# You're not from around here, are you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817 "2005-07-10T04:10:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/101 "2005-07-13T04:18:26Z")
> [@La Llorona](#): > > Anyone want to hazard a guess at Wilkes-Barre? > > 🙂 Wilks-Bayer Although that’s kind of cheating. I attended the Job Corps center up there 10 years ago
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**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/102 "2005-07-13T16:30:59Z")
Near Hot Springs Arkansas, there’s Lake Ouachita. Out-of-towners might ask for directions to “Lake Oowacheetah” but it’s pronounced Washitaw. Supposedly there’s a Pique Et Noir river in Arkansas that’s pronounced “Picket Wire.” Natchitoches Louisiana, where Elvis changed places with a lookalike in _Bubbahotep_, is pronounced “Nackatish,” not “Natch ih toe ches.” There are Beauforts in both North and South Carolina. The SCians pronounce it “Byoofert,” while NC pronounces it correctly as “Bohfert.” ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/103 "2005-07-13T16:39:53Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > The Almond Growers Association (or something like that) kept saying ‘ammins’ during an NPR interview, and it didn’t connect that the spokesman would mispronounce ‘almonds’. A friend from Nevada says almonds this way. I teased her about it once, telling her she sounds like she’s from the Central Valley. She pointed out that the people who grow them say it that way, so who is she to tell them they’re wrong? A pretty good point, actually, but I still think it sounds funny. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/104 "2005-07-14T14:25:04Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Well, AFAIK, Goethe is pronounced normally, isn’t it? Gert-uh. That’s what the CTA automated voice says. > > I pronounced both Des Plaines and Devon incorrectly the first time, and was promptly corrected. I got 'em now. Also have Paulina down. Whew. I’d say the correct pronounciation of Goethe is used about 50% of the time. You’ll still have some who insist that it’s Go–ee’–thee. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/105 "2005-07-14T15:10:35Z")
Way back when DeHusband and I were dating, he asked me how to pronounce some of the weirder names in Alabama. Wedowee (weeDOWwee), Opelika (opal IKE a), the aforementioned Mobile, Montgomery (mun gumry), Tallahasee (tal uh HASS ee), LaFayette (lahFAYett), etc. We drove across a river, one day and he asked me how to pronounce it. “tal uh POO suh” - “That just sounds dirty.” ---
**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:** [July 14, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/106 "2005-07-14T15:12:45Z")
> [@Random](#): > > I’d say the correct pronounciation of Goethe is used about 50% of the time. You’ll still have some who insist that it’s Go–ee’–thee. I’m not from around here. Although I have no trouble with Puyallup or Enumclaw or Tulalip, there’s a street in Bellingham that I’m not sure about. It’s Roeder. I want to pronounce it ‘R **ö** -der’ (i.e., shape the mouth for an ‘o’ and say a long ‘e’). But I don’t know if people around here say ‘Rader’ or ‘Roder’. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/107 "2005-07-14T15:26:07Z")
I finally thought of a good one: **Wiehle Avenue**. Shortly before I moved here I got directions over the phone to the various apartment complexes I was considering, and one lady told me to take the “Wheelie Avenue” exit: I almost missed it, because I did not immediately connect the spelling “Wiehle” with the pronunciation “wheelie.” > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > It’s Roeder. I want to pronounce it ‘R **ö** -der’ (i.e., shape the mouth for an ‘o’ and say a long ‘e’). But I don’t know if people around here say ‘Rader’ or ‘Roder’. Funny, I’d want to pronounce that “Reeder.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/108 "2005-07-14T16:52:37Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Whatever! I can’t keep your crazy ways of naming the freeways straight. I’ve managed to avoid LA for a year and a half now, and if I have my way (highly unlikely) I’ll never have to worry about the Los Angeles freeway system again. Oh come on, LA’s not so bad. I’m strictly a northerner, but there’s plenty to love about the LA area. And San Diego just plain rocks. **Johnny L.A.** however lives in Lancaster. No offense man but that place sucks! Unless you like oppressive heat, remnants of a dead aerospace industry, and Joshua trees. Oh and as for the OP, it’s not pronounced “San Ho Zay”. It’s “Sanazay”. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/109 "2005-07-14T17:09:12Z")
Poughkeepsie, New York, where of all those Vassar prom girls are laid end-to-end, is pronounced ‘Kipsie.’ ---
**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:** [July 14, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/110 "2005-07-14T22:18:15Z")
> [@Bomzaway](#): > > No offense man but that place sucks! Unless you like oppressive heat, remnants of a dead aerospace industry, and Joshua trees. I _used to_ live in Lancaster (which is in L.A. County, BTW). I moved to L.A. proper and lived there for 17 years. I’m four miles from Canada now. I’m not a fan of heat, but somehow the heat of Lancaster was of a different quality from the heat in L.A. Lancaster heat was bearable. And yes, I like aerospace and joshua trees. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/111 "2005-07-14T22:31:47Z")
> [@Bomzaway](#): > > Oh come on, LA’s not so bad. I’m strictly a northerner, but there’s plenty to love about the LA area. You area? Then what was with the calling 101 “the 101” in that other thread? I don’t trust people who overuse the definite article. As for the Southland, it just ain’t for me. Sadly, almost my entire extended family lives there and I get guilted (thanks, Mom!) into going there usually at least once a year. The last time I was there was in January 2004 and that was for work. Words cannot describe how happy I was to get back to lovely snowy Chicago at the end of that stupid trip. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/112 "2005-07-15T01:07:12Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Wilks-Bayer > > Although that’s kind of cheating. I attended the Job Corps center up there 10 years ago
 Huh. I always heard “Wilksberry.” Even when I spent a week there one afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Pensandfeathers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Pensandfeathers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pensandfeathers)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/113 "2005-07-15T03:15:01Z")
