I’d give you regionalism except in this particular case the guy was a functioning idiot (may not be precise as a clinical term) who had a nodding acquaintance with the Native Tongue, but not much else.
I failed to mention (but have done so before elsewhere in these pages) the chess buddy who insisted on substituting “cultured” for “kosher” in contexts where it was obvious he had no idea what either meant.
Another guy insisted on calling it a “graffling” hook. He soon became Graffler to the crowd of nay-sayers I hung out with.
I have been tempted to carry an ax and respond to inquiries related to it by telling them that it is what they are going to get hit with if they don’t stop “axing” questions.
To be honest, I have no idea why “buried” is pronounced “berried”. It makes no sense to me (you are not flinging raspberries at a dead person are you?) so frankly…I pronounce it the way I would rather it be said. “Burreed.” It’s something I’ve made up my mind on. Maybe I’ll be able to create a micro-regionism that will take over the English-speaking world some day. Everyone needs a dream.
Aside from that, I also suffer from “I read it in a book but never heard anyone actually pronounce this word”-itis. My husband often needs to correct me on uncommonly used words. Or sometimes normal ones. I have to think to properly pronounce “foliage” so I don’t say “foilage”, for instance.
Reminds me of the guy I worked with who seemed to think he was clever by always saying ‘computator’ for computer.
Currently, I have a co-worker who vacations in Illinois every year. She pronounces it “ill-a-noise.” Whenever she says Illinois, someone will usually ask if she’s ever been to ‘ar-kansas’, but she doesn’t get it. She must think that state is called ‘ar-kansas.’
And I’m American, I hear “of-ten” quite often. I pronounce it “offen,” and it’s one of those words that stick out for me, but I accept the “of-ten” pronunciation, as it’s quite common (in my experience.)
I’ve been to Kansas, and heard lots of people call their stretch of the Arkansas River, the “Ar-Kansas” River. I think it’s on purpose. I mean, I think they know no one else calls it that. I never heard anyone from Kansas call the actual state “Ar-Kansas,” though.
There’s a town in Indiana called “Vincennes,” which everyone in Indiana pronounces “vin-SINZ.” I met someone once, who was from somewhere else, I’d assume, insisting on calling it “vin-CHEN.” I’ve been to the town, and I can safely state that the official pronunciation is “vin-SINZ.” This woman would not take the hint, though, and start pronouncing like everyone else. I guess she thought it was an Italian word, but I don’t think there even is a city in Italy called that. There’s a region, or suburb, or something, in France, for which the city in Indiana is named, where I’m pretty sure the “c” is pronounced like an “s,” not a “ch.”
Place names in the USA that resemble (in spelling) places in other parts of the world are lucky to be pronounced the same as the foreign place. And some others are just regionalisms of common names elsewhere.
To cite a few in this region:
Cairo = Kay-row
Milan = My-lunn
Bolivar = Bahl-uh-ver
Jordan = Jurr-dun
Marion = May-run
Florence = Flarnts
Yeah, that’s one of those regional pronunciation things. Wikipedia claims it extends to parts of Colorado, too. Here in Illinois, there’s probably a few, but the one that springs to mind is Bourbonnais, Illinois, which is locally known for having the Chicago Bears training camp. Outside the town, the pronunciation is universally Bourbon-ay (like the whiskey, with an “ay” appended.) The older locals, especially, will often pronounce it “bur-BON-iss” or “bur-BONE-iss.”
I once saw a press conference with Les Miles, head football coach at Louisiana State University, and he said the team was preparing to play Ar-Kansas next week.
Have you met my mother? She would routinely mock newscasters mispronouncing “nuclear” and “hundred” (as “hunnert”), but was completely unable to hear her mispronunciation of “children” as “cholldren.”
There is a town in the Shendoah Valley of Virginia named Buena Vista. It is pronounced by the locals Byoona Vista and if you say it any other way, you will be corrected.
