Avarie537, you forgot Loogootee (la-GOAT-ee) and LaFontaine (la-fountain, of course.).
As a native Wisconsinite I smiled because I knew most of these towns and how to pronounce them
Well yeah, kind of. The “y” could easily be a short sound, as in “symphony”; the “r” could be non-rhotic, such as they are in Boston, rendering the “ur” to a sort of “uh”; and the German “z” always has a “t” sound in front of it (as in “nazi”)., so if it being spoken as a German name, it is possible it could sound like that.
My personal favorite place-name is the Purgatoire River in Colorado, locally pronounced “Picket-wire.”
That’s right up there with “fish” being spelled “ghoti”.
My first guess at Lechmere was “lech-meer”, like it was an entire swamp full of lechery! I was subsequently told it was “leech-meer”, which sounds even less appealing. “Bowdoin” (“bow-den”) took a couple of tries as well.
I was also disappointed to find out that an Alewife is actually a kind of fish. I’ve resisted asking about Braintree, in case it’s equally mundane.
The roads around here are no better. Going by the street atlas, Cambridge thinks that the ordinal between “Third” and “Fifth” is “Schiappa”.
I’ve seen it suggested that this particular mangling may be another of those “religious war” matters. “Purgatoire” is French for Purgatory; per Wiki, the river was named by French trappers, with the name commemorating Spanish explorers killed in a Native American attack. I’ve come across suggestions of stoutly-Protestant US settlers heavily modifying the pronunciation – and even seeking to officially change the spelling – to “Picketwire” – “None of that [expletive] popish nonsense around here, thank you very much”.
I suppose, then, that I shouldn’t spoil it for you; but – like many towns in Massachusetts – it’s named after a town in Eastern England: Braintree in Essex. I learn that the origin of this English town’s name is a bit obscure and mysterious – may possibly indicate in mixed Old English, and Celtic, tongues, something like “town or village by the river”. At all events, nothing to do with grey matter !
(Braintree, Essex, is right next to – in fact, intermixed with – the little town of Bocking. The local railway station was formerly named “Braintree and Bocking”. Many years ago, I and a group of friends were travelling in those parts, and used said rail station. One guy, who fancied himself as a wag and wit, was moved to start shouting exuberantly, “Bock, bock !” Twenty-year-olds can be very silly…)
In Scotland we worked in a place called Bellshill. It comes from Bell’s Hill, so it’s not bell-shill.
I’ve noticed that one way to tell if someone is local is how they pronouce -ville endings. For example, there are two towns near me: Weaverville and Waynesville. The local pronunciation is Weaverville with the I and Waynesvull. Greenville is Greenvull, Asheville is pronounced with the I, Barnardsville has an I, but Burnsvull doesn’t. Do other regions do that or is this a Southern US thing?
HAH! You’re right! The person I was referring to has German parents and is essentially a Germany-phile. That 'splains it, tho no one says it that way except this person. I wonder how many other place-names are getting mispronounced on purpose to draw attention to one’s self.
There’s a town in Maryland named Havre de Grace, pronounced by locals as “HA-vruh duh GRASE.”
We’ve also got Bowie (“Boo-ee”) and La Plata (“Luh PLAY-tah”).
I was born in Leominster and have lived in Worcester as well. When I briefly moved to California as a child I remember being corrected by my teacher that, “No, it’s Lee-O-Minster, see how there is an O in it?”
Also, this video of non-locals trying to pronounce our towns was just making the Facebook rounds:
Charlotte is actually pronounced without an “r”: cha-LOT. We’ve taken to kinda-sorta putting the “r” when talking to flatlanders to help them actually find the town on the map.
I grew up near Charlotte and I’ve always pronounced the “r”.
I think that New Hampshire must win for having the shortest, super-frequently mispronounced place name. One of our counties is Coos. If you thought it was Cooz, you’re wrong. Co-OS. “Co” as in together" and “os” as in osteoporosis.
Lebanon - LEHB-uh-nuhn
Berlin - BERL-un
Stratham - STRAT-um
Concord - same as “conquered”
Androscoggin - An-druh-SKAW-gihn
Belknap - BEL-nap
Sandbornton - San-BORN-tuhn
Plaistow - PLAH-stow
Piscataqua - Pih-SKAT-uh-kwaw
Penacook - PEHN-uh-kuk (or so says WMUR. my coworkers throw a t in the first syllable)
Pemigewasset - Pehm-ih-juh-WAH-seht
Milan - MY-lihn
Lyndeborough - LYND-Bur-oh
Kancamagus - KAYNK-uh-MAHN-guhs
The little town I grew up in is called Shabbona, named after a Potawatamie chief. It’s pronounced (SHA-bo-nah) by the townies, but out-of-towners almost invariably say “sha-BO-nah.” Rhymes with “My Sharona.”
Occasionally you’ll hear a “sha-bo-NAW” from, I think, folks trying too hard to make it sound like a native word.
But how does one spell Piscacadawadaquoddymoggin?
Not sure if it’s what you meant, but the first syllable in Lyndeborough is pronounced as “lined”
As for “Kancamagus - KAYNK-uh-MAHN-guhs”, take out that second N. Though commonly nicknamed "the Kanc’, the actual pronunciation is more like Kan Ka MAW Gus, though most online references have it wrong, and it’s commonly mispronounced as Kanga Mangus.
Like Wisconsin, Minnesota has a lot of Native town names that are regularly tortured but here are some others. Some of these I’ve heard abused on the National news, others are just people from other states.
Minneapolis - not Minnianapolis; it doesn’t rhyme with Indianapolis. We get this from Indiana natives.
Chisago - no, really it’s not Chicago. Different state again.
Le Seuer (and Le Center) - the locals pronounce it LEE Sewer, which blows my mind but I always try to pronounce it their way when I’m in town. The names came from fur trappers.
Edina - say it with a short i for the E, then say DINE-ah. Not ee-DEEN-ah
Faribault - pronounce it Faihrbo. Okay, there is an I in there that is pronounced, but it seems to go missing more and more these days.
Manganese - yep, just like the metal. The town unincorporated however.
Mahtomedi
Eyota
Just thought of another one. The city I currently reside in is Cudahy. It’s pronounced Cud-ah-hey. Yet what I usually here is Cudahee or Qu-da-hay (qu like cute) or some combination of them. I’m even more surprised when it’s someone from just a few towns over that can’t say it. Are we really that far off your radar? You’re fifty something years old and you’ve never heard the name of a city that’s like 10 miles away?