SALfan, regardless of how you sound, you write beautifully.
And my Fort Bragg, NC, Army service taght me to understand Southeners.
It is interesting, however, to hear a CSX DS located in Jax talking to a crew in the Midwest. Not all of the dispatchers have Southern accents, but some sure do.
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...
I was born in New Orleans. My family always said/says New OR-lins. But some of my relatives say New-AWL-yuns.
daveklepper SALfan, regardless of how you sound, you write beautifully. And my Fort Bragg, NC, Army service taght me to understand Southeners.
Thank you for your very kind compliment; I will treasure it all the more because I learned how to write in the school of hard knocks, by people reviewing my writing and telling me what I did wrong. Spent two years with the same English teacher in high school (it was a small school) without writing a single composition or theme. We diagrammed about a million sentences and identified about 20,000 parts of speech, never even wrote a short report. In Business Writing in college, we wrote every type of letter you can imagine, but only one short (5 or 10 page) report. Have had jobs that required some or a lot of writing (most of them a LOT) since 1979, and it's still a struggle.
PM me if you would like to hear the epic tale of a 6-8 page letter I wrote early in my career.
Some years ago, when answering an 800 number on assigned days was part of my duties, I was trying to assist a caller from somewhere south of the Ohio River. After a few minutes of each of us asking the other to repeat, I quipped that we seemed to be having problems understanding each other's accent.
CSSHEGEWISCH Some years ago, when answering an 800 number on assigned days was part of my duties, I was trying to assist a caller from somewhere south of the Ohio River. After a few minutes of each of us asking the other to repeat, I quipped that we seemed to be having problems understanding each other's accent.
I speak on the phone with Grace is JOE-juh about once a month. By mutual agreement we both speak slowly and work hard to enunciate our words so that we can do business together.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
How about two people from the same state-- when I was in the army in Alaska, I met someone from Natchitoches, La. I could hardly understand a word he said.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul of CovingtonHow about two people from the same state-- when I was in the army in Alaska, I met someone from Natchitoches, La. I could hardly understand a word he said.
And how about the pronunciation of Natchitoches? It looks something like nach ih toe ches.
If I remember, it's pronounced nak' uh tish.
My state has a county named Keya Paha. It's pronounced kip' uh hah.
York1 John
That's about right on Natchitoches. Keya Paha must be an Indian name.(?)
NKP guy To SD60MAC: As for Gratiot and Livernois: I'll have a go. From listening to CKLW in the 1960's, this (former) Clevelander believes this intersection (?) would be pronounced GRAAH-shut & LIVER-noy. (It's difficult to write out our Great Lakes-ese accent with its the very flat "aah" sound which I tried to indicate. It might be pronounced as aah as in grab.
To SD60MAC: As for Gratiot and Livernois:
I'll have a go.
From listening to CKLW in the 1960's, this (former) Clevelander believes this intersection (?) would be pronounced GRAAH-shut & LIVER-noy.
(It's difficult to write out our Great Lakes-ese accent with its the very flat "aah" sound which I tried to indicate. It might be pronounced as aah as in grab.
Pierre, our state's capitol was named after a frenchman. He'd probably have an issue with the way it's pronounced- Peer.
Having grown up just outside Detroit, I'll second the pronounciations. My late father's family ran a coal yard on or near Gratiot. Pardon if this is a repeat...
As an aside, as a teen I listened to CKLW (50,000 watts, clear channel), WXYZ, and WKNR. Mom and Dad listened to WJR (also 50,000 watts, clear channel) in the morning.
WKNR is now in Cleveland, WXYZ is no longer on the radio, but CKLW is still on the air, albeit as a news channel. WJR is now primarily chat and news.
In high school, we'd gather the top 20/30/40 lists published by the rock stations and compare which group was where on the list.
I had the same reaction when the Facebook competitor, Parler, is pronounced "Parlor". I see it as "Parlay". To speak, in French. I learned too much French growing up.
