# Local car commercial messes up city name **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [October 9, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704 "2026-10-09T18:10:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/21 "2026-10-10T14:31:39Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Back in the 1970s, there was a movie distributor, Sunn Classic Pictures, Oh indeed! It seemed their movies would only play the small towns, and they announcer would mispronounce 3/4 of them. It’s one thing to pronounce Berlin like you are in Germany (It’s BER lin, ever since WWI), which is forgivable, but the mangling of towns like Ashwaubenon and the aforementioned Shawano that were insulting and hilarious at the same time. Ask a local! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/22 "2026-10-10T14:54:10Z")
The first time I was looking for the US Embassy in London, I made a local’s day when I asked how to get to “ **Gross** -vennor Square.” (The correct pronunciation is “ **Grove** -ner.”) I know I sounded like just another dumb American, but I was 21 at the time and still very innocent. 😇 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/23 "2026-10-10T14:56:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I made a local’s day when I asked how to get to “ **Gross** -vennor Square.” (The correct pronunciation is “ **Grov** -ner.”) If they want it pronounced that way, they should spell it that way! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/24 "2026-10-10T15:43:39Z")
Who was right? ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/25 "2026-10-10T15:57:11Z")
Norfolk, NE is pronounced “Nor fork.” ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/26 "2026-10-10T16:10:17Z")
If you come to the UK, be sure to visit Loughborough\[1\], and Oswaldtwistle\[2\], and why not stop in the charming village of Cholmondeston\[3\] in Cheshire, on your way to Wales, to, of course, visit Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch\[4\]? * * * 1. Luff-bruh 2. Ozel-twissel 3. Chum-sten 4. just give it your best try ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/27 "2026-10-10T17:29:47Z")
Depends. If you’re from Wisconsin, it’s “Lions.” If you’re from somewhere else, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/28 "2026-10-10T17:34:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > aboat **Aboot** , as in "Oot and aboot, " eh? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/29 "2026-10-10T20:10:44Z")
Shawano’s pronunciation tripped me up the first time I encountered it in college. i had never heard about it in Madison. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/30 "2026-10-10T21:26:35Z")
I live in a part of California where city founders insisted on naming things in Spanish that they were incapable of pronouncing correctly. Paso Robles is “Paso Row-bulls”. Avila is “Av-a-lah” and San Luis Obispo is “San Louis Obispo”. Every out-of-town performer who pronounces the names in the correct Spanish are taken aback by a condescending chuckle from the audience. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/31 "2026-10-10T22:03:20Z")
I sometimes think that locals deliberately mispronounce city names just as a shibboleth. For example, in Arizona Prescott is pronounced “presskit” for no discernible reason. In Colorado, there’s a small town near Durango named Mancos. Any reasonable person would pronounce it Man-Kos, but if you do, everyone knows you are a tourist. It’s “Makiss” (with a hint of ’n’ before the k. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/32 "2026-10-10T22:12:51Z")
Are you whooshing me? In MN it is pronounced “New Prayge” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/33 "2026-10-10T23:59:41Z")
I live near Eldorado, Ark. Been pronounced wrong as long as I know. It’s _ray_ not _rah,_ in the middle. Around here. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/34 "2026-10-11T00:42:05Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Paso Robles is “Paso Row-bulls”. Avila is “Av-a-lah” and San Luis Obispo is “San Louis Obispo”. Don’t forget the port town next to Long Beach, “San Pee-dro.” ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/35 "2026-10-11T01:03:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I cringe whenever I hear Minnesotans refer to New Prague as “New Prayge.” > [@Hampshire](#): > > Are you whooshing me? In MN it is pronounced “New Prayge” But in Czechia it’s not. I would expect “Prahg”, though on the other hand they spell it Praha. . . . And let’s not forget Callus, Maine. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/36 "2026-10-11T01:07:00Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Back in the 1970s, there was a movie distributor, Sunn Classic Pictures, whose business model was that they would rent movie theaters in which to show their films, rather than the traditional distribution system, which let them keep 100% of the box office receipts. Yes but that’s against the cost of renting the entire theater. You got to make sure you can put enough butts in the seats to break even. Here’s a fun little fact. In “The Business” (and by “The Business” I of course mean “The Industry”) that’s known as [“four-walling”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-wall_distribution). I’ve been involved in that several times, most significantly when the feature film I helped make played in a chain theater for 3 weeks. We weren’t gonna get any distribution deals so we four-walled. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/37 "2026-10-11T01:07:34Z")
Nobody who produced the TV movie about the Tuskegee Airmen bothered to call up the Ottumwa, Iowa chamber of commerce to find out how the town’s name is pronounced. It’s ah-TUM-wah but Laurence Fishburne said he was a doctor from OTT-toom-wah. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/38 "2026-10-11T01:12:06Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Yes but that’s against the cost of renting the entire theater. You got to make sure you can put enough butts in the seats to break even. Exactly so, and that’s why Sunn carpet-bombed the market with TV ads, largely during lower-cost time slots. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/39 "2026-10-11T01:22:12Z")
Then there’s Sannazay and Sampensisco. San Rafell. Sackamenna/Sackamenno. We Californios screw up a lot of place names. At least we can say Bakersfield! ---
**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:** [October 11, 2026, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704/40 "2026-10-11T01:35:40Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I live near Eldorado, Ark. > > Been pronounced wrong as long as I know. > > It’s _ray_ not _rah,_ in the middle. > > Around here. It’s that way in southern Illinois, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-car-commercial-messes-up-city-name/1033704.md?page=3)