# Rodeo Drive pronunciation
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 29, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781 "2001-08-29T19:36:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/1 "2001-08-29T19:36:25Z")
Why is the well-known Beverly Hills shopping district street pronounced Ro-DAY-o Drive and not RO-dee-o Drive? Why is the cow ropin’ competition pronounced RO-dee-o and not ro-DAY-o?
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/2 "2001-08-29T19:55:00Z")
Totally non-scientific guess…
ro-DAY-o is the correct Spanish pronunciation (fact). RO-dee-o is the Southwest Anglo/Texan/cowboy mispronunciation (that’s the guess). As the sporting event takes its roots from Mexico by way of the cowboy culture, it’s RO-dee-o. As Beverly Hills would rather not be associated with something so declasse, it’s ro-DAY-o.
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### Author:  [@ROCKSTEADY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ROCKSTEADY)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/3 "2001-08-29T22:02:32Z")
it is more or les up to you how you say it howeer
when you go to watch cowboys sit on there beast or what ever they do
do you say im at the ro-DAY-o
or do you say im at the ro-dee-o
what im getting at is i think its ro-dee-o
but it’s your choice
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/4 "2001-08-29T22:33:05Z")
In a strange linguistic phenomenon in Southern California, Spanish sounding names are considered more classy than English pronunciations.
Hence ro-DAY-oh Drive.
Also most new housing developments are full of Spanish names “Paseo del \_\_\_\_\_”
“Vista del \_\_\_\_\_”
“Via \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_”
However if a native speaker of Spanish moved into one of these neighborhoods, the residents would be quite perturbed.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/5 "2001-08-29T22:39:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Spanish sounding names are considered more classy than English pronunciations.
Not necessarily. I have a co-worker who lives in San Pedro, which is pronounced San PEE-dro by people who live there. (Yes, my co-worker is of Mexican descent.)
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### Author:  [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/6 "2001-08-29T22:47:38Z")
I was at least able to find it when someone told me to go there. Unlike when I spent several hours trying to find La Hoya. Finally found it when I stopped on the corner of La Jolla and asked directions.
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/7 "2001-08-29T22:50:46Z")
But San Pedro is a very old part of Southern California. Nor is it considered to be as prestigious as Beverly Hills.
But the residents of San Pedro do prefer the long “e” pronunciation I agree. But the street names in San Pedro don’t follow the “Via ----” pattern like newer developments like Calabasas or Valencia follow.
The whole practice of pronouncing Spanish place names in Southern California is very politically charged now. The City of Los Angeles decided to redo some signs and add the ~ where needed. Beverly Hills had always done this.
Also some news anchors make it a point to pronounce every Spanish word as if it were … well … Spanish and some people find this offensive.
I’ve never quite figured it out in all the years I’ve lived here.
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### Author:  [@Space\_Otter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Otter)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodeo-drive-pronunciation/78781/8 "2001-08-29T23:11:39Z")
Santa Fe, NM has its own share of weird Spanish/English hybridology. The town takes great pride in its Spanish heritage but over 100’s of years has developed its own local dialect/pronunciations. Their is a small town nearby called Madrid, for instance, and all the locals pronounce it MAD-rid (short a, short i) not mah-Dreed like the city in Spain.
We have a Rodeo Road, pronounced Ro-dee-oh, because it goes past the rodeo and county fairgrounds. But when the “Rodeo de Santa Fe” is held annually you pronounce the event’s name Ro-day-oh. If you ask a local where Ro-day-oh Road is they would tell you “in Beverly Hills, why?”