Pronunciation versus Spelling

[rcdrye]

Enzoamps

Here in Michigan, we have the small town of char-LOTTE, contrasting CHAR-lut NC.

Charlotte VT (Rutland/Vermont Railway) is pronounced the same way, and is the source of the name and pronunciation of the Michigan town - there are also other western Vermont names in the area - a legacy of the Erie Canal.  My mother's mother graduated from Charlotte MI High School, and my father's mother had a "cottage" in the Vermont town.

Over here on the other side of the Green Mountains there is the village of Ely ("EE-LEE") on the line between Thetford and Fairlee.

[Enzoamps]

Here in Michigan, we have the small town of char-LOTTE, contrasting CHAR-lut NC.

 

We have a small town Pompeii, pronounced POM-pee-EYE.  Detroit (not day-TWAH) is full of street names like Gratiot (GRASH-ut), Livernois (LIVE-er-NOISE)

 

Someone already mentioned Sault Ste Marie, which is SOO saint marie, but to us it is just "the Soo". Yes, the same Soo as the railroad. Nearby is the Mackinac bridge as well as the same named Island and in the water, the straits.  That is pronounced MACK-ih-NAW.

[dakotafred]

It involves a detour, so on my trips through South Dakota on U.S. 281 I've seen the signage but never called on the town of Athol to learn the local pronunciation. I'd be curious.

According to my atlas, there are three others so-named in the U.S., nicely distributed geographically: in Idaho, Kansas and Massachusetts.

[1oldgoat]

When I lived there, Cuyahoga Falls was also called "Ticket City" due to the local PD's enthusiastic enforcement of traffic laws!

[lonewoof]

I'm more in favor of LANK-uh-stir, for the town/county here in South Carolina. (BTW, that's the "PAL metto State"; we can always spot the outsiders who want it to be "PALM etto".

 

[Deggesty]

tomikawaTT

Don't recall where I first encountered this, so if I'm treading on somebody's copyright, my apologies.

Scene, a mixed train, one coach at ther rear, approaching a town spelled Euralia.

Conductor (front of coach) - "You're a liar!  You're a liar!"

Brakeman (rear of coach) - "You really are!  You really are!"

Chuck

 

Chuck, I well remember that one--and, as you, I do not remember where I first saw it. I glanced quickly through A Treasury of Railroad Folklore, but did not find it, though it may well be there. Perhaps Paul North or Jeff Hergert can help us.

[tomikawaTT]

Don't recall where I first encountered this, so if I'm treading on somebody's copyright, my apologies.

Scene, a mixed train, one coach at the rear, approaching a town spelled Euralia.

Conductor (front of coach) - "You're a liar!  You're a liar!"

Brakeman (rear of coach) - "You really are!  You really are!"

Chuck

[softail86mark]

Des Moines, WA has an "ess" sound at the end.

Des Moines, IA does not.

[daveklepper]

ACY

Ever hear a Baltimorean pronounce the name of his city?  Lots of variants from the people who call the place home.  There's BAL-TEE-more; BALL-a-mer; BALL-da-mer; BALL-mer; and probably others.  Please refrain from calling him a Baltimoron.  That's not appreciated. 

Tom

 

[quote user="ACY"]

Ever hear a Baltimorean pronounce the name of his city?  Lots of variants from the people who call the place home.  There's BAL-TEE-more; BALL-a-mer; BALL-da-mer; BALL-mer; and probably others.  Please refrain from calling him a Baltimoron.  That's not appreciated. 

Tom

 I usually heard BALLimore when exploring its streetcar system as a teenager.

[DS4-4-1000]

As a Philly transplant to the Middle coal fields there were two pronunciations that stood out to me.

Shenendoah was pronounced SHEN doe

Mahanoy was pronounced MACK a noy

 

And in Philadelphia never say you are going downtown.  That immediately lables you as an outsider.  You go "Center City".

