Trains.com

Monon

10086 views
126 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    July 2008
  • 2,325 posts
Posted by rdamon on Friday, November 20, 2020 5:06 PM

Wonder what the proper way to say BNSF is?  binz-f ?

  • Member since
    November 2014
  • 250 posts
Posted by ORNHOO on Friday, November 20, 2020 4:41 PM

Lithonia Operator
Lithonia Operator wrote the following post yesterday: Convicted One After living several years in Georgia,  while making a business trip to Seattle,  it  just seemed like Puyallup Washington was missing an apostrophe.   Good one! I see what you did there.

Did you ever wonder where all the "R"s that are never prononced in New England go? Warshingdon!

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Friday, November 20, 2020 9:15 AM

Plus.....the Wabash had a namesake canal....take THAT,.. Moe-non fans!!  Whistling

  • Member since
    September 2017
  • 5,636 posts
Posted by charlie hebdo on Friday, November 20, 2020 9:13 AM

rrnut282

To get this thread back on track:  MOE-non is a (franco)anglicized version of the Pottawatami word for "swift running."  Not a bad nickname for a railroad.  

Someone mentioned another possible Hoosier Line, the Wabby.  The new line SW out of Fort Wayne crosses the Wabash River a couple of times.  It came really close to this, but only missed by a couple of miles.  The Wabash RR crossed the Wabash River in Wabash County, next to the City of Wabash.  Wabash also had two lines across the state, but they did not cross like the subject C.I.&L.  

To derail it again:  Indiana also has a Ver-SAILS.  It's down by Kentucky, so it's possible they kept the mis-pronounciation with which they were familiar.  

The State Park nearby is another franco-anglicized word: Ouabache State Park.  Twenty years ago it was Quabache State Rec Area.  Obviously, there has been disagreement on what the Pottawatami called the river.

 

 

The Midwest has many French place names due to the heritage of French control prior to the treaty of Paris, 1763.

Many are mispronounced.

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Friday, November 20, 2020 2:50 AM

rrnut282
The State Park nearby is another franco-anglicized word: Ouabache State Park.

That's straight phoneticized French for "Wabash".  Which isn't Potawatomi, it's Miami/Illinois.

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, November 19, 2020 11:12 PM

rrnut282
Wabash also had two lines across the state, but they did not cross like the subject C.I.&L.  

 

 At one time the Wabash, St Louis, and Pacific controlled the Indianapolis, Peru, and Chicago RR,  giving it crossing lines centered at Peru.

 

  • Member since
    January 2001
  • From: MP CF161.6 NS's New Castle District in NE Indiana
  • 2,148 posts
Posted by rrnut282 on Thursday, November 19, 2020 2:58 PM

To get this thread back on track:  MOE-non is a (franco)anglicized version of the Pottawatami word for "swift running."  Not a bad nickname for a railroad.  

Someone mentioned another possible Hoosier Line, the Wabby.  The new line SW out of Fort Wayne crosses the Wabash River a couple of times.  It came really close to this, but only missed by a couple of miles.  The Wabash RR crossed the Wabash River in Wabash County, next to the City of Wabash.  Wabash also had two lines across the state, but they did not cross like the subject C.I.&L.  

To derail it again:  Indiana also has a Ver-SAILS.  It's down by Kentucky, so it's possible they kept the mis-pronounciation with which they were familiar.  

The State Park nearby is another franco-anglicized word: Ouabache State Park.  Twenty years ago it was Quabache State Rec Area.  Obviously, there has been disagreement on what the Pottawatami called the river.

 

Mike (2-8-2)
  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, November 19, 2020 10:10 AM

BaltACD
  Then there is the famous Sprint Car racer from the Amish area of Pennsylvania - Tommy 'The Flying Farmer' Hinnershitz
 

 
Presumably not a relation to Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick, drag racer in the Midwest in the 1960's.
The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    June 2009
  • From: Dallas, TX
  • 6,952 posts
Posted by CMStPnP on Thursday, November 19, 2020 3:35 AM

Semper Vaporo
but she pronounced it "Louh-vull

Thats how the locals pronounce it.    I spent on year living in Elizabethtown, KY and another in Ratcliff, KY.    Not a bad state to live or retire in.    Winters for me still a little too cold.

  • Member since
    October 2014
  • 1,139 posts
Posted by Gramp on Thursday, November 19, 2020 3:26 AM

Yes, Louisville has two syllables when you live or are from there. 

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Iowa
  • 3,293 posts
Posted by Semper Vaporo on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 11:32 PM

My aunt was from Louisville, Kentucky, but she pronounced it "Louh-vull".  (I find it really hard to spell how she said it!  I can hear it in my mind so clearly, but there are just no letter combination that can spell it!)

