My two cents as an outsider living in Columbia, Mo:
In general:
Miz-our-ee: people in urban areas, people in northern Missouri, younger people, and professional people
Miz-our-uh: people in rural areas, people in southern Missouri (where many folks do have a pronounced drawl), and older people.
The latter also tends to be slurred together and spoken much more quickly than “Mis-our-ee”; it kind of sounds almost like “Mzzuruh” with no clear “i” or “ou”.
The exception is politicians in speeches and televised ads; even if they’re from St. Louis or KC, it seems like they ALL make a point of saying “Miz-our-uh”. I imagine they think it makes them sound more salt-of-the-earth. :rolleyes:
The original pronunciation for the state’s name was -EE. Technically, that should be the proper pronunciation.
But there are other forces at work. In the late 19th century, it was common to portray a hick from the sticks as someone who puts an -EE at the end of the word (see “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny”). It was also probably how the “Jim Crow” stereotype would pronounce a state’s name. It carried over to other states like Californee, etc.
A lot of Missourians were ridiculed as ignorant because they added the -EE. To show they weren’t, they began saying “Missoura.” That overcorreciton became common.
BTW, the original reason why Missouri was called the “Show Me” state was because Missourians were considered so stupid that you had to show them for them to understand anything. As time went by, it became a source of pride.
:arrives out of breath: Sorry, I’m late! I’m a born and bred Missouri girl and it’s always pronounced with an -EE unless you’re a Tigers fan and then it’s Missou- Rah!!!
[puzzled]
Um, the Tigers? I’ve got the Ambush, the Blues, the Cardinals, the Ramblers, the Rams, and the Vipers. No Tigers. Unless you’re talking about–oh.
I’m from Arizona and I lived in Kirksville, Missouri for two and a half years. I heard it pronounced both ways but one time I said it as Missour-uh and everyone looked at me strangely, perhaps because I was obviously an outsider (hopefully it wasn’t because I had spinach in my teeth or something).
Mrs. Rasthaomie, who is from the southern part of Missouri, and from a rural area, pronounces it ~~EE, and she gets quite put out when anybody says that southern and/or rural MO people pronounce it incorrectly.
And where did you get this tidbit of trivia? I always understood it was stubborness and skepticism, not stupidity, that got Missouri the nickname of the Show-Me state.
When I lived in Missouri, I came up with a whole list of reasons why they called it “The Show-Me State.” To wit:
Show Me the way out of this damned cave. Show Me your driver’s license. (When the state trooper pulls you over for going 71 in a 70) Show Me 17 pages of documentation, each of them notarized and signed in blood. (When you tried to renew your license plates each year. OY! what an ordeal! :rolleyes: )
