Jay, perhaps it is an English pronunciation; the English have been known to greatly compress the pronunciation of some words; e.g. Cholmondelay is "Chumley;" Worchester is "Wooster:' Worchestershire is "Woostershr." And, I know the proper name "Prioleau." For many years, a man with this as his middle name was our congressman (he went by an abbreviation of his surname)--and he had an uncle and a first cousin who had the same name (they all had the same first name, also). To save you all the agony of determining how to pronounce this name, I will tell you: "Praylow." Please do not ask me how it is so; I do not have the slightest idea.
My last name is one syllable (ignore the "ty;" that is not a part of the family name), to rhyme with "eggs;" my wife would say that if you could pronounce it, you could not spell it, if you could spell it, you could not pronouce it.
Johnny
SALfan TOL-i-ver? That's how a friend of mine pronounces his last name, spelled the same way. Don't know the answer, even though I'm a Georgia native - Taliaferro County is a "purty fur piece" north of my old stomping grounds.
TOL-i-ver? That's how a friend of mine pronounces his last name, spelled the same way. Don't know the answer, even though I'm a Georgia native - Taliaferro County is a "purty fur piece" north of my old stomping grounds.
SALfan is correct--Pronounced as T in front of Oliver. Still have never figured how that comes from the spelling.
Jay
garr Anyone not from Georgia want to take a stab at Taliaferro? It is the county Crawfordville, GA is located in. The Georgia Railroad mainline, now CSX, runs thru it. You have seen Crawfordville Georgia if you have seen the small town scenes in the movie "Sweet Home Alabama" as well as a number of other movies over the years. Jay
Anyone not from Georgia want to take a stab at Taliaferro? It is the county Crawfordville, GA is located in. The Georgia Railroad mainline, now CSX, runs thru it. You have seen Crawfordville Georgia if you have seen the small town scenes in the movie "Sweet Home Alabama" as well as a number of other movies over the years.
You-ray. Leave out the O at the beginning.
I didn't know either till a friend who was raised there told me.
Norm
SALfan Deggesty And the newspaper did not give you a key to the code? A few years ago, I called a local television station after one of the local news specialists mispronounced "Biloxi" (in Mississippi). It sounds, properly, like "B'luxi" (as in Lux soap). Another town along the coast is Pass CHRISTi ann (short I and i). What will the uneducated do with Guyandotte and Ouachita? From experience, some people pronounce Ouachita as "Ow (as in ouch)-uh-chee-tuh". That marked them immediately as outsiders, at least in Arkansas.
Deggesty And the newspaper did not give you a key to the code? A few years ago, I called a local television station after one of the local news specialists mispronounced "Biloxi" (in Mississippi). It sounds, properly, like "B'luxi" (as in Lux soap). Another town along the coast is Pass CHRISTi ann (short I and i). What will the uneducated do with Guyandotte and Ouachita?
And the newspaper did not give you a key to the code?
A few years ago, I called a local television station after one of the local news specialists mispronounced "Biloxi" (in Mississippi). It sounds, properly, like "B'luxi" (as in Lux soap). Another town along the coast is Pass CHRISTi ann (short I and i).
What will the uneducated do with Guyandotte and Ouachita?
From experience, some people pronounce Ouachita as "Ow (as in ouch)-uh-chee-tuh". That marked them immediately as outsiders, at least in Arkansas.
As to the names, "Ouachita" and "Guyandotte," I have the impression that they are both French spellings of Indian names, just as Quebec is the French spelling of the Indian "Kebec." When I was quite young, I came across the French name "Guillaume," and I pronounced it with a hard "g"--and my mother corrected me, telling me that the proper pronunciation was more like "Wee'ome" (which is the French equivalent of "William"); you get a tiny bit of a"g" in there, but very little..
Norm48327 Ouray, Colorado. Any guesses?
Ouray, Colorado.
Any guesses?
oo..ray
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Can't forget La Jolla, CA. Those familiar with Spanish won't have a problem with it, but...
And Mackinac Island, MI (and the Straits of Mackinac, etc). Although "Michilimackinac" is pronounced exactly as written.
la hoya
mackinaw (and it is sometimes written as such).
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
John WR How do you pronounce Cairo in Georgia? Here in New Jersey I would pronounce it Ky-row.
How do you pronounce Cairo in Georgia? Here in New Jersey I would pronounce it Ky-row.
