There’s already a thread about U.S. cities that are mispronounced versions of other global locations, but I thought there was room for more.
I’m only asking for enough space to name one of my biggest pet peeves with movies and national television shows, Eastern US - to - Western US transplants, and sometimes even the news.
It’s the name of our neighboring state to the south: Oregon.
It sets my teeth on edge when I hear it or-e-GON. Folks, it’s OR-e-g’n.
Grrr.
Anyway, can anybody else think of some badly mispronounced place names that the rest of the world doesn’t seem to get? I’d love to hear from the folks in New Orleans. Or is it … uh … N’awlins?
I’ve heard the people who actually live in New Orleans pronounce it N’awlins, as Fish thought. (I like your sig, buy the way). Granted, I’m about as far from New Orleans as you can get and still be in the continental US, but still. That’s what I’ve heard.
This is similar to your Oregon thing: I HATE HATE HATE it when people pronounce the ‘s’ in ‘Illinois.’ One of my good friends does this every time she says it, and it makes me want to rip off my earlobes. It’s Illanoy!!!
NOBODY here in Ireland, or in Britain for that matter, can pronounce my home state (Maryland) correctly. They all try to pronounce it phonetically, which is understandable, but still wrong. When people say “Where are you from?” and I say “Merralind” they should know not to say “oh, Mary-land?” - I mean if I was from a place called “Mary-land” I would have said “Mary-land” wouldn’t I
the town I live in ends with -ton. Everybody (that doing live here) writes it and pronouces it -tion instead. Our diplomias and football jerseys had that one them one year. That sucks pretty bad.
WORSH-ing-t’n (instead of WASH-ing-t’n) There is no R in Washington.
POLLS-bo (instead of PALLS-bo) Granted, Poulsbo doesn’t have an intuitively spelled name. It’s sort of a bellwether name in Western Washington. If you can’t pronounce it right, you’re not from around here. Ditto Enumclaw, Puyallup, Skokomish, Chehalis, and a dozen other names based on Native American tribes. (But where Poulsbo comes from, I dunno.)
The mother of a friend, who is known for her mispronounciations (the mother) read Bugs Bunny comics to him as a kid and called the trash-talkin’ red bearded cowboy fellow “YOS-mite” Sam, as opposed to “Yo-SIM-i-te” like the National Park which is correct.
An Hispanic friend’s last name is “Ramirez” which is correctly pronounced “RUH-mar-iz”; but when he went to boot camp in the Navy the C.O. called him “RAM-uh-REZ” .:rolleyes:
No one can read aloud my last name. It’s actually very simple, no strange vowel or consonant combinations.
I’ll use the last name “Summer” as an example of what it’s like. People would say, “Sooomer? Soomeer? Soomay?” instead of just saying it as it’s written. I get the strangest pronunciations of my name. It’s almost like people try to mispronounce it.
It drives me nuts. Our country went to hell when they stopped teaching phonics.
I dislike hearing “Anne Frank” pronounced to rhyme with “tan bank.”
It’s AH-nuh FRAHNK.
A local news station once had an airhead announcer who consistently mispronounced the surname “Gonzales” as “Gon-ZAY-liss.” Here in Phoenix you’d think that he’d have heard that name spoken a few times.
I have trouble remembering to pronounce Aguirre as “Ah-GEAR-ee.” I want to say “Ah-GWIRE” because when I was growing up, the only person I knew of with that last name was Detroit Pistons star Mark Aguirre, and he was an “Ah-GWIRE.”
Valdez, Alaska, is pronounced Val-deez up here. Surprisingly, I have heard many newscasters pronounce Valdez the same way that it is spoken up here. Tourists, bless their economy-boosting hearts, usually pronounce it to rhyme with the candy dispenser. Most locals will gently explain the local pronunciation.
Hyundai & Taibo. The first doesn’t rhyme with Monday or any other day for that matter, and it’s first syllable doesn’t rhyme with Hun. The second is pronounced so the first syllable rhymes with Day, not Die.
Ok, what I want to know is how to pronounce this city:
**Nacodoches ** TX
And there is another city down there that is just as mystifying to me, but I can’t remember it. I think it is actually in LA, but I can’t recall at the moment.
