# Town/City names butchered by Americanization **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042 "2010-11-09T15:26:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/121 "2010-11-11T10:24:21Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Oh, well, loads of Biblically-named places in the US are pronounced very differently from how the originals are pronounced by modern people, but I don’t know which is really _correct_. There’s a Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. I don’t know how it’s pronounced there, but I doubt it’s pronounced Re-ho-VOT, which is how Israelis refer to its namesake. I’ve been to the original Bethesda, which is not a city in Maryland, but a small spring in Jerusalem, where it’s Beit Hisda. Actually, Kyla, Re-cho-VOT would be correct if you pronouncing the word for “streets”; however, the actual city south of Tel Aviv is referred to as “Re-CHO-vot” (the CH, of course, being guttral). Of course, plenty of English names of locations around here have been bastardized over the past 2,000 years - Jerusalem (Yerushala’im), Nazareth (Natzeret), Bethlehem (Beit Lechem), Hebron (Hevron), Galillee (Gallil) and many more. However, I wouldn’t call these Americanizations - they happened much earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/122 "2010-11-11T10:31:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > …bastardized over the past 2,000 years - Jerusalem (Yerushala’im), Nazareth (Natzeret), Bethlehem (Beit Lechem), Hebron (Hevron), Galillee (Gallil) and many more. However, I wouldn’t call these Americanizations - they happened much earlier. And they’re bastardized into a ton of other languages. The Spanish versions of those are Jerusalén (hard J), Nazaret, Belén, Hebrón and Galilea. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/123 "2010-11-11T13:04:59Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Nobody seems to have mentioned New Orleans yet: aw-LEENZ rather than the French aw-LEE-on. Sorry, but that’s not even in the neighbourhood of the proper french pronunciation. > [@Wolverine](#): > > I’m surprised that Detroit only got one mention so far. In French, it’s closer to “dai twah”. “dai trwoAH” would be better. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/124 "2010-11-11T13:53:17Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > DuBois PA - pronounced by locals as “Do boys” Wyoming also has a Dubois pronounced “Do boys”, the official pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/125 "2010-11-11T20:07:40Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > There’s also Des Plaines, IL… > > “Dez Planes” Ah, yes, the town founded by Herve Villechez. 🙂 > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’m not sure about New Berlin, but I’ve been told by natives of Berlin, WI (different town, but also pronounced BUR-lin) that they changed the pronunciation from burr-LIN during one of the World Wars, when being German in the U.S. wasn’t terribly popular. I wonder if the aforementioned Russia was changed during the Cold War? > [@LurkMeister](#): > > Not technically a town/city name, but I grew up in Chicago near Devon Ave, which is pronounced “de VAHN”. It was years before I found out that the county in England was pronounced “DE ven”. Actually, I thought the English county was pronounced DEV-on. More or less rhyming with Kevin. > [@cjepson](#): > > I forgot to mention Havre de Grace, Maryland (“Haver dee grayss”). Ow, my ears! :eek: This mainly focusses on American place names (although Regina is in there), but there are a few from Manitoba I want to contribute. Both Portage Avenue (one of Winnipeg’s main thoroughfares) and Portage la Prairie are Anglicized: PORT-ij, not por-TAJ. The Manitoba town of Souris is not pronounced like the French word for a mouse (although that is how it got its name), but it too is Anglicized: SOOR-iss, not soo-REE. Likewise Dauphin, Manitoba, I’m sure is named after the French word for prince, but it is also Anglicized as DAW-fin, not pronounced doh-FAHN. There is also running through the area where I grew up in Winnipeg a street named Des Meurons. It runs through both the French and English areas of the city (the house I grew up in and my parents still live in is just a few blocks from the French neighbourhood). I usually heard it pronounced dez MEER-ons - I have been told that the French pronounce it the same way as well (almost all of Winnipeg’s French population is at least bilingual French/English, so no surprise) and not as day moo-ROHN, but I don’t know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/126 "2010-11-11T20:58:49Z")
There’s Eldorado (el-do-RAY-do) Georgia, Albany (ALL-benny) Georgia, Berlin (BUR-lin) Georgia. A lady I worked with from Vidalia, Georgia (of onion fame) swears it’s vy-DAY-yuh. There’s also Taliaferro County (tolliver). No one’s mentioned LaFontain, IN (lafountain) yet? How about Loogootee, IN? (la-GO-tee) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/127 "2010-11-11T21:31:46Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Actually, Kyla, Re-cho-VOT would be correct if you pronouncing the word for “streets”; however, the actual city south of Tel Aviv is referred to as “Re-CHO-vot” (the CH, of course, being guttral). :smack: I had a friend from there, so I was sure I had this right. I mean, it definitely sounded familiar in my head. Just for another reason. Again, :smack: ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042/128 "2010-11-12T01:19:46Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I forgot to mention Havre de Grace, Maryland (“Haver dee grayss”). > > And I WILL use it when a pun thread involving place names comes along. I am wary of telling this story because it shows how unworthy I am to be a disciple of Cecil, but here goes: first year university, Intro to Poli Sci. I raise my hand and ask the lecturer what a Coop dee Grayss is. Yeah, sorry, the whole bilingualism thing doesn’t work in rural Saskatchewan. Unless you’re talking English and Ukrainian. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/town-city-names-butchered-by-americanization/560042.md?page=6)