From Ethilrist:
Is it Bob???
Cesar Chavez
It’s not Caesar.
I grew up in Louisville.
Which is not Louissssville. If you aren’t from there its Lou-y-ville. If you are from there is Lu-a-vull. Same intonation as an Elvis impersonator saying “thankyaverymuch.”
Went to college in Iowa City with people from Des Moines, Iowa and Des Plaines, Illinois. Neither of them could ever pronouce the other peoples home city correctly. (Da Moin, Des Plains).
Down here, if a gringo ever pronounced it with a long “e”, the hispanics would have his head on a platter. Or at least a lot of rolling eyes and a lecture on yanqui cultural imperialism.
Well, the irony here is that the name “Sean” (or Seán, as everton correctly notes) is itself a changed spelling of the name John, to make it more accessible to Irish speakers.
Ikea (or rather IKEA)
ih-KEY-ah
So, you must be familiar with Lake Cochituate, which no one can pronounce either.
My name is not Wendy, Brandi, or Robin. Once I was trying to order a sandwich over the phone and very carefully spelled my name for the guy taking the order. R-A-N-D-I. When I went to pick it up, I had to argue with the manager to get my order, because the dipstick wrote Lendy. When I left the counter, I heard the guy behind me say, “It’s Tim. T-I-M. Do you have that?” Another time, trying to call my parents collect, I’m yelling at the operator, “No, Randi! Rrrrrrandi! With an R!” “Thank you Wendy.”
I also got really sick of people at my last job who, after working with me for five years, would still address their e-mails to me as Randy. I mean, they picked my name out of the address list, where it was spelled correctly. This never happened with the sales reps or clients that I worked with, who were mostly overseas, only with people in my own office. (Yet, when there was also a Randy who worked there, these same people would refer to me as Randi-with-an-i to differentiate us.) I hate this so much, I once got a recruiting e-mail through monster.com addressed to Randy, and I wrote back and said I wasn’t interested in any position where they couldn’t even be bothered to spell my name correctly the first time.
I also run into a lot of people who can’t manage my last name either. It’s O’Malley. Probably the best-known Irish name there is. You wouldn’t believe how many people pronounce it to roughly rhyme with “GOATS for lease.” (And yes, I had to think hard to come up with that phrase.) When I hear this on the phone I hang up immediately because I know it’s a telemarketer.
I am from Canada but live in San Diego now. In Canada we speak proper english, lol. We say roof wheras in cali they say ruff. Guacamole-In Canada they say Gwak-a-mollie. It is supposto be pronounced wacamole or something like that but the G is silent. In Cali. they saw badderies instead of batteries like we do in Canada. I think it sounds lazy.
Funnily enough, my name is Wendy, and nobody can get it right either. Been called Mandy, Lindy, Mendy (Mendy 
). I can kind of understand it over here because it’s a very uncommon name in Ireland, but it always happened in America too.
Hawaiian is a very easy language to pronounce. But my Grandmother who has lived here for over 50 years still says Pali with the a as in pat. Drives me up the wall. My Grandfather would always say Like-Like (as in the English word like) just to annoy us. Since he was doing it on purpose it didn’t bother us too much but what my Grandmother did. Grrrrr.
And there are all those people who say Bang-ger, instead of Bang-gohr, like it’s supposed to be pronounced, for Bangor, ME. Yessah, goddammit.
Heh. I had no idea that this was such a vein of deep resentment.
I do want to mention to superstar, however, that this bothers me most in television and movies. If an actor is playing a character from Oregon, you would think it’s not too much to ask that he find out how to say it, so he can at least pretend to be a local.
I do understand when people don’t know the proper way to say names in the local area. I live in Western Washington, after all. I hear from the radio personalities here that local broadcasters are prized because outsiders trying to mispronounce the names on the traffic report lose all credibility.
And yes, I have to admit, it bugs me on the baseball broadcasts, too.
FISH
I wouldn’t mind knowing how people from there say that, actually. I hear the name frequently, but more often that the guess you give, I hear a “w” thrown in for good measure skow-HE-gan, which of course changes the “o” sound as well.
Huh? It’s pronounced exactly like it’s spelled!
For those who are curious, it’s pronounced co-chih-chu-wet. Darn Massachusett indians and their strange names…
Barry
Right up there with “Maryland” in the UK mispronunciation of US states in “MITCHigan”. No, sorry, it’s a soft “ch”, but thanks for playing. I’ve also heard CONNECTicut.
Ever since the demise of the BBC Pronunciation Unit, British broadcasting has gone all to hell.
Now that you bring it up, it would be interesting to hear a Skowheganite say it. I grew up not too far from there, and was never aware that there was any way to say it other than Skow-(as in cow)-HEE–gan.
With the 2003 Championships (Lawn Tennis that is) due to start in 11 days, I am bracing myself for the annual onslaught of TV sports reporters here in the US referring to “Wimbleton” instead of Wimbledon. Not all by any means, but a fair percentage.
This is just sheer laziness. When some Brits refer to Chicago or Michigan (with a ch as in church), or CONNECTicut, it’s just from lack of exposure. At least those mistakes are understandable attempts. But Wimbleton? When you’re paid to say it every year and the “d” is written right there in front of you? Sheeesh.
Oh, and I’ve always heard it as Skow-(as in cow)-HEE–gan. Home to the Skowhegan State Fair. Plus, that’s how Bert and I pronounce it, and that’s as close to gospel as you can get Down East.
Yep - my mom is from Maine, and I’ve always heard it as Skow-as in cow-HE-gan.
'Course, my grandma pronounces Lewiston as Loyston, and I’ve never even heard another Mainer pronounce it that way.
From where in Maine does your mom come, Wolfgrrl? I know several people from Lewiston, and have been there many times, but have never heard Loyston.
The hijacking of this thread from Oregon-based to Maine-based is a nice counterpoint to the Duelling Portlands thread.