[wjstix]

Just a follow-up: From my home I can pick up Brewers games. Milwaukee native Bob Uecker always says "Mill-wah-kee". People there talking to each other sometimes slur it to "Mwah-kee" but I think if you asked them how to say it, they would say "Mill-wah-kee".

BTW Monticello in Virginia (Thos. Jefferson's home) is "Mon-tah-chell-o" with the "cello" part pronounced like the musical instrument. But if you're in Monticello, MN you're in "Mon-tah-sell-o".

[ACY Tom]

Ever hear a Baltimorean pronounce the name of his city?  Lots of variants from the people who call the place home.  There's BAL-TEE-more; BALL-a-mer; BALL-da-mer; BALL-mer; and probably others.  Please refrain from calling him a Baltimoron.  That's not appreciated. 

Tom

[Firelock76]

This is fun!  Reminds me of that great Stephen Vincent Benet' poem "I've Fallen In Love With American Names".

"...and bury my heart at Wounded Knee."

[wjstix]

There are some here in the Midwest that get mispronounced a lot - 

Montevideo, MN...it's not pronounced like the South American city (Mon-tah-vi-DAY-oh) but "Mon-tah-VID-ee-oh" (so the last part is "video" like TV).

Pierre, SD...it's not like a French guy's name (Pee-yair). It's pronounced "Peer", like a 'pier' where a ship would land.

Winona, MN...isn't "Why-know-nah" (like Wynonna Judd) but "Whi-know-nah". 

Sault Ste. Marie, MI (and ONT)...thanks to the Soo Line, I think most railfans know "Sault" rhymes with "Zoo" so it's "Soo Saint Ma-ree"

Nicollet, WI is "Nick-o-lay" but Nicollet in MN is "Nickle-it". 

Des can cause trouble...Des Plaines, IL is normally "Dez Plaines" but Des Moines IA is "Duh-Moin". BTW Dubuque IA, is "Duh-byooke".

Faribault, MN is generally "Fair-a-bow" but people from there sometimes pronounce the "t" so it's more like "Fair-a-bolt".

BTW I think ones like these are different from local slang / blurred pronounciations that come up, like people in Milwaukee WI saying "Mwaukee" or New Orleans LA residents saying "Nahlins". 

FWIW if you like Spam, Austin MN where it's made is pronounced the same as the one in Texas, but Hormel, the company that makes Spam, is called "Hoar-MEL" pretty much everywhere but Austin MN...people there say "Hormull" (kinda rhymes with "normal").

[Deggesty]

ACY

Garyla:

You're very close.  The only nit-picking correction I would make is to attach the S to the last syllable:  LANK-uh-stir.  This considerably de-emphasizes the middle syllable.  In contrast, we are familiar with Burt LAN-CASS-ter.  Pronounce it that way in Amish country & you'll get a wry smile from the locals.  By the way, Reading is pronounced pretty much the same way they pronounce it across the pond (think past tense of "read").

Tom 

 

Ah yes, as to Reading, I was corrected early on by my mother as to how to pronouce the name (and she was born in Kochi, Japan--of missionary parents, one of whom was from Lancaster county, South Carolina and the other from Brunswick country, Virginia).

[Deggesty]

And, considering that Quebec is the French spelling of an Indian (or First Nation, as they say  now) name, I do not doubt that if the area had been settled by English instead of French, the name would be Kebec.

[Deggesty]

I am not sure about the Pennsylvania town, but it is LANK-as-ter county in South Carolina and the seat of the county is LANK-as-ter--I grew up ten miles south of the county seat. And, my father, along with many of his ancestors, was born in LANK-as-ter county in Virginia; I believe the name of the county seat is pronounced the same way.

Then, when I lived in Pickens county, Alabama, I met some people whose ancestors came from Lancaster county, S.C., who pronounced their family name Lan-CAST-er. (I also found some distant cousins whose ancestors had come from Lancaster county, S.C.)

