Town names that only locals get the pronunciation correct

[Ludovic]

@Ludovic

And London has “Euston Road”, which is pronounced like the city Houston (or exactly enough that I couldn’t tell the difference when taking the Tube announcement’s accent into account.) I wonder if there is a city somewhere with a Houston street that is pronounced and spelled like the city.

However, I think I can complete the circle the other way around. I was doing a web search to make sure that the Tube announcement wasn’t a one-off and that Euston really is pronounced like Houston the city. Many British cites agreed, but some were vehement that “Euston” should by no means be pronounced like “Houston”.

Then, reading more cites, it appears that, at least according to the web, this is because some British pronounce “Houston” more like “HOO-ston”, or at least enunciate the “H” more than Americans do.

So maybe we can add that not only is “Houston Street” not pronounced correctly by the locals, Houston the city is not either, at least by some. And that can’t be purely due to accent, either, because you’d think that if anything a British accent would drop the H.

[Hypno-Toad]

In Maryland, we have Wicomico County which is NOT “Wikko-mikko” but “WYE-commih-coe.” I wish they’d have a sci-fi convention there just so they can call it Wicomicon.

[Ludovic]

@Ludovic

So maybe we can add that not only is “Houston Street” not pronounced correctly by the locals, Houston the city is not either, at least by some.

And by this I mean of course “not pronounced correctly by non-locals”, but you could probably figure that out already.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

Wisconsin also has
Oconomowoc, pronounced “oh CON uh muh WOC”
Mukwonago, pronounced “muck WAN uh go”

[VOW]

@Briny_Deep

Mr VOW had Ft Knox as his last duty station before he retired from the Army. I ended up finding a job in Louisville, and the pronunciation of that city comes in many flavors.

Mr VOW, in his hardheaded fashion, called it LEWIS-vill for the longest time.

Outsiders are tolerated who call it LEWIE-vill.

I think I slurred that down to something like LOO-uh-vill. At least the natives knew what I was talking about, and the didn’t do much of the smirk-smirk, nudge-nudge, wink-wink that most non-natives get.

In my letters back home to friends and family in California, where we have no accent, I explained that the natives call their city “LO-vo.”

BUT you have to dip your chin almost to your chest when you say the “vo.”

And it almost rhymes with Volvo.

I told my co-workers about my explanation of the pronunciation to friends and family. I shared this at the company Christmas party.

Everybody laughed. One of the big bosses laughed the hardest when I said “it sort of rhymes with Volvo.”

~VOW

[Slow_Moving_Vehicle]

@Thudlow_Boink

In fact, it seems to be pretty common that when a small town has the same name as a major world city, it’s pronounced differently. Although I don’t know the “official” reason for this, I suspect it’s done deliberately to distinguish between the two.

Common, perhaps, but not universal. Athens, Georgia, is pronounced exactly the same as the original (or, at least, as English-speakers pronounce the Greek city). Same with Rome and Dublin.

We do have, however, a Vi-EE-na (Vienna) and Vur-sales (Versailles).

Not a city, but a major east-west surface street serves as a shibboleth to identify outlanders in Atlanta: Ponce de Leon Avenue. That’s Pahnce d’ LEE-on, or just Pahnce, if you’re a native.

Familiarity plays a role in a lot of these dialect differences, I suspect; if you say it frequently, you probably elide your town’s name. Which is why Toronto is “Tronna” and Atlanta “Alanna” to the locals. Bill Bryson, I think, once wrote that the famous London street is “Marley-bone” to foreigners, “Mary-le-bone" to non-Londoner Brits, “Mairburn” to Londoners, and “M’bn” to people who actually live on the road.

[kenobi_65]

@Slow_Moving_Vehicle

Familiarity plays a role in a lot of these dialect differences, I suspect; if you say it frequently, you probably elide your town’s name.

Similarly, Milwaukee → m’WOK-ee for natives.

[VOW]

Nobody has mentioned Lompoc, California!

My daddy was stationed at Vandenberg AFB, and the nearest town was Lompoc. When we first moved there in 1959, my mother made a point of asking several people, including some actual residents of, how to pronounce “Lompoc.”

The correct pronunciation is LOM-poke.

Through the years, we have seen people on TV who say they are from that town, yet they call it LOM-pock.

I recently re-verified the pronunciation.

It’s still LOM-poke.

~VOW

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@kenobi_65

Similarly, Milwaukee → m’WOK-ee for natives.

And Two Rivers, WI is locally pronounced “Trivers”.