Wisconsin's got plenty of town names that trip "foreigners" up. Shawano... is "Shaw..no". Berlin is BURR..lynn. Goes back to WWI. The town didn't want to be associated with the enemy.
To Backshop & tree68:
"CKLW...the Motor City...." I can still hear in my head the jingle that station would play announcing their call letters and location. As a teenager I really enjoyed listening to this powerhouse of music; no one played more or better Motown. Also, at 50,000 watts they could be heard as if they were down the block.
In the 1960's & '70's CKLW had what they called "the Hot Line News Tip number." If anyone saw "news happening," they were call to the station and possibly win $100 in the weekly award scheme. Well, on New Year's Eve of 1975 I was snuggled up with my girl friend listening to "Die Fledermaus" (what? you don't do that on New Year's Eve?) when the phone rang. It was Byron MacGregor, CKLW News Director, informing me that my news tip was the Tip of the Year and I had just won $1,000.00 (that's $4,840.00 in today's money)! Better yet, they were taping the call; the next day all of my friends heard the announcement on the radio! I always smile broadly at the memory. I still have the Raleigh bicycle and carpet I bought with part of my winnings, so CKLW will always have a place in my heart. (My news tip concerned a federal case being thrown out of court regarding the role of National Guardsmen at Kent State University in 1970.)
By the end of the 1970's and into the 1980's my interest in current rock & roll waned and I then discovered "the great voice of the Great Lakes," WJR "atop the Fisher Building in Detroit" and really enjoyed their Sunday afternoon programming of adult music.
So...Pat St. John is on Sirius radio's channel 6? I thought I knew him from somewhere!
As for pronunciation, I have always wondered what kind of person calls Detroit "DEE-troit"?
But then again, in Pittsburgh, the name Carnegie is always pronounced car-NEG-ee, while in Cleveland, the street with that name is often (but not always) pronounced CARN-a-gee; I've heard that same pronunciation in other parts of the USA, too.
Did any of you Detroiters ever listen to Cleveland's KYW (letters later swapped in Philadelphia) or WKYC? That was our 50,000 watt channel.
Back when AM Radio was worth listening to, I used to lie in my dorm bed at night, with my transistor radio's one earphone and enjoy listening to clear channel stations from all over the US & Canada. I still thrill when I hear "O, Canada" because I used to love the rendition played on CBM (did I get that right?) in Montreal when they signed off at 1 o'clock.
Did anyone else here listen to "Music till Dawn" on a few radio stations and sponsored by American Airlines?
Great (Lakes) memories!
other Ohio city names: YUNX-town; KLUM-bus; Ree-VAN-a; Kuh-HOG-a Falls;
MY-lun (Milan, where Edison was born); Vy-ENN-a
(Vienna), usw.
Way back when, the radio in your car was the best way to hear most of the country after the sun went down. I rememberr from my college days when we drove to Denver for a fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega) national convention. We listened to WLS until we passed out of range in western Nebraska and switched to KOMA in Oklahoma City.
York1And how about the pronunciation of Natchitoches? It looks something like nach ih toe ches. If I remember, it's pronounced nak' uh tish.
Now, Nacogdoches (which I think comes from the same word) is not pronounced anywhere near the same.
For some reason I remember the western PA pronunciation of Andrew's name as more like car-NAYg-ee. (Which did not match at all what I used in New York, where the karn-eh-gee hall you get to with practice, practice, practice was located...)
OvermodFor some reason I remember the western PA pronunciation of Andrew's name as more like car-NAYg-ee.
I recall a pronunciation which put the emphasis on the second syllable, as "car-NEG-ee. Perhaps just how I remember it.
All this discussion of pronunciation reminds me of my eighth grade American history teacher, who would sometimes point out that you had to put the em-FAHS-ses on the right sil-AH-bul....
