# Pronouncing "Adirondack" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200 "2015-12-02T08:29:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/1 "2015-12-02T08:29:44Z")
Mrs Prosequi and I are acquiring some of the well-known Adirondack chairs. But we are not American, and are hearing different versions of how to pronounce the name. I am not confident with the Wiki version because of the vehemence and apparent confidence of views I am hearing. Hence my approach to the teeming horse’s mouth. So - is it Uh-DIE-ron-rack? Uh-DEE-ron-dack? A-duh-RON-dack? Or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/2 "2015-12-02T08:41:25Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Mrs Prosequi and I are acquiring some of the well-known Adirondack chairs. > > But we are not American, and are hearing different versions of how to pronounce the name. I am not confident with the Wiki version because of the vehemence and apparent confidence of views I am hearing. Hence my approach to the teeming horse’s mouth. > > So - is it Uh-DIE-ron-rack? Uh-DEE-ron-dack? A-duh-RON-dack? Or something else? I’m from NY State and I’d say it’s the third one, A-duh-RON-dack, with the emphasis on the third syllable. Not to confuse you more, but I’ve also sometimes heard it pronounced A-duh-RON- **dyke** , the last syllable sounding the same as Dick Van _Dyke_… ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/3 "2015-12-02T09:22:02Z")
A- **dur** -rondack ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/4 "2015-12-02T10:37:25Z")
Adder-ON-dack ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/5 "2015-12-02T10:42:55Z")
Another NY’er here and I agree it is A-duh-RON-dack ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/6 "2015-12-02T10:49:53Z")
I drive through the Adirondacks all the time and your third pronuncation is the only one I have heard from the locals. Same with the chairs, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/7 "2015-12-02T10:55:54Z")
> [@CWN](#): > > Another NY’er here and I agree it is A-duh-RON-dack Mohawk Valley resident here: Yup, me too. Never ever heard the last syllable pronounced “dike”. And nobody **ever** emphasizes the second syllable, whether as “die” or “dee” or (_pace_ **elbows** ) “durr”. Also, do not be fazed if you ever encounter references to the identically pronounced but differently spelled “Adirondak Loj” = “Adirondack Lodge”. This is a rustic resort on the Adirondacks’ Heart Lake run by the Adirondack Mountain Club but named in the early 20th century by the Club’s then-President, Dr. Melvil Dewey (the decimal-system Dewey), who was [a proponent of so-called spelling reform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvil_Dewey#Work). > [@](#): > > A September 1927 menu [at the Loj] is headed “Simpler spelin” and features dishes like Hadok, Poted beef with noodls, Parsli or Masht potato, Butr, Steamd rys, Letis, and Ys cream. It also advises guests that “All shud see the butiful after-glo on mountains to the east just befor sunset. Fyn vu from Golfhous porch.” Enjoy your new chairs! ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/8 "2015-12-02T12:49:20Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > A- **dur** -rondack Is that really how people in London pronounce it? Why would they do that? It is never said that way in the actual Ad-der-RON-dax. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/9 "2015-12-02T12:51:14Z")
When I was a kid, I had an adder-RON-dack baseball bat, much nicer than a Louisville Slugger, lighter and wiry, felt flexible. Bobby Doerr model. All the kids wanted to use my Adirondack. Much later, though, I learned that “appelation” is not how the southern mountains are pronounced, but /apple-LATCH-in/. My book-learned school teachers came up with a few pronunciation doozies. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/10 "2015-12-02T13:07:21Z")
Well, for the region in general, as opposed to the mountains, some people pronounce the “latch” as the same “a” as the first “a” of adder-on-dack, apple-AT-cha and some pronounce it more like “laitch”, apple-H-ah. However, the mountains and the trail I always hear pronounced as apple-H-an. I can’t tell if that’s what you mean or not, nor if there are people who pronounce the mountains apple-AT-chan. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/11 "2015-12-02T14:45:15Z")
Adder-ON-dack is what I’ve always heard (I grew up in WV and have spent most of my time in WV, MD, and PA). And I grew up in the “appelation” mountains. I actually lived there, so my pronunciation is the right one. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/12 "2015-12-02T15:03:18Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > However, the mountains and the trail I always hear pronounced as apple-H-an. By people not from and never been here, I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/13 "2015-12-02T15:23:23Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > By people not from and never been here, I hope. The Appalachians run all the way up to Maine. It’s pronounced differently in different regions. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/14 "2015-12-02T16:21:32Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Adder-ON-dack ^^^^ This. I live in the state that has the Adirondack mountains. I suppose it’s possible that folks upstate closer to the actual mountains say it differently, but seems unlikely. Add-a-RON-dack. Or as **Fear Itself** spelled out out, same difference. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/15 "2015-12-02T19:23:59Z")
Thank you all! ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/16 "2015-12-02T19:32:51Z")
I heard that there was a guy from the Adirondacks that won the Iditorad. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/17 "2015-12-02T19:46:49Z")
> [@CWN](#): > > Another NY’er here and I agree it is A-duh-RON-dack I used to sell the chairs (acquired from Amish craftsmen who owned an impressive collection of power tools), and this is how I always pronounced it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/18 "2015-12-02T21:40:52Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Adder-ON-dack This. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/19 "2015-12-03T02:13:17Z")
For what it’s worth I’ve only ever heard the A-duh-RON-\*\*dyke \*\*pronunciation when the mountain range is referred to in its entirety (and plural). IOW like when saying, “It’s somewhere up in the _A-duh-RON-dykes_…” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200/20 "2015-12-03T03:27:02Z")
I grew up there and it’s adder-RON-dack. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-adirondack/739200.md?page=2)