[carrps]

@Slow_Moving_Vehicle

Familiarity plays a role in a lot of these dialect differences, I suspect; if you say it frequently, you probably elide your town’s name. Which is why Toronto is “Tronna” and Atlanta “Alanna” to the locals. Bill Bryson, I think, once wrote that the famous London street is “Marley-bone” to foreigners, “Mary-le-bone" to non-Londoner Brits, “Mairburn” to Londoners, and “M’bn” to people who actually live on the road.

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

And Two Rivers, WI is locally pronounced “Trivers”.

I knew someone from “Trivers.”

I was mocked mercilessly by my Mainer BiL the first time I said Orono. I said o-Ro-no. Nope. It’s O-rno.

I’d say 95% of the time I hear people on TV say “pennsylvania” they say “pennsyvania.” Is it correct to drop the ‘l?’

[kitap]

Wisconsin also has Shawano. Pronounced Shaw-no. That one tripped me up the first time I tried to pronounce it.

There is also Brokaw, Wisconsin, and I have heard locals pronounce it Bro-ko.

[Loach]

@VOW

@Briny_Deep

Mr VOW had Ft Knox as his last duty station before he retired from the Army. I ended up finding a job in Louisville, and the pronunciation of that city comes in many flavors.

Mr VOW, in his hardheaded fashion, called it LEWIS-vill for the longest time.

Outsiders are tolerated who call it LEWIE-vill.

I think I slurred that down to something like LOO-uh-vill. At least the natives knew what I was talking about, and the didn’t do much of the smirk-smirk, nudge-nudge, wink-wink that most non-natives get.

In my letters back home to friends and family in California, where we have no accent, I explained that the natives call their city “LO-vo.”

BUT you have to dip your chin almost to your chest when you say the “vo.”

And it almost rhymes with Volvo.

I told my co-workers about my explanation of the pronunciation to friends and family. I shared this at the company Christmas party.

Everybody laughed. One of the big bosses laughed the hardest when I said “it sort of rhymes with Volvo.”

~VOW

Not far from Fort Rucker there is a town named Louisville. That one is pronounced Lewis-vill

[I_Love_Me_Vol.I]

@ekedolphin

@MrAtoz

Indiana has a couple of towns whose names are the same as better-known cities elsewhere, and pronounced differently:

Carmel. Pronounced CAR-mul, unlike the one in California, which is pronounced car-MEL.

As someone who grew up in northern Indianapolis, not far from Carmel (where all the rich people live), I came here specifically to say this one.

CAR-mul is also how Hoosiers pronounce the word caramel.

My submission of a town name only locals pronounce correctly is: Paris (France). Everyone in most of the world says it wrong. Also s’-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands).

[Author_Balk]

@Joeu

Had a nice vacation this summer up in Ulster County, in the Catskills, near the town of Accord.

i used to live in Kingston, which is in Ulster County. As a joke I frequently pronounce the Honda Accord with same pronunciation as they do in the city in New York state.

[Robot_Arm]

@Briny_Deep

It is pew-allup. If you need a catchy ditty to help you remember (whether you want to or not), the Puyallup Fair commercials ran pretty much nonstop in the region, and still do for all I know:

Damn, I haven’t seen that in forever.

[flurb]

@Ludovic

So maybe we can add that not only is “Houston Street” not pronounced correctly by the locals, Houston the city is not either, at least by some.

There’s a historically black college in Austin named Huston-Tillotson University, and the “Huston” is pronounced “Hyoo-ston” like the city. So apparently “Houstons” come in all manner of spellings and pronunciations.

[VOW]

@Loach

Your mention of Ft Rucker explains a lot. Mr VOW went to ATC school there. Didn’t make it; instead of a certificate, he got migraines instead.

~VOW

[Author_Balk]

@Briny_Deep

Then there’s Louisville, KY: “LOU-a-vul” to most locals, no? “Louey-ville” to others. Is this a difference in pronunciation, or merely accent?

When I moved to Louisville I was told by a local it was LOU-a-vul, named after King LOU-a (they were joking).

And in Tennessee, Lebanon is pronounced Leb-a-nin.

[california_jobcase]

Also in Hoosierland there is La Fontaine. (la fountain)

[bob_2]

There is a town in Yorkshire called Mytholmroyd. The story goes that an American couple who decided to stop off there for a fast food lunch, asked the youth who served them - “How do you pronounce the name of this place”?

The youth gave them a strange look and replied - “Burr Gurr King”.

The answer they really wanted was - Mai thuhm royd