> [@stochastic](#): > > I grew up in Fountain Valley, the suburban sprawl neighbor of Westminster, and everyone I knew called it West **minister**. > > When I lived in Seattle, my non-native stature was revealed the first few times I tried to pronounce Puyallup, Snoqualmie or Issaquah. Unfortunately, the provincial PNWers don’t take well to us CA folks invading their mildewy state, so I quickly learned to pronounce like a native to blend in. Natives of Washington and Oregon, so I’ve gathered, LOATH migrating Californians. Nobody seems to care that I’m from Utah, if anything they’re amused, heh. My boss is originally from SoCal, but after the horrible treatment he and his friends got from the natives when he lived in Oregon, he’s not exactly quick to tell people where he’s from anymore. Before I moved to Washington, my then boyfriend coached me on a lot of the pronunciations, so I’ve been able to blend in rather nicely. A coworker of mine said the only time I really stand out is when I’m complaining about how fucked up the streets are. However, I went driving with said coworker last night in Capitol Hill, and he said my Seattle Navigational Skills have improved greatly in the last few months. I was way too proud of that. ---
**Author:** ![sneezy5660](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@sneezy5660](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sneezy5660)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/114 "2005-07-15T03:21:06Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > DMark already took care of Nevada. 😃 > > Havana, FL is HAY-va-nuh, not Huh-va-nuh. They get really upset there. > > Pecos, TX is PEE-cos not PAY-cos. They also get really upset. > > New Orleans is NOR-lens, not NOO OR-leens or NOO Or-lee-ans. The don’t get quite as upset, but then, they live in New Orleans after all. 😛 Um, Pecos is pronounced Pay-cuss. Somebody was pulling your leg. I grew up near there, and knew people who lived there. Pecos cantaloupes are the best! To add to the list: Boerne, Tx. is pronounced Bernie Greune is pronounced Green. Quitaque is Kit-a-kway. (long a on the second one) ---
**Author:** ![sneezy5660](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@sneezy5660](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sneezy5660)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/115 "2005-07-15T03:22:13Z")
Crap. I previewed and everything! Gruene. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/116 "2005-07-15T04:22:56Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is pronounced _exactly the way you’d think it would be_. When your town is called Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, you don’t need any idiosyncratic pronunciations. However, natives can get through ‘Saskatchewan’ in just over 2 syllables instead of the usual 4. You must have heard that old joke about the American couple who stopped for gas outside of Saskatoon and asked the attendant where they were. When he said “Saskatoon, Saskatchewan”, the guy turned to his wife and said, “They don’t speak English here.” It’s hard for us Canadians to listen to all y’all mangle French names the way you do. I imagine it’s even harder for French speakers. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/117 "2005-07-15T10:57:47Z")
> [@Knowed Out](#): > > There are Beauforts in both North and South Carolina. The SCians pronounce it “Byoofert,” while NC pronounces it correctly as “Bohfert.” I was in Byoofert last week and someone pulled up next to me, wanting to know where “Ribat Road” was, (he actually called it RE-BAT). Understand, being totally deaf in one ear he had to yell the question between cars 3 or 4 times. When I finally understood the question, I was able to point to the intersection at the red light where we were and yell back, “Ribaut (ri-BOW) Road is right there.” How’s that for a mundane and pointless anecdote. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/118 "2005-07-15T11:16:34Z")
A big soda brand has made this ad for airing all over Europe. They simulated the Sanfermines bullruns, but for some reason didn’t use anybody from Pamplona, do it in Pamplona or anything. Well, since bullruns are also held in many other towns, it could be a different village, right? Wrong. All the flags you see in the ad are Ikurriñas, instead of the all-green flag of Pamplona, the all-red of Navarra, or the horizontal stripes of La Rioja. Ikurriñas don’t “belong” in the area where bulls are run
 it’s like having the US flag in Toronto, only last I checked the US was not trying to “acquire” Canada. You do see Ikurriñas in Pamplona, and of course the people hanging them make sure they come out on TV, but in any other town, the dudes trying to hang them up would get a dunk in the nearest ditch (assuming they caught the locals in a nice day). The security barriers are wrong. People from the area where the bulls are run got pretty pissed off, both by bringing in outsiders to run and by the flag thing. So the rumors go that the ad is not going to show in Spain at all. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/119 "2005-07-15T11:22:55Z")
Another one, but it’s kind of a different thing
 it’s not about “trying to fake being from around here”, just about mistreatment of pronunciation. A few years back, some guys from the central government were visiting local factories, asking them for some census-like information. So they go to Sanyo, do their thing, halfway through their explanation someone finally loses his patience and explains that “it’s not Sein-yo, it’s Sánio, what, haven’t you ever seen the TV ads?”. They finish, and ask about “PAiah”. Páia? The heck izzat?. After much scratching of heads, the locals finally realized that the city boys just thought _every_ single factory belongs to a foreign company and pronounced the names as if they were English. Sanyo is japanese, japanese is pronounced just like Spanish only we sometimes put the stress in the wrong sillable, on the first try. And this Páia was Piher (pronounced, uhm, something like Pee-er), from Picó Hermanos, “Brothers Picó” - a Spanish company. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817/120 "2005-07-15T11:55:43Z")
This is an accent thing rather than a correct pronunciation thing, but it made a deep impression on me: Shortly after moving back to Boston, I asked directions of a co-worker with the true Boston accent. “You go up heah until you get to Weston Avenue.” I couldn’t find it on the map. "“_Weston_ Avenue? Is that right?” “Yeah” “How do you spell it?” “Double you, ee, ess tee, ee, ahh, enn. Weston.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-not-from-around-here-are-you/311817.md?page=7)