe? Naples is unlikely to be, because the Italian city is Napoli.
Well, if you ask a Pennsylvanian how to pronounce Bethlehem, s/he will tell you it’s BETH-le-hem, regardless of whether you mean the one in PA or the one from the Baby Jesus story. But if you listen closely, you’ll find the locals squeeze the name of the one in Pennsy down to two syllables, which they’d never do for the one they talk about in church. So…
Incidentally, I grew up south of BETH-lem in LANG-ku-stir, which is (as far as my ear can tell) closer to the way folks from the North of England pronounce Lancaster than the LAN-cass-tir of most other American cities with that name. Still not identical, though. Nearby you’ll find Hamburg and Hannover, both pronounced with a distinctly un-German sort of “a” in the first syllable. And nearby ber-LIN kept the accent on the second syllable, but again, the vowels changed. I don’t know whether that counts as a “mispronunciation” or not.
You’ll find a copy of every major world city in the states. And often they even become more famous than the original, e.g. New York, New Orleans, Harlem…
French & Dutch names are always mispronounced/‘pronounced english’: New Orleans [or-lay-yaw], Waterloo [water-low].
Wow, they got it right. I’m impressed.
Nope. That’s not correct.
It’s wus-TA!
An ‘r’ ? At the end of a word ? In Massachusetts ? No way.
Actually, a lot of local New Orleaneans pronounce it surprisingly close to the French, multi-syllabically. But they then say the S, which ruins it. The one thing guaranteed to brand you a non-local is to say New Or-LEENS; the accent is NEVER put on the last syllable of the city name – although that’s the most popular pronunciation of the parish by the same name, go figure!
I dated a guy who went to Wus-ta Polytech. I still remember lo these many years later harassing his roommate from Boston when he asked, “Where should we pahk the cah?”
Italy, Texas is pronounced “Italy”. Same way the country’s pronounced.
Corinth, Texas is pronounced “CAR-inth”
Palestine, Texas is pronounced “palace-TEEN”
Edinburgh, Texas is pronounced “EE-den-burg”.
Folks in Dublin, Texas got it right. There’s even a lot of Irish-themed signage around town.
There is a town in SC by that name, pronounced “LANK-us-ter.” I’ve heard other towns with the name pronounced it “LAN-CAS-ter.”
I’ve lived in MD for three years, and Aberdeen always seems to be pronounced the same as the Scottish version.
Besides Bremen (BREE-men), Georgia has:
Macon (Named after the city in France, but pronounced like bacon.)
Cairo (KAY-ro).
Vienna (vy-EENA).
Albany (all-BINNY).
Canton (pronounced like the city in Ohio, but not like the one in China, after which it was named.)
LaFayette (la-FAY-ett) (though not named after a city, obviously) is another fun mispronounced Georgia town.
Birmingham, Alabama puts more emphasis on the HAM than the English original, does it not?
Yes. Over here the last syllable just trails off – the H isn’t pronounced at all and the A is hardly pronounced.
Yep, the English pronunciation is Birming’m.
Oddly enough, the region of Scotland called Buchan is pronounced “Buck-an”. I think there could be a linke there. Maybe all the folks named “Buchanan” who pronounce it “BYOO-kan-an” are doing the different pronunciation?
Around where I grew up, there is another MY-Lin (IL, this time) and even an Orion (Or-eee-un). I’m surprised they didn’t pronounce it Rock Izzzland.
oops, I miss that part of the OP.
I don’t know if there is a Capri any where but I know most people mispronounce it. The island is pronounced CAPpre.
There is a Palestine Texas, pronounced PAL steen.