Being a Wisconsin native that spent 40 of the first 50 years of my life there, I naturally learned the correct way to pronounce towns like Manitowoc (MAN' ih toe walk), Kewanee (key WAN' ee or KEY' win (or won) ee) (I rode the C&O boats quite a few times), and where I lived for a couple years when my dad was in a nursing home there: Oconomowoc (Oh CON' oh mo wok). The river and street in Milwaukee is even trickier: Kinnikinnic (KIN' e kin ick or most often: KAY' kay).
Then I got a lesson in street name pronounciation in a taxi cab in New Yawk City - Houston St. The identically spelled city in Texas is pronounced HUE' ston, but the street in NYC and the directors last name is HOUSE' ton. Go figure.
On a business trip 40+ years ago to Massachusetts, I called on a customer at Worcester. I foolishly called it Wor CHES ter (with an 'h'). I was quickly corrected to pronounce it as WUSS' ster. Little did I know then that I'd move to the Springfield MA area in 1995 and have been here ever since.
Growing up in Milwaukee, I had a new-fangled transister radio in my room and connected about 150' of single wire around the walls to the antenna. At night, WJR, KDKA, WXYZ, WJR and WGN were easily pulled in. The AM band was so much more interesting before FM took over.
bratkinson called on a customer at Worcester. I foolishly called it Wor CHES ter (with an 'h'). I was quickly corrected to pronounce it as WUSS' ster. Little did I know then that I'd move to the Springfield MA area in 1995 and have been here ever since.
So you know the way locals pronounce Leominster?
Major fail on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:
She was doing a voiceover for Pall Mall cigarettes and she pronounced it "Paul Maul."
Anyone doing a Pall Mall commercial circa 1960 would have known better.
WLS. Yes, Dick Biondi, the Silver Dollar Survey.
Lemon..ster? Spent my senior high school year in Easthampton, Mass.
Amherst has a silent H there, a spoken H in Wisconsin.
bratkinsonI had a new-fangled transister radio in my room and connected about 150' of single wire around the walls to the antenna.
You reminded me of being a kid in the 1950s. My brothers and I had a wire running out the basement window and up into a tree. We could pick up Harry Caray announcing St. Louis Cardinals games on KMOX.
NKP guySo you know the way locals pronounce Leominster?
LEMON-stir... at least that's the way I remember it from when I lived there. Of course that was about 70 years ago.
NKP guy Did anyone else here listen to "Music till Dawn" on a few radio stations and sponsored by American Airlines?
Oh, you know how to bring back memories. Grew up listening WLW. our car had a push pull tube amplifier and its sound was better than our table radio. WLW had a show at night of Gregorian Chants and another of pipe organ music. And falling asleep to "Music till Dawn" plus no tv, all the radio programs. Grand Central Station, Sgt Preston and his dog, Lone Ranger, etc. Thanx.
NKP guy "CKLW...the Motor City...." I can still hear in my head the jingle that station would play announcing their call letters and location.
During the mid-sixties, there was a fire next door to the riverfront studios of CKLW, and they had large, illuminated letters facing across the river.
Apparently the fire damaged the "W," so for a little while the morning drive DJ was stopping the sung version of the callsign after the "L." Not really legal (and someone on staff called him on it), but, hey - it's fun!
I was rarely up at those hours, but WJR did carry the program. The main times I heard it was on our overnight trips from MI to NY (through Ontario), since WJR was also the station of choice in the car.
If one listens to radio at all any more - who still listens to AM channels?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD If one listens to radio at all any more - who still listens to AM channels?
I'm usually listening to satellite in the truck - if I even have the radio on.
I recall being able to pull in WJR while living in Denver, from my 11th story apartment using a home brew antenna. It was an even tougher trick getting WJR in Atlanta, because of WSB, a local channel at 750 Khz.
BaltACDIf one listens to radio at all any more - who still listens to AM channels?
Of course I could never figure out AM stereo any better than the rationale for 8-track over cassette once autoreverse became 'mainstream'. (And I was an early and enthusiastic advocate of QS four-channel, so it's not that I don't approve in principle of heroic measures to extend obsolescent tech...)
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