# Pronunciations which are legit but sound pretentious to outsiders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939 "2018-11-03T18:17:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/141 "2018-11-06T01:32:35Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Regular Berlin (by Omro (AM ro) is also “BER lin”. At least, after WWI. The native German-speakers on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _ always say “Bear-LEEN.” ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/142 "2018-11-06T01:36:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > There’s another one someplace else? 😕 To clarify, I’m referring to streets. There’s one in our DC suburb that I could walk to in 5 minutes. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/143 "2018-11-06T01:36:58Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Though I can’t remember which pronunciation (“Stahd” versus “G-stahd”) was considered U and which non-U. How can you pronounce “Gstaad” without a “G”? 😕 ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/144 "2018-11-06T01:38:52Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > To clarify, I’m referring to streets. There’s one in our DC suburb that I could walk to in 5 minutes. Aha! And the locals call it “How-ston”? Interesting. Is it named after Sam Houston? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/145 "2018-11-06T02:13:50Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Aha! And the locals call it “How-ston”? Interesting. Is it named after Sam Houston? I’ve heard locals call it both. A parallel street is called Hudson, which is the big reason I give Houston the NY pronounciation. I have no idea who it’s named after. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/146 "2018-11-06T03:41:04Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > My impression is that it depends on whether the person knows French pronunciation. So, BOOK-et or boo -KAY, BUFF-et or byew-FAY, etc. > > Tomato? Garage? > > Oh, yes, how do the locals pronounce “Ponce de Leon” or “Des Moines”? “Ponce de Leon” is the name of a significant road on the east side of Atlanta, and a shibboleth for determining outlanders. It’s “PAHNCE d’ LEE-on”; say his name the way the explorer did, and we’ll know yew aint from ‘roun’ heah. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/147 "2018-11-06T04:46:38Z")
A pet peeve of mine is people who pronounce Habanero as if it were spelled Habañero. I don’t know if they think it should be pronounced similar to Jalapeño, or what. An interestingly pronounced US place name taken from the French is Pend Oreille, in northern Idaho and NE Washington State. Pronunciation is unusual in that it’s a total of three syllables, with the middle syllable taken from both words: pon-duh-rey. Apparently in Canada they spell the river Pend-d’Oreille, so maybe the first d was silent and the second d was lost by the Americans. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/148 "2018-11-06T06:22:36Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > I’ve just remembered a Russell Kane routine where he says > > “HallaPENNyoes? HallaPENNyoes?! Say jallapeenoes, you dick.” > > Can’t say I’m remotely close to agreeing with him, but it does suggest there’s a contingent who think a Spanish-based pronunciation is needless pretention. How about going all the way, with juhLAPPuhnoes? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/149 "2018-11-06T06:26:02Z")
> [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](#): > > A pet peeve of mine is people who pronounce Habanero as if it were spelled Habañero. I don’t know if they think it should be pronounced similar to Jalapeño, or what. > > An interestingly pronounced US place name taken from the French is Pend Oreille, in northern Idaho and NE Washington State. Pronunciation is unusual in that it’s a total of three syllables, with the middle syllable taken from both words: pon-duh-rey. > > Apparently in Canada they spell the river Pend-d’Oreille, so maybe the first d was silent and the second d was lost by the Americans. Exactly. And what you have there is an “oh well, good enough” attempt to pronounce it in French by English speakers - probably because “Pen-dough Riley” just doesn’t work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/150 "2018-11-06T06:30:12Z")
Oh - about the habañero - wouldn’t it form something similar to “Me gots bathtub”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/151 "2018-11-06T08:06:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > How can you pronounce “Gstaad” without a “G”? 😕 I have a family member who is local to that area and they say it sort of like “shtarred” but in a heavy Swiss-German accent. The “g” is pretty much silent. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/152 "2018-11-06T14:55:25Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The only way I’ve heard it pronounced in the States is chuh-REE-zoh (or maybe choh-REE-zoh, with a bit less slurring of the first syllable), but I have no idea if that’s even close to an authentic pronunciation. It’s choh-REE-so or choh-REE-tho. The WRONG pronunciation is choh-REET-so, like it was an Italian “z”. I hear it a lot in cooking shows. In most of Spain, the z sounds like th (thin), but in Latin America is an “s” sound. It’s never “ts” or the English “z”. