In Alaska, Nenana is “nee-NAH-nuh”, while Tanana is “TAN-uh-naw”. And of course Ptarmigan is pronounced “Chicken” (insider joke).
Flitwick, Bedfordshire, which the locals insist on calling ‘Flitick’.
Vermont has one as well, though we never determined how the name was supposed to be pronounced. Home of the only (at that point, at least) “indoor mall” in the state.
My husband thought there should be a restaurant in the town, a la Tipsy McStaggers / TGI Fridays, called Checkpoint Charlie’s.
That’s a British pronunciation though, and fairly standard. “Chiswick” is pronounced “Chizzick”, for example. I once heard a narrator of an SF story pronounce the author’s name (“Swanwick”) as “Swannick”. Dunno whether the author is British, and whether that’s the normal pronunciation of his name if he is.
When we were in that state earlier this year, I was surprised to find that “Willamette” is not “Will uh MET” but “will AM et”. Nobody corrected me on my pronunciation of the state’s name.
Two midwestern states have always bugged me. If Kansas is “KAN zus”, shouldn’t another state be “ar KAN zuss”? I know now to call it “AR can saw” but the first time I pronounced it out loud as a kid, I was swiftly corrected.
That is also the accepted pronunciation of the river that bears the same name.
Unless, of course, you happen to be in the state of Kansas, where the name of the river is pronounced “ar KAN zuss”.
It’s Willamette, Damn it. - the way I remember how to pronounce it.
And out here on the west side of the Portland metro area, there is an unincorporated area called Aloha, pronounced “uh-LOW-uh.”
And in the questionable State of Delaware we have Lewes
not Loos
but Lewis
Newark
In New Jersey it’s “Noork”
In Delaware it’s “New-ARK”
Are you sure you’re not confusing whoever preceded The Greatest Generation with every generation afterward? I’m 50 (Gen X), and I grew up with Anglo Greatest Generation and Boomer relatives here in our native Michigan, and it’s been pronounced Dear (like a loved one) Born (like Jason Bourne) ever since I was a little wee one.
Here’s a video from 1986 with someone who’d obviously be way over 50 today clearly saying “deer borne” in the video.
I could imagine one of those stereotypical New York newscaster voices from 1926 saying “derbern,” but not anyone at all from Michigan.
Reminds me of Bangor. Apparently most Bangors are pronounced Banger. The one in Maine is Bane-gore.
How are Concords outside of New England pronounced? I believe I’ve heard that people elsewhere say it like the defunct jet, rather than virtually indistinguishable from the word conquered.
Nope, all the old-timers in my neighborhood and church and whatnot called it Der-burn back in the 80s.
The first sentence of this thread has two examples, the other being
Muh wau’ kee
Natives leave the L out. Even though I don’t live there any more, my preschool daughter once asked when we were going to Mi’waukee next. “Arrrrgghh! We’ve given our child an accent!!”
Most people will say they’re from Muh wau’ kee, Wiz gon’ sin. It’s almost a full hard G sound.
I have a friend who’d meet us at the Irish pub, and he’d always order using stereotypical Amurrican pronunciation.
Me: “I’ll have a Smitticks.”
Friend: “Ah, yes, I as well will have a Smith Wick’s!”
Server (cringing) “Oh…okay…”
.
(Guess what; he didn’t particularly like “Smith Wick’s”)
Also in Michigan, the town of Charlotte is pronounces shar- LOTT, unlike the SHAR-lut in North Carolina.
Not a place name, but a food name:
having studied Italian, “bruschetta” should be broosKETah, not brooSHETah.
The one in Northern California is pronounced con-cord (as in a cord of wood, or a guitar chord). I guess that’s like the jet?
I think you are correct but I’ve learned the regional accents in Italy vary so much that there seems to always be another pronunciation I haven’t heard before. That’s further muddled by additional accents found here in the US among assimilated immigrants, and probably more around the world. I don’t know how many times I’ve said “Is that how it’s pronounced?”, and then moved on with the conversation avoiding further opinions on the matter which will not be in agreement.
It’d be curious if there is a region where that “-sch” is pronounced as “sh” instead of “sk” in Italy. It appears to be taking either German or English rules of orhography-pronunciation and slapping it onto Italian. I personally never know which to say. At higher-end Italian restaurants, the servers seem to know to say it as “broosketta”, but at average red sauce places, they tend to say “brooshetta”. I end up saying something like “brooksetta/brooshetta, however you say it.” If I’m reasonably certain the server is actually Italian, then I will always say “broosketta.”
I’m pretty sure there is no region in Italy that does that, although I do think it is one of the words that third generation Italian- Americans often mispronounce.