It's pronounced "KAY-ro" (per a recent thread, Cairo IL is pronounced the same way). Counterintuitively given its spelling, Ochlocknee is pronounced "Oke-LOCK-nee". To the natives, Albany GA is "All-BENNY".
My favorite story is the one we had up here with the London Free Press several years ago...
First paragraph came out fine.
Second paragraph had a ew errors in it.
Third pragraph was all greqrtrhwotnbengngnrnr'ed...
OK Henry. I stand corrected about Chenango and Shenango.
John
Chenango is Upstate NY, Shenango is Ohio and pottery and china
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
Except for Binghamton I've never heard of those places. Binghamton always makes me think of Mr. Bingham in Pride and Prejudice.
Johnny,
I understand that in Illinois the general area around Cairo is called Egypt. Abe Lincoln spoke in Jonesville which is in Egypt.
I vote for Bingo Town. Didn't Chenango make some of the china for the B&O's famous set?
I usually go with Bing-m-ton.
Madrid, NY - Ma' drid. (like "yeah")
Chaumont, NY - Actually just the way the French say it - Shah moe'
Gananoque, ON - Gan an a' kway.
There are a lot of French and native American names around here...
Every now and then we'll get a newby that has problems, but they usually get corrected pretty quickly.
Kay-ro, Georgia and Illinois.
The little town of Cairo, Ohio, just north of Lima, is pronounced by locals so that you would think the name of the town is Carol. It always took me aback because I had grown up within ten miles of Carroll, Ohio, and was always surprised to hear it and wonder why they'd be talking about Carroll, more than 100 miles away.
Bing im ton. Bingemton. Binghamton. Bington. Bimmington. Bingo Town. the Parlor City. The Cigar City. Chenango Point. The Hampton without the P.
Perhaps, Henry, you can fill us in on how to say Binghamton in Binghamton. "Bing-ham-ton?" "Bing-um-ton?" Or some other way?
Many states have a Cairo and thus there are as many pronunciations. There are other similar.situations. In Connecticut you pronounce the city by the sound, Grennich while in upstate NY near the Vermont Border the same spelling is pronounced Greenwhich.. And the lists go on.
Nostalgia for those golden days that never were nearly so wonderful then as they appear looking back 40+ years! A major reason why railroad reporting may be uninformed today is because to most people they seem to be a minor part of daily life. Try asking students in most communities outside the NEC about railroads. It might surprise you or even upset you to find their views are negative (block traffic, accidents, noisy) or that the railroads are just irrelevant.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Exactly duplicating what is happening here in Binghamton, NY and markets around the country. Many of those young hands are actually interns and not graduates and last about a semester before disappearing. This is because the local station may offer them a position at minimum wage...which is ok on some levels but not offer security, benefits, nor an able person to guide and help them become better ( it used to be that way), I know, I never was an intern but was a neophyte mispronouncing names and misidentifying the local scene; but I had a news director or program director to guide me through and around my mistakes. Today's on air people are charactures of charactures and of themselves seeking what appears to be an easy career of looking pretty and smiling at the camera not knowing that there is a real world of journalism that takes work and skill and dedication and concentration. The two reasons Binghamton had some form of accuracy about railrioads in the media some 40 or more years ago was because it was a railroad town and many were close to and knew the media and second because I was reporting and was able to sort out the stories and terminology. SalFan, your final line about best news in town should read "best news operation nationally!".
I live in a small TV market. The kids the local "Nitwitness News" hires look like they are straight out of journalism school; apparently they are cheap to hire, and in some cases the TV station gets less than they pay for. They don't even go to the trouble to learn how to pronounce some of the town names in the area that have unique local pronunciations (Ochlocknee and Cairo, GA are the most often mangled). One young lady is as well suited to being on TV as I am to experimenting with nuclear physics - sounds like she was picking cotton yesterday, and is woefully ignorant about almost any subject. The weekend and latenight sports anchor seems like a nice guy, but I know more about football and baseball/softball than he does, and I'm not a fan. Looks like the kind of guy who spent all his free time while growing up in the library, and his sports reporting sounds like that too. Sometimes it is painful to watch, and frequently the newscast is an embarrassment for a state capital - AND THIS IS THE BEST NEWS OPERATION IN TOWN!!!
Yes...sometimes there is more reward from a job than just the money....When I think of the people I've met or interviewed in politics, business and entertainment; , the places I've been able to get into, the circumstances I've gotten involved in, what I've seen and learned beyond the paychecks, has made it fun and well worthwhile...
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