# Pronunciation of Colorado town name **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475 "2019-08-30T14:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/21 "2019-09-02T22:20:32Z")
More Colorado names. How would you pronounce Hover Rd Berthoud The o is long in Hover. Berthoud is pronounced Ber-thed with the e having a schwa sound ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/22 "2019-09-02T22:44:02Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Cactusville was definitely in Texas and Desperate Dan’s favourite meal was cow pie, made by his Aunt Aggie. This was a giant meat pie with real longhorn cow horns sticking out of the crust. > > The idea of feudin’ hillbillies was well known to British kids from the highly popular TV series from the early 60s; The Beverly Hillbillies **Bob++** , how would you pronounce your own location? It came up as [Q1 in a quiz for the ABC](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-01/quiz-are-you-pronouncing-these-words-correctly/10875894) (Australia’s version of the BBC, not the American TV network) this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/23 "2019-09-02T22:46:05Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > More Colorado names. How would you pronounce > Hover Rd > Berthoud And the [Purgatoire River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatoire_River) is called the Picketwire. I’ve also heard the city of Pueblo pronounced as Pee-blow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/24 "2019-09-02T23:45:41Z")
Speaking of pronunciations in the area has what is current state of the Arkansas river? When I was a kid it was always the Are-kansis river around Leadville, but I noticed it was drifting more and more to be pronounced like the state over the decades. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/25 "2019-09-03T05:07:18Z")
I was recently in Leadville and can report that the nice folks who staff the Mining Museum there (worth a visit) definitely refer to their town as LED-ville. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/26 "2019-09-03T10:44:16Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > And the [Purgatoire River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatoire_River) is called the Picketwire. From the linked-to Wiki article: “_Purgatoire_ means ‘Purgatory’ in French. French trappers named the river to commemorate Spanish explorers killed in a Native American attack.” I always wonder with this one: did Anglophone – and presumably Protestant – settlers, consciously “go to town” on mangling this particular foreign name: to emphasise, “we’ll have no Romish nonsense around here, thank you very much” ? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/27 "2019-09-03T12:39:47Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > These sorts of speech synthesizers are pretty good these days, but they often have trouble with heteronyms–words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently–like lead (the metal) and lead (to guide). As when Google Maps tells me to drive out of my town on “Reading Road”, pronounced like what you do to books, rather than as it should be, like the town, which rhymes with “bedding”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/28 "2019-09-03T13:15:59Z")
Most definitely named after the metal. I live in the Colorado mountains and I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way. Some residents have Pb stickers on their cars. Pb is the atomic symbol for lead. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/29 "2019-09-03T13:54:15Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > From the linked-to Wiki article: “_Purgatoire_ means ‘Purgatory’ in French. French trappers named the river to commemorate Spanish explorers killed in a Native American attack.” I always wonder with this one: did Anglophone – and presumably Protestant – settlers, consciously “go to town” on mangling this particular foreign name: to emphasise, “we’ll have no Romish nonsense around here, thank you very much” ? I doubt it. It’s called the Purgatory River too. (I’ve been camping in the area.) We get buckaroo (vaquero), hoosegow (juzgado), vamoose (vamonos), wrangler (caverango), and mustang (mesteño), among others, from mangled versions of Spanish words, so that was standard practice. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/30 "2019-09-03T13:55:10Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > As when Google Maps tells me to drive out of my town on “Reading Road”, pronounced like what you do to books, rather than as it should be, like the town, which rhymes with “bedding”. Cue the dreadfully corny old riddle – which, even, doesn’t work if it’s spoken: Q. Which is the most studious county in England? A. Berkshire; because there is a town in it which is always Reading. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/31 "2019-09-03T13:58:34Z")
Another French one that’s a poser for someone like me. The Cache la Poudre river which flows thru Ft. Collins. Often called just Poudre although that still doesn’t help me. Yeah, I’ve heard the name a bunch of times. But it doesn’t stick around after several years. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/32 "2019-09-03T13:58:46Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I doubt it. It’s called the Purgatory River too. (I’ve been camping in the area.) We get buckaroo (vaquero), hoosegow (juzgado), vamoose (vamonos), **wrangler (caverango)**, and mustang (mesteño), among others, from mangled versions of Spanish words, so that was standard practice. My bolding – there’s a thing I’d never dreamt of. I’d always just thought-- “wrangler: one who wrangles (especially animals)”; but – is the verb, a back-formation from the noun borrowed-and-corrupted from Spanish? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/33 "2019-09-03T15:07:56Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > My bolding – there’s a thing I’d never dreamt of. I’d always just thought-- “wrangler: one who wrangles (especially animals)”; but – is the verb, a back-formation from the noun borrowed-and-corrupted from Spanish? Apparently not. After doing some research, it seems that [“wrangle” as a verb meaning “to dispute or wrestle” is derived from German, originating in the 14th century.](https://www.etymonline.com/word/wrangle) > [@](#): > > late 14c., from Low German wrangeln “to dispute, to wrestle,” related to Middle Low German wringen, from Proto-Germanic \*wrang-, from \*wrengh-, nasalized variant of \*wergh- “to turn,” from PIE root \*wer- (2) “to turn, bend.” Meaning “take charge of horses” is by 1897, American English. Related: Wrangled; wrangling. The noun is recorded from 1540s. However, the meaning of “wrangler” as someone who takes care of horses didn’t emerge until the late 19th century, and [is derived from Mexican Spanish cavarango/caballerango “stable-boy”](https://dare.wisc.edu/words/quarterly-updates/quarterly-update-2/cavarango/) (caballo meaning “horse.”) That meaning may have been influenced by the English word, though. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475/34 "2019-09-03T15:13:39Z")
Another interesting one is “dude,” from the Spanish _lo dudo_, “doubtful one,” in the sense of newbie to an area or an inexperienced person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-colorado-town-name/839475.md?page=1)