[ACY Tom]

Garyla:

You're very close.  The only nit-picking correction I would make is to attach the S to the last syllable:  LANK-uh-stir.  This considerably de-emphasizes the middle syllable.  In contrast, we are familiar with Burt LAN-CASS-ter.  Pronounce it that way in Amish country & you'll get a wry smile from the locals.  By the way, Reading is pronounced pretty much the same way they pronounce it across the pond (think past tense of "read").

Tom 

[garyla]

In California's Antelope Valley, the UP (former SP) runs through the city of Lancaster (LAN-cas-ter). 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that Pennsylvania's Strasburg RR operates in Lancaster (LANK-as-ter) County.

No?

[Firelock76]

Then there's Wanaque, New Jersey, as in the old Erie Wanaque-Midvale branch.

I'm told there's two ways to pronounce Wanaque, "Wanna-kee", and "Wanna-kew", but honestly all I've ever heard is "Wanna-kew."

[BaltACD]

ACY

If you come from the Cleveland-Akron area, you pronounce Cuyahoga Ki uh hoge uh (long O, hard G).  But you might slip and call it Ki-uh-hogga (short O).  If you're in a hurry it's Ki-hogga, and if you're in a BIG hurry it's Cogga.  So don't be confused if somebody says he's from Cogga Falls. 

Tom 

 

And if it is locals talking - it's just 'the Falls'.

[ACY Tom]

I was born in the state that's Hi in the middle and round on both ends.  Back there, the B&O served the town of Belpre (pronounced Bell-Pree), and a branch of the PRR served Cadiz (Caddis, with the accent on the first syllable).  A major point on the NYC's Big Four was Bellefontaine (just say Bell Fountain).  If you come from the Cleveland-Akron area, you pronounce Cuyahoga Ki uh hoge uh (long O, hard G).  But you might slip and call it Ki-uh-hogga (short O).  If you're in a hurry it's Ki-hogga, and if you're in a BIG hurry it's Cogga.  So don't be confused if somebody says he's from Cogga Falls. 

Tom 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

My old neighborhood gets butchered routinely, correct pronunciation is HEGG-wish, not HEDGE-wish.

Thanks to Lands' End, the stop on the Illinois Central is mispronounced.  Correct pronunciation is MAT-uh-son, not MATT-sen. 

[Firelock76]

I'm sure General Lord Jeffrey Amherst, for whom all those places were named, would have pronounced it AM-herst. 

The Brits tend to put the emphasis on the first syllable of a multi-syllable name.

[John Liebson]

Amherst, Massachusetts, is pronounced "Amerst," as is Amherst College. Amherst, NY is pronounced with the `h'. There are other Amersts scattered about the US and Canada, some of which may well be pronounced differently, yet, such as Amherst, VA and TX.

Many, many other towns have their own local pronunciations, such as Versailles, MO, 'Versales."

[Firelock76]

Then there's Lima, Peru, pronounced "Lee-ma", and Lima, Ohio, pronounced "Ly-ma."

Bogota Columbia (Boga-ta) versus Bogota New Jersey (Buh-go-duh.)

[AltonFan]

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is pronounced "kai-roh."

Cairo, a town in southern Illinois, is pronounced "kay-row."

[Firelock76]

Quite a few French Hugenots emigrated to the part of New Jersey where I'm from, Bergen County to be exact.  Some came during Dutch rule, others during English, but most during the 17th Century as the New Rochelle settlers did.  The present-day town of Demarest is named for one of the prominent Hugenot families, the De Marests.

As an aside, Bergen County residents pronounce the towns name as "Demma-rest."

[wanswheel]

1974 Merriam Webster's New Collegiate dictionary has the ‘r’ at the end of the first syllable, which is slightly emphasized and has a parenthetic (y) before a ‘u’ with a dot on top representing similar to ‘oo’ in foot. The second syllable is an upside-down ‘e’ representing similar to ‘u’ in abut. The third syllable (shel) is emphasized.

So something like Nur-uh-SHELL?  Probably need a Huguenot.