# Is "Missouruh" becoming the accepted pronounciation of "Missouri"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680 "2006-11-01T01:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/61 "2006-11-02T01:55:30Z")
One of the few things St. Louisans and Kansas Citians agree on is that the freakin’ name of the state is pronounced Mizz-oor-ee (or possibly Mizz-ooh-ree). Personally, I blame it all on our senior Senator, Christopher “Kit” Bond, who has been in public life for more than 30 years. He comes from the town of Mexico (pronounced Mexico, smart alec!) in the central part of the state, and has always pronounced it “Missourah.” ---
**Author:** ![Architeuthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Architeuthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architeuthis)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/62 "2006-11-02T02:24:04Z")
Puak the caw in the yawd. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/63 "2006-11-02T02:41:53Z")
For the record, my comment early in this thread was based on a few people I’d known and two or three Missourian authors I’d read – and as it happens, all were from the southern part of the state. Hence my assumption (obviously erroneous) that the -uh/-ah ending was the proper way, as defined by native speakers, to render the name. I stand corrected. As I’m visualizing this, the -uh ending is prevalent south of an arc beginning a bit south of Kansas City and St. Louis and convex to cover much of the I-70 corridor, while the -ee ending is common in the two metropolitan areas and north of that arc. Is that about accurate? ---
**Author:** ![slomodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@slomodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slomodan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/64 "2006-11-02T04:08:36Z")
Might be further south than 1-70, or just spotty on the small towns. I spent more than a few years in Columbia and there-abouts, and never heard it pronounced that way there either. Of course my Girlfriend is from Rolla, Mo, and she doesn’t pronounce it that way. (though her parents are from the KC area if I do remember correctly, so that may be it) ---
**Author:** ![Architeuthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Architeuthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architeuthis)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/65 "2006-11-02T04:18:01Z")
How do N Yorkers say it? Pawk the caw in the yawd? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/66 "2006-11-02T04:22:09Z")
[QUOTE=Whammo] I’m born and raised in the Kansas City Area and I cringe when I hear people say Missoura or Missouruh. It rings so hick to my ears and I hate that steriotype of Missouri. When I hear MJF use that on the commercial I just grimmace but I know he was told to use it that way, after all most of northern MO is all farm country and most of the south is ozarks where more redneck is prevelent, forgiving jeff city and springfield… lol. That being said I have never heard an older person or a farmer around this area use anything but Missoura. Maybe its ME that has a problem and not the others… lol. [/QUOTE] I’d agree that it’s you that has a problem [QUOTE=slomodan] I’ve lived in KC, Missouri all my life and only ever heard it pronounced Mis-sir-ree. So I’d have to say it is far from being the ‘accepted’ pronunciation if a native of the state living in said state goes nearly 30 years without hearing that particular pronunciation. Of course, I don’t go spend much time with the hicks, though several of my friends say ‘warsh’ as in they ‘warsh’ their clothes. [/QUOTE] I grew up just outside St. Louis and the only people I ever heard pronounce it Missour"ee" were people from Illinois (silent s) and elsewhere (a few New Joisey and Noo Yawk transplants come to mind). ---
**Author:** ![Architeuthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Architeuthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architeuthis)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/67 "2006-11-02T04:27:33Z")
[QUOTE=Architeuthis] How do N Yorkers say it? Pawk the caw in the yawd? [/QUOTE] Northern Rednecks? ---
**Author:** ![slomodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@slomodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slomodan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/68 "2006-11-02T04:33:18Z")
[QUOTE=ExTank] I’d agree that it’s you that has a problem I grew up just outside St. Louis and the only people I ever heard pronounce it Missour"ee" were people from Illinois (silent s) and elsewhere (a few New Joisey and Noo Yawk transplants come to mind). [/QUOTE] Funny, just asked my two roommates, both of which are from St. Charles, and they say they have never heard people say Missour"ah" and they themselves say Missour"ee. For something that is “accepted” and “Most people in missouri say it that way” there sure are a lot of native Missourians that have never even heard it. If it was “most” or “accepted” I would have heard it at least once, my roommates would have heard of it. None of us live with our heads in the sand, all of us are very social people and interact with a wide variety of people, so it’s not a lack of mingling with enough people. Five years in college and 25 additional years in the state, I think I would know it if it was accepted or “most” people said it that way. But think what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/69 "2006-11-02T04:53:07Z")
