# Pronouncing "MacArthur" as "MacGarthur"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-macarthur-as-macgarthur/855726>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 15, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-macarthur-as-macgarthur/855726 "2020-06-15T21:15:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-macarthur-as-macgarthur/855726/21 "2020-06-23T13:27:56Z")

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If pronunciation / language topics like this interest you, I stumbled across this enjoyable podcast some time ago: A Way With Words.

> **[A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language](https://www.waywordradio.org)**
>
> Language examined through family, history, and culture: new words, old sayings, slang, word origins, linguistics, dialects, and more.

Listeners call in with questions and about 50% are about regional pronunciation differences (“Can you settle a bet on the right way to pronounce…”  
The other 50% are on the origin of words or phrases.

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**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-macarthur-as-macgarthur/855726/22 "2020-07-04T02:40:02Z")

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I grew up in Ohio. When I went to college in Virginia, I noticed several of my fellow students would ask such questions as “Can I borrow an ink pen?” I wondered why the “ink” – it’s not like anyone would be carrying around a pen of the “pig enclosure” variety – until realizing that these classmates pronounced “pen” and “pin” much more similarly than I did, and thus felt the need to clarify what they sought.

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-macarthur-as-macgarthur/855726/23 "2020-07-04T21:39:42Z")

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> [@monstro](#):
>
> I think it is just a pronunciation quirk.

And one I share. I’ve noticed that you can tell a native here by the way they pronounce their hometown: “Mi’waukee, WisGonsin”…

Sometimes even “Mi’waugee”, but never with an L…

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