# why is Illinois pronounced that way? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337 "2016-02-27T22:03:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/81 "2016-03-01T17:46:43Z")
[Los Altos, CA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Altos,_California) - a non-pleonastic city on the Peninsula in the Bay Area. [Los Altos Hills, CA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Altos_Hills,_California) - a more exclusive pleonastic town next to it. The Los Altos Hills - sometimes used to refer to the geographical feature, as a opposed to the town. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/82 "2016-03-01T17:56:36Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Wasn’t it the Romans who decided a small island in the west part of Europe should be called Britain? No, but they did mangle the existing pronunciation: [Prettania\*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_(place_name)) \> Britannia ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/83 "2016-03-01T20:26:31Z")
Part of the answer about Illinois might have to do with the earliest French settlers in the Americas having a pronunciation that predated oi = “wa”; in Québec at least, words like moi, etoile, oiseau had until recently (and I think some of them still do) a pronunciation that was closer to “way”. If Illinois was ever “ill-un-way” it’s easy to imagine English speakers looking at the spelling and turning it into “ill-un-oy”. > [@RadicalPi](#): > > And when e is followed by two m’s, the e is pronounced like an a. E.g., femme is pronounced fahm. Is this true everywhere in French? I thought it was specifically a Québecois pronunciation, similar to how er gets pronounced as “ar” so chercher sounds like “shar-shay”. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/84 "2016-03-01T21:41:33Z")
It’s certainly true as to _femme_. Though French-French has a distinct vowel shift from English regardless. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/85 "2016-03-01T21:58:02Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > Go to Cairo, Illinois. It’s pronounced Kay - Ro, like the corn syrup. Or better yet, go to Cairo GA where Karo syrup is (or was) produced from syrup cane. Pronounced… yeah, exactly… ETA: Oops, [not quite accurate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo,_Georgia) as it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/86 "2016-03-01T22:04:30Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > And we all remember Count de Monaillle. > > It’s good to be the King. And live in Versailles. (sorry, just thought of it.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/87 "2016-03-02T02:42:49Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I believe the Miami in Oklahoma is called “My A Maw”. Certainly not like the one in Southern Florida. my-AM-uh, oak-luh-HO-muh. Note also the variant pronunciation of Missouri as mih-ZUR-uh. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337/88 "2016-03-02T02:48:21Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > GO- thee. With a soft th. Yeah, that one is a mess. I was taught back in 1988 by my 8th grade teacher to pronounce it “GER-tuh,” but I never know exactly how people pronounce it who live near that street and need to refer to it, so if I need to go to that street, I say “GER-tuh, Goathee, however you pronounce it.” But the German pronunciation doesn’t have the “R” in it, so those that say that it’s the German pronunciation are not quite right, unless you have a non-rhotic accent, and then it’s somewhat closer (but still not quite there.) [Here’s how it’s pronounced](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbYBlzOHxiE) … … OK, not really. (Although I wish it was.) Hit the play button [on any of these](http://forvo.com/search/goethe/). The first pronunciation I can sort of see how an English speaker might hear an “r” in there (which there isn’t), but the others, definitely not. I’ve never heard a German speaker pronounce it with anything that resembles an English “r” to me. The other Chicago street with an odd local pronunciation, which does seem to be falling out of favor, is Mozart. Growing up, it was generally MOE-zart, not MOATS-art, but now it’s starting to drift towards the latter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-illinois-pronounced-that-way/747337.md?page=4)