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/153 "2018-11-06T18:02:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > When I was in college at the University of Wisconsin, I attended a dinner that included a talk with Michael Leckrone (the longtime director of the school’s marching band). It was mostly silly stories, but one joke he told was, “What Wisconsin city is named after the sound of dropping a quarter into a toilet?” 😃 As a Wisconsinite, I’ve always found that joke hilarious…the only person who didn’t was someone actually from Beloit. > [@xnylder](#): > > How’s about Japanese loan words pronounced properly in the Japanese fashion, in American English? KA-RA-TAY instead of ka-RATTY, KYO-TO instead of kee-YOH-toe and so on. It’s correct, but unfortunately sometimes seen as pretentious. Or even “KOY-yoto” as my dad (USA raised) called it. (I lived in Kyoto for 2 years!) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/154 "2018-11-06T18:36:30Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > It feels very weird to me that: > > - many places in the US have French names > > - many also have Spanish names > > …and while many of the Spanish names are pronounced in pedantically-correct Spanish, almost all of the French names are FUBAR. If you want to have Nawlinz in Looziana, and Kordaleen in Idaho, then you better not mind when I take a trip to Lazz Veeguzz, maybe stopping in Santa Kruzz along the way, or if I refer to that border town as Eel Payso. I occasionally find it odd when someone will give a non-English pronunciation to an isolated word or two in the midst of speaking English. I seem to hear it most often w/ Spanish. I can understand it with peoples’ proper names, if they choose to pronounce their names in a Spanish manner - rolling the "r"s or softening "t"s. But American placenames - like Los Angeles - are American-English words, and ought to be pronounced as such. More extreme is when an English word such as “latino” gets the Spanish treatment (lah-thee-no). Makes me wonder if we ought not study up the etymology of every single word and attempt faithful historic pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/155 "2018-11-06T18:37:22Z")
Charlotte, VT. Pronounced “Shar-Lott”. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/156 "2018-11-06T18:40:35Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > My impression is that it depends on whether the person knows French pronunciation. So, BOOK-et or boo -KAY, BUFF-et or byew-FAY, etc. Regarding valet, it’s more if someone thinks it’s French. It’s apparently old English, from the same word as varlet (as in ‘Unhand me!’), it just looks like it should be French. Every century or so, it seems to lose and regain the ‘t’. Quite interesting, really. I once ordered a pizza with juhLAPPuhnoes; apparently they didn’t have any jalapeños. The server then made a point of emphasising the word juhLAPPuhnoes multiple times, clearly trying to let me know how it should be said. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/157 "2018-11-06T18:45:30Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I once ordered a pizza with juhLAPPuhnoes; apparently they didn’t have any jalapeños. The server then made a point of emphasising the word juhLAPPuhnoes multiple times, clearly trying to let me know how it should be said. 😃 That’s a dick move from the server, a guaranteed no tip from me. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/158 "2018-11-06T21:32:46Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I occasionally find it odd when someone will give a non-English pronunciation to an isolated word or two in the midst of speaking English. I seem to hear it most often w/ Spanish. > > I can understand it with peoples’ proper names, if they choose to pronounce their names in a Spanish manner - rolling the "r"s or softening "t"s. But American placenames - like Los Angeles - are American-English words, and ought to be pronounced as such. Like Lowe’s Ann Jeels? 🙂 That last e would certainly be silent in English, and since loss has a double s, logically when spelled with one s it would be pronounced Lowe’s. Or perhaps Loce, take your pick. But not Loss. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/159 "2018-11-06T22:51:24Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > My impression is that it depends on whether the person knows French pronunciation. So, BOOK-et or boo -KAY, BUFF-et or byew-FAY, etc. > … In the 1987 David Mamet movie _House of Games_, in a scene set in an upscale hotel dining room, one character asks another what is on the “BOO-fay.” So there’s another variant. (Not one I’ve heard in real life.). Mamet’s name is another occasion for displaying pretension, by the way. At least I’ve heard a couple of people, over the years, pronounce it “Mam-AY.” (I believe he himself uses “MAM-ett” though Wikipedia shows it as one syllable, sort of “MAMiT”.) ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939/160 "2018-11-06T22:57:41Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > In the 1987 David Mamet movie _House of Games_, in a scene set in an upscale hotel dining room, one character asks another what is on the “BOO-fay.” > > So there’s another variant. (Not one I’ve heard in real life.). > > Mamet’s name is another occasion for displaying pretension, by the way. At least I’ve heard a couple of people, over the years, pronounce it “Mam-AY.” (I believe he himself uses “MAM-ett” though Wikipedia shows it as one syllable, sort of “MAMiT”.) It’s not pretentious to assume he’s French, just an error. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-which-are-legit-but-sound-pretentious-to-outsiders/823939.md?page=9)