The first time I heard the Missoura pronunciation was in the old _New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ TV show back in 1968 when I was just a wee bairn. It was a combination of live action and animation, and had no connection whatever with the works of Mark Twain except for the names of the characters and “I’m from Hannibal, Missoura.” [QUOTE=Arkie from MO] the Mason\_Dixon line runs through Malden, MO. [/QUOTE] I think I get what you meant-- Malden is about the same latitude as the Kentucky-Tennessee border as well as the Missouri-Arkansas border west of the Bootheel. But that isn’t what the Mason-Dixon Line is. It’s mostly the border at 39° 43´ N between Pennsylvania and Maryland (also between Delaware and Maryland, and part of the border between Pennsylvania and West Virginia). It was the furthest east border dividing the slave states from the free states, and came to be emblematic of the entire division of the nation over slavery–but it wasn’t the name for all such state borders. Wikipedia manages to confuse the matter– > [@](#): > > After the Civil War, the line continued to be thought of as a cultural boundary, which is imagined as continuing westward from Pennsylvania down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, and crossing the Mississippi to place Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas south of the line. Debate respectfully proceeds as to whether border states such as Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia belong on the north or south side of this boundary line. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/70 "2006-11-02T05:10:54Z")
I might point out that only people from the City (you don’t ask which one) are from Noo Yawk. As a native Upstater, I was from a properly palatalized New and a York with an R distinctly audible. We might have our own odd collection of improbably sounded toponyms, but the state name was Standard American. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/71 "2006-11-02T14:18:19Z")
[QUOTE=badbadrubberpiggy] My husband went to Mizzou 🙂 Anyway, this is just more anecdotal evidence, but my husband grew up in Manchester, MO (not so far from St. Louis) and he says “Missour-ee”. He’ll say “Missour-uh” as a joke pronunciation. [/QUOTE] Le sigh…I was having a brainfart. My husband did NOT go to Mizzou. For some reason I saw “Mizzou” and thought of the middle school he went to. No idea why. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/72 "2006-11-02T14:20:57Z")
[QUOTE=Lightray] I am obliged – nay, compelled – to have you ask him what high school he went to. 'cause I went to Parkway South, class of '85; it’s in Manchester. [/QUOTE] I had forgotten the name, so I just called him. He went to MICDS, and he said to tell you that he wasn’t a rich kid 😃 ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/73 "2006-11-02T14:53:34Z")
In my experience, the only people I’ve heard say Missour-uh in St. Louis are older people - like people around my grandparents’ age. But that’s only me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/74 "2006-11-02T16:23:42Z")
[QUOTE=Ellen Cherry] My grandfather (who was born in New York state) always said Cincinnata, for Cincinnati. I have no idea why. [/QUOTE] Cincinnatuh and Miamuh Valley (for the Dayton are) are the old-timey local pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/75 "2006-11-02T20:00:18Z")
From Charles Harrington Elster, [The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations](http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Beastly-Mispronunciations-Opinionated/dp/061842315X/sr=1-1/qid=1162497481/ref=sr_1_1/102-0715375-8629705?ie=UTF8&s=books) (1999): > [@](#): > > **Missouri** : mi-ZUUR-ee (preferred by a clear majority of Missouirians and nearly all “foreigners”); mi-ZUUR-uh (preferred by a significant but dwindling minority of Missourians and by many speaker is Kansas and across the South). Elster then discusses at some length (it’s one of his longest entries) the history of the debate. The jist is that it’s mostly a Northern-Southern distinction, meaning from which part of the country the speaker’s forbears came. In this sense, “uh” is the older pronunciation, as most of the original settlers were from Virginia and Kentucky. But, it has long since been overtaken by “ee,” which as noted Elster concludes is now the majority pronunciation. FWIW, my great-grandpa had a farm in Eureka (near St. Louis, for those of you not from Missouri). He, grandma and everyone else on that side o’ the family used “uh.” My mother still does. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680/76 "2006-11-02T21:58:54Z")
[QUOTE=badbadrubberpiggy] I had forgotten the name, so I just called him. He went to MICDS, and he said to tell you that he wasn’t a rich kid 😃 [/QUOTE] Heh. Thanks to this thread, I just noticed that our plant manager – who’s from Festus – is a Missourahian. This shibboleth may well replace “warsh” and “fahrty-fahr” in registering on my annoyance meter. Thanks ever so much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-missouruh-becoming-the-accepted-pronounciation-of-missouri/378680.md?page=3)