# Was Los Angeles Ever Pronounced With A "hard" G **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353 "2006-11-14T03:58:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChiMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ChiMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiMagnet)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/1 "2006-11-14T03:58:13Z")
After listening to some old radio shows today, I noticed the announcer would always say somthing like "courtesy “KMX” Los Angeles. But pronounce it with a, I guess you call it hard G. In other words a G like in “greg” not a G as pronounced by the letter J. The latest show was from 1947 and it was KHJ Los Angeles with a hard G. At first I thought it was probably just a mispronounced, but I also heard some local stuff on something called a Don Lee Station and they pronounced it with a “G” instead of the “J” So was Los Angeles ever pronounced with a hard G like Greg? Or is that just a local variation that was always just a wrong way of saying it. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/2 "2006-11-14T04:03:41Z")
Only time I’ve heard it pronounced that way is by Angelica Huston in **The Grifters** (1990). ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/3 "2006-11-14T04:03:41Z")
I remember in a Bugs Bunny cartoon that Bugs pronounced Los Angeles with a hard “G” as well. Hearing it from him, I always thought it was a comical mispronounciation, but perhaps not. ---
**Author:** ![stochastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@stochastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stochastic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/4 "2006-11-14T04:13:10Z")
I grew up in L.A., and I recall that the station identification announcers for one of the local, non-network-affiliated TV stations would pronounce it Loos (long O sound, as opposed to “loss”) Angle-eze. They were doing it this way until I moved away in 1997. I never took Spanish, so please correct me if I’m wrong, but I understand this the more latinized pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/5 "2006-11-14T04:19:59Z")
[QUOTE=stochastic] I grew up in L.A., and I recall that the station identification announcers for one of the local, non-network-affiliated TV stations would pronounce it Loos (long O sound, as opposed to “loss”) Angle-eze. They were doing it this way until I moved away in 1997. I never took Spanish, so please correct me if I’m wrong, but I understand this the more latinized pronunciation. [/QUOTE] [Here’s](http://www.laalmanac.com/geography/ge13c.htm) an interesting link that backs up your post. ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/6 "2006-11-14T04:21:47Z")
Letterman used to do that once in a while, dunno if he still does. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/7 "2006-11-14T12:40:44Z")
Turner Classic Movies played a short film this weekend (about the unAmerican evils of gossiping during WWII) It was based on a potential Japanese attack on Los Angeles…The opening scene had the narrator pronouncing it with the hard “g.” It was a serious film that I believe was historically accurate…at least in the pronunciation department. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/8 "2006-11-14T13:15:59Z")
Former Los Angeles Mayor [Sam Yorty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Yorty) (1961 to 1973) was known for his peculiar pronounciation of the city’s name as “Loss Ang-gah-leez.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/9 "2006-11-14T13:26:35Z")
[QUOTE=Doctor Who] [Here’s](http://www.laalmanac.com/geography/ge13c.htm) an interesting link that backs up your post. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > [T]he Times did not express the same distain for the prevalent pronunciation of San Pedro as “San Pee-dro” rather than the Spanish “San Pey-dro.” I used to work with a woman of Hispanic descent who lived in San Pedro. She used to get peeved when people pronounced the name of her city as ‘San Pey-dro’. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/10 "2006-11-14T13:27:32Z")
weird, I heard something similar on the radio today, Seattle station kexp had Frank Black on and he was commenting on his song Los Angles and it was pronounced with the hard G. he said he was trying for an older style and had Perry Mason in mind when he went with that pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/11 "2006-11-14T13:43:02Z")
The original El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles de Portiuncula was of course pronounced in the Spanish manner: lohse ann-khay-lays, with a guttural “jota” sound like in Jose celebrating Chanukah. As the community became more “Anglo,” it replaced that non-standard-in-English consonant with the closest approximation, a hard “G”, retaining the long vowel in “Los” and giving the pronunciation asked about in the OP. This was, I’m given to understand, the native Southern Californian pronunciation before the area got the heavy immigration of the 1930s and later. That massive influx, though, with people who considered that the city of their destination was called “Laws Angie-Lee’s,” overwhelmed native usage, which became archaic within the lifetime of the oldest of us Dopers. (No proof, no cite, for the above; it’s put together from an impression gathered from decades of reading, including a number of books on quite different subjects which referenced in passing what native Southern Californians said.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/12 "2006-11-14T13:55:01Z")
As a SoCal native, I’ve always pronounced it with a soft ‘g’. I remember watching _Dragnet_, with Jack Webb saying ‘This is the city. Los An(j)eles, California’, and the various station identifications (we could pick up KTTV, KCOP and KTLA in San Diego) using the soft ‘g’. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/13 "2006-11-14T13:56:19Z")
Well, it was pronounced that way when it was part of Nueva España and later of Mexico. And it’s still pronounced that way when it’s mentioned in a Spanish conversation (but then, and as Will Smith correctly reflected in a song, we also say “Miami” instead of “Mayami”). Isn’t it “de la Porciúncula”? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/14 "2006-11-14T14:21:42Z")
The Narrator at the beginning of The Big Lebowski calls it “Los Ayn-ga-leez”. . .the city of angels. . .but I didn’t find it to be that, exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/15 "2006-11-14T15:38:31Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Isn’t it “de la Porciúncula”? [/QUOTE] Yes, but a T / C alternation before I isn’t unheard of. The two are very similar in some late medieval / early modern lettering, and in some languages (Late Latin being one) TI+vowel / CI+vowel are pronounced similarly, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Portiúncula is an etymological spelling for what is pronounced Porciúncula. Cf. French -tion (pron. syõ, with etymological [t]) / Spanish -ción (pron. syón). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/16 "2006-11-14T16:23:08Z")
“Los Angeles. He walks again by night.” ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/17 "2006-11-14T16:29:14Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] “Los Angeles. He walks again by night.” [/QUOTE] …out of the fog, into the smog. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/18 "2006-11-14T16:53:19Z")
The one I find strange is Vallejo, California, where the “ll” takes the English pronunciation, but the “j” takes the Spanish. California is full of Spanish place names with more-or-less mangled pronunciations. I used to work for a store in La Jolla (pronounced “hoya”). It was amusing when I ordered merchandise and had to spell the city name to baffled out-of-staters. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/19 "2006-11-14T19:31:00Z")
[QUOTE=Greg Charles] California is full of Spanish place names with more-or-less mangled pronunciations. I used to work for a store in La Jolla (pronounced “hoya”). It was amusing when I ordered merchandise and had to spell the city name to baffled out-of-staters. [/QUOTE] If you go down Calaveras Boulevard, turn right onto Piedmont Road, then right on Landess Avenue, and right onto Calle de Cuestanada, you’ll wind up in a place a lot of people simply cannot get to because they get an aneurism parsing the driving directions. My favourite is after spending five minutes on the phone conveying how to spell “Calle de Amor” is the question “So, is that street or drive or what?”. I think vague familiarity with Spanish geographical markers should be a requirement before entering the state of California. I’d love to stay and chat but I gotta go get some lunch down in sun-dzhozie. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353/20 "2006-11-14T19:56:29Z")
[QUOTE=groman] … I’d love to stay and chat but I gotta go get some lunch down in sun-dzhozie. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Is that off the Kwa-Jengah pass? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-los-angeles-ever-pronounced-with-a-hard-g/380353.md?page=2)