One of the fun things people from around there do is to stop people on the street and ask, "How do you pronounce the the name of the capital of Kentucky?  Is it, 'Louis-vill', 'Loov-ill', or 'Louey-vill'?" Then stand back and watch them try to say what they have heard others call it.

The joke, of course, is that you pronounce the name of the capital of Kentucky as, 'Frankfort'.

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 10:53 PM

Through school I spent 1st throug 4th grade in 4 different schools in 3 different states - the balance through HS graduation was spent 5 different schools in 3 different states.  College ended up being 3 schools in two states.

No matter where I went I would always get the same comment - You aren't from around here are you! 

At each stop along the way I would pick up speaking mannerisms from where I was at the time - at the next stop the local mannerisms would be different in some aspect.

When I went to Jacksonville for CSX's centralized dispatch center I expected a wide range of 'local accents' - and there were.  The anticipated 'heavy southern' accent among the Dispatchers from the South was nowhere near as bad as I had thought it would be.  That changed when one listened into the dispatchers communications with field personnel on subdivisions in the South.  The 'locals' in the South had HARD Southern speech mannerisms.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    May 2019
  • 1,768 posts
Posted by MMLDelete on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 10:45 PM

Journalists seem to have recently settled on Nuh-VAD-uh, which must be what the locals say. But all my life I thought it was Nuh-VAHD-uh. I figured that was correct because of the Spanish influence; I don't think Spanish has our short-A sound.

  • Member since
    May 2019
  • 1,768 posts
Posted by MMLDelete on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 10:40 PM

Convicted One

After living several years in Georgia,  while making a business trip to Seattle,  it  just seemed like Puyallup Washington was missing an apostrophe.

 

Big Smile Good one! I see what you did there.

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 1,686 posts
Posted by Erik_Mag on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 10:12 PM

One of the local versus tourist tests in my neck of the woods is pronouncing "Garnet Avenue in PB" - the emphasis is on the second sylable in both Garnet and PB.

Other S.D, County names: Poway is pronounced Pow-way, Otay is pronounced Oh-tie, though the original ponunciatioons were Poh-wye and O-tay (go figure). Similarly, Cabrillo is pronounced Cuh-BREE-yo, but should be pronounced Cuh-brill-oh (Juan was Portugese, not Spanish).

Other places:

Nevada: Pronounced Nuh VAD uh in the Silver State, Nuh VADE uh for the city in Iowa. NB: I lived in Carson City during 6th and 7th grade and one of my 7th grade teachers was very emphatic on how that state's name should be pronounced, she later was the dean of the Western Nevada Community College.

Ohio: sometimes pronounced O-HIGH-uh... (my mom was from Ohio)

 

  • Member since
    December 2016
  • 554 posts
Posted by Shock Control on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 9:56 PM

Here is how Monon is pronounced in French:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fSDDxu29aU

 

  • Member since
    May 2005
  • From: S.E. South Dakota
  • 13,569 posts
Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 8:03 PM

tree68

Miz-uhr-ee, or Miz-uhr-ah...

 

   Years back I lived in Why-OHH-min. We had to deal with some guys who swore they were from ORE-GONE!

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 7:47 PM

After living several years in Georgia,  while making a business trip to Seattle,  it  just seemed like Puyallup Washington was missing an apostrophe.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,020 posts
Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 7:39 PM

Miz-uhr-ee, or Miz-uhr-ah...

LarryWhistling
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...

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • 2,325 posts
Posted by rdamon on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 6:54 PM

Overmod

 

 
Murphy Siding
Oh, that's easy. Call-oh-rad-oh.

 

At least you didn't say kull-o-rad-o.

 

I say coll-o-rah-doh.  That may not be fully right, but the last half is.

 

 

Not call oh ray dough?

 

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 5:41 PM

Murphy Siding
Oh, that's easy. Call-oh-rad-oh.

At least you didn't say kull-o-rad-o.

I say coll-o-rah-doh.  That may not be fully right, but the last half is.

  • Member since
    May 2005
  • From: S.E. South Dakota
  • 13,569 posts
Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 4:12 PM

Overmod
 
Murphy Siding
OK. I'll bite. How would you pronounce those any different than the common way most of us would?

 

KAY-row

OWL-ba-nee, or call-me-Al-banee (as in Oz), instead of Ahl-banee

Ver-sails (or ver-sigh-lees for the automobile)

Callus, Maine.

