You know how we Michiganders pronounce “Bois Blanc?”
“Bob-lo.”
Now that’s interesting, never remember hearing that one.
I give you Natchitoches, LA.
Well, bear in mind this would have been about 1940.
There’s a name in Kansas, Marais des Cygnes. Best as I can transcribe it’s Mare-uh-duh Zeen.
Come to Scotland, and try Milngavie (Muhl-guy), Kirkcudbright (Kuh-coo-bree), Kingussie (Kin-you-see) and Kirkcaldy (Kuh-coddy).
And in England, even people who live in Shrewsbury disagree about whether it’s Shroe or Shroo.
How about Sault Ste. Marie?
Berlin in Coos County, New Hampshire. Neither Berlin nor Coos is pronounced the way you think.
That must be where attorney Bob Loblaw is from.
When I pronounced it “Mack-i-nack” on Jeopardy!, the Detroit Free Press ran this little article. Scroll down for a guide to Michigan place-name pronunciations.
The SE Michigan area has a number of roads that are difficult for out-of-towners (or even natives, sometimes) to pronounce. I’ll start with an easy one:
Gratiot
Ok, you probably knew it wasn’t 'GRAT-ee-ot, so maybe you put a French accent spin on it and got something like 'grah-she-AWW? Nope, It’s ‘GRASH-it’.
Shoenherr
‘SHOWN-hair’? No, but nice try. This is pronounced ‘SHAY-ner’.
Lahser
LAH-ser? LAW-ser? LAW-sher? LASH-er? Nobody really knows!
OK, according to this article, it’s LAH-ser.
Having grown up in Milan, and spent a lot of time in Ypsilanti, I was glad to see those included on the list.
In New Orleans, Burgundy Street is pronounced ‘bur-GUN-dee’ and Calliope Street is pronounced ‘CALLY-ope’.
And of course, Wayne Newton sang Danke SHAYNE.
Thats also how Hoosiers pronounce caramel.
Likewise Berlin in Rensselaer County, New York.
And Paris “Pair s” not “Puh ree”.
This Minnesota boy, also.
As a transplant to Missouri, we have Versailles, which is pronounced Ver-sails, and Nevada, which is nuh-VAY-duh.
It’s Ver-sails in Indiana, too. Of course, there’s LaFontaine (la fountain).
When I lived in Upper Michigan we lived in the small village of ‘Quinnesec’
We tried all the way there trying to figure out how it was pronounced.
We were all wrong. It speaks just like it’s read.