Town/City names butchered by Americanization

[Alessan]

@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.

[Nava]

@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.

[Floater]

@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.

[Reloy3]

@kopek

DuBois PA - pronounced by locals as “Do boys”

Wyoming also has a Dubois pronounced “Do boys”, the official pronounciation.

[dhkendall]

@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.

[california_jobcase]

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)

[Kyla]

@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:

[kushiel]

@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.