VIE-enna (as in the sausage)

As it turns out, Hewston appears to be correct for the Houston from Virginia.  The one from New York pronounced it as the New Yorkers do, HOW-ston.  (And it's possible there are other unusual low-Virginia pronunciations I can't render correctly to this day without IPA, a bit like Hoossse-ton.)

I grew up pronouncing Ponce de Leon in a sort of weird way, a bit like an upscale Flagler: PON-ssuh-deh-Leeyon, with the ssuh almost like syncope.  (Flagler of course just said Pons, as in Lily or Asinorum)   You could torment it and say PAWN-say (it's definitely two syllables in Spanish) and the Latin American Spanish version of Leon is closer to Leyon.

I tremble to think how Floridians do it.  I haven't a clue how the real Miami, in Ohio, is supposed to be pronounced.  Perhaps it is like Cordwainer Smith's Meeya Meefla.

Don't get me started on Colorado.

 

Oh, that's easy. Call-oh-rad-oh.  Geeked

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 2:45 PM

Murphy Siding
 
Semper Vaporo

The Monon crossed the state of Indiana in two directions in a rough "X", crossing itself in the town of Monon.  I vaguely remember that the RR had a different name originally, but because of where the lines crossed, everybody referred to it as "Monon" and the name stuck so well it took the name officially. 

Good thing they didn't cross at Lipschitz. (Dad joke. Sorry man, the Devil made me do it.)

Then there is the famous Sprint Car racer from the Amish area of Pennsylvania - Tommy 'The Flying Farmer' Hinnershitz

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,020 posts
Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 2:32 PM

The Vienna in Central NY is also pronounced VIE-enna.

The Madrid in Northern NY is MAD-drid.

For Irondequoit, the T is silent...

OTOH, "Penet," used in several places in NNY is properly pronounced "Pen-AY," from the French, but is commonly mispronounced Pen-NET.

And in Kentucky, Versailles is apparently pronounced "Ver-SALES," whereas in France, it's Vare-SIGH.

And people wonder why to-too-two and your-you're-yore is so confusing...

LarryWhistling
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...

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 2:16 PM

York1
Being from Louisiana, there are amazing pronunciations from the Louisiana mixture of French, Spanish, English, American Indian, Creole, Cajun, and backwoods Southern swamp.

All you really need to know, to start, is that Cajun started out spelled "Acadien"... 

... and things are very different yet again across the Sabine... Wink

  • Member since
    May 2019
  • 1,768 posts
Posted by MMLDelete on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 2:08 PM

I spent a lot of years in Georgia. The pronunciation I'm used to for Albany (GA) is ALL-benny.

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,557 posts
Posted by York1 on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 1:51 PM

It seems like every place has certain ways of pronouncing things that make it easy to tell if someone is an "outsider".

Being from Louisiana, there are amazing pronunciations from the Louisiana mixture of French, Spanish, English, American Indian, Creole, Cajun, and backwoods Southern swamp.

Some of their pronunciations are not even close to the way the name is spelled.

I have been mispronouncing "Monon" for years.  Now I will have to consciously think about it when I see that name.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 1:04 PM

Murphy Siding
OK. I'll bite. How would you pronounce those any different than the common way most of us would?

KAY-row

OWL-ba-nee, or call-me-Al-banee (as in Oz), instead of Ahl-banee

Ver-sails (or ver-sigh-lees for the automobile)

Callus, Maine.

VIE-enna (as in the sausage)

As it turns out, Hewston appears to be correct for the Houston from Virginia.  The one from New York pronounced it as the New Yorkers do, HOW-ston.  (And it's possible there are other unusual low-Virginia pronunciations I can't render correctly to this day without IPA, a bit like Hoossse-ton.)

I grew up pronouncing Ponce de Leon in a sort of weird way, a bit like an upscale Flagler: PON-ssuh-deh-Leeyon, with the ssuh almost like syncope.  (Flagler of course just said Pons, as in Lily or Asinorum)   You could torment it and say PAWN-say (it's definitely two syllables in Spanish) and the Latin American Spanish version of Leon is closer to Leyon.

I tremble to think how Floridians do it.  I haven't a clue how the real Miami, in Ohio, is supposed to be pronounced.  Perhaps it is like Cordwainer Smith's Meeya Meefla.

Don't get me started on Colorado.

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 12:51 PM

Murphy Siding
OK. I'll bite. How would you pronounce those any different than the common way most of us would?

Ponse Duh LEE-on...Howston...Kayrow...and AL-banny

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 12:49 PM

Overmod
Or why it's dah-LON-e-ga but tal-le-DE-ga?

That is EXACTLY what I was getting at.  I amused several friends when I learned that one, the hard way.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy