Ignorant local pronounciations that stick...

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Replies

  • dpwellman
    dpwellman Posts: 3,271 Member
    Any votes for nuclear or library

    Of course, I often mispronounce "foliage"-- as I used to call it derisively "foil-age" for messing up my golf shots.

    crayon -- I'm guilty of this one, too.
  • dwh77tx
    dwh77tx Posts: 513 Member
    This isn't an incorrect pronunciation, but I dislike when people refer to a city by saying just the Area code like they are some hard gangster or something.

    OMG - LOL!!
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    Oh. I forgot!
    bruschetta - dated a woman who actually got in TROUBLE at work (waitress in upstate WI) for pronouncing it correctly. One would think restaurateurs would know better

    That's obnoxious of her employer(s).

    I used to go to a Tex Mex restaurant and order flautas with chipotle sauce, you had to specify which sauce was preferred and almost EVERY time I went, the servers would CORRECT me when I pronounced it properly...they said it with an "uhl" at the end like "cha-poat-uhl" WTF. Sometimes they were extra rude about it, too!! I was so annoyed by that every single time.

    I don't go there anymore and would rather have real Mexican food instead, but I keep wondering if it helped at all that we finally got a Chipotle (the chain) in town...I'd hope so...jeez
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    Big Bob got Bounced for Burglary
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    They are not wrong pronunciations, they are unexpected pronunciations. Without shibboleths, how would you know who was local and who was a transplant?

    Around here we have Berlin and New Berlin, both pronounced BURR-lin. Also, Teutonia Ave is pronounce TIE-tone-yah
  • DenDweller
    DenDweller Posts: 1,438 Member
    Language is local and the locals make the rules... if you want French names with French pronunciations, there's always France, or Quebec, or Haiti, or...

    Language is certainly dynamic. But, I don't know if your quote above is any more true than those who might insist the opposite.

    Instead, I prefer to think of language the same way as any other communication. It's an agreement between two or more people who want to present ideas to each other. It's an understanding of, to and from understanding.

    Not only are we trying to communicate solid facts and findings, but also more tenuous emotions and vague concepts. Sometimes we speak just for the art of the spoken or sung world. There has to be BOTH foundation and flexibility to make those various attempts at thought conveyance possible.

    So, no, I don't think it's purely up to the locals to say it how they want. But also, no, there is no one right to say a name correctly. In short, if you're looking for an absolute here, you're out of luck.

    There is only the agreement to understand what each other is saying. And, it makes language kinda...cool.
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  • bennettinfinity
    bennettinfinity Posts: 865 Member
    Language is local and the locals make the rules... if you want French names with French pronunciations, there's always France, or Quebec, or Haiti, or...

    Language is certainly dynamic. But, I don't know if your quote above is any more true than those who might insist the opposite.

    Instead, I prefer to think of language the same way as any other communication. It's an agreement between two or more people who want to present ideas to each other. It's an understanding of, to and from understanding.

    Not only are we trying to communicate solid facts and findings, but also more tenuous emotions and vague concepts. Sometimes we speak just for the art of the spoken or sung world. There has to be BOTH foundation and flexibility to make those various attempts at thought conveyance possible.

    So, no, I don't think it's purely up to the locals to say it how they want. But also, no, there is no one right to say a name correctly. In short, if you're looking for an absolute here, you're out of luck.

    There is only the agreement to understand what each other is saying. And, it makes language kinda...cool.

    That was more the point I was trying to make - thank you for making it so eloquently. :flowerforyou:
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    There are many streets with French names in Detroit. Everyone butchers them, and it drives me nuts.

    Canadian weighing in.....even though we are supposedly bi lingual we have a road here called Marquis de Lorne trail that everyone calls Markus de Lorne.

    Oh, and I live in Calgary, not CallGary :smile:

    I'd argue for Calgry as the native pronounciation.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    Heh, please come to the city of Pittsburgh. Where words with "ow" sound are pronounced with an "ah" sound.

    Dahntahn, ftw.

    We have quite a few...quirks.

    Versailles. A French word, pronounced Ver-Si. We have East Ver-Sales. The French must loathe us.

    The one that I wonder about is Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie was from Pittsburgh, but was a titan of industry world wide. As such many places are named after him, New York for example. But everyone else pronounces it Car-nuh-Gee while we say it Car-Nay-Gee.

    I really hope everyone else is saying it wrong and not us.

    it is "Car-Nay-Gee". but i still pronounce it "Car-Nuh-Gee" because it sounds pretentious the other way.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/nyregion/fyi-019240.html
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
    Heh, please come to the city of Pittsburgh. Where words with "ow" sound are pronounced with an "ah" sound.

    Dahntahn, ftw.

    We have quite a few...quirks.

    Versailles. A French word, pronounced Ver-Si. We have East Ver-Sales. The French must loathe us.

    The one that I wonder about is Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie was from Pittsburgh, but was a titan of industry world wide. As such many places are named after him, New York for example. But everyone else pronounces it Car-nuh-Gee while we say it Car-Nay-Gee.

    I really hope everyone else is saying it wrong and not us.

    Versailles! I cringe on the inside when I say Versales because I know it's technically wrong, but I can't say Ver-si without feeling like a pretension d*uche.

    And I was employed by members of Frick Foundation (MEET YOU IN HELL), CarNayGee OR DEATH.
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  • MississippiMama87
    MississippiMama87 Posts: 204 Member
    I'm from MS (obviously). Gautier is "go-shay."

    I don't see mispronunciation, if done locally, as ignorant. I see it as a regional and cultural difference in speaking. Lord knows people from MS pronounce so many things differently and tend to make up words, but its not a sign of ignorance. It is just how we do thangs. Lol
  • GrasslandFairy
    GrasslandFairy Posts: 23
    Louisville, Ky

    In KY it's pronounced "loo-uh-vuhl".
    I have no idea why, but it is.

    Hurricane, Wv also drives me crazy. "Hurr-uh-cun"
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    it is "Car-Nay-Gee". but i still pronounce it "Car-Nuh-Gee" because it sounds pretentious the other way.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/nyregion/fyi-019240.html

    Trust me, if you hear it pronounced the right way by a Pittsburgher, it sure ain't pretentious.

    "Yinz goin' dahn to the CarNAYgee librury 'n at?"

    i dunno. it just feels like if i start pronouncing it that way, what's next? am i going to have to start pronouncing nicaragua as knee-hur-wa-wa?? where does it end?? :huh:

    i like americanized pronunciations anyway. <insert Team America World Police song here>
  • mandy_lynn
    mandy_lynn Posts: 165 Member
    it is "Car-Nay-Gee". but i still pronounce it "Car-Nuh-Gee" because it sounds pretentious the other way.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/nyregion/fyi-019240.html

    Trust me, if you hear it pronounced the right way by a Pittsburgher, it sure ain't pretentious.

    "Yinz goin' dahn to the CarNAYgee librury 'n at?"

    Damn jagoffs
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Cairo, GA (and they get ANGRY if you say it the "wrong" way). They call it kay-ro. Named after one of the most ancient cities in all the world, full of history and culture and wonder, gods and kings -- and they mangled the pronunciation and insist it's correct.

    Makes me see red.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    One more, Miami Oklahoma, pronounced Miamah

    I mentioned this one earlier -- most friends from OK say that's a correct pronunciation, the true Native American pronunciation. I've also known a girl named Naomi whose name was pronounced Nay-om-uh for the same reason. Dunno if that's true or not.
  • kxbrown27
    kxbrown27 Posts: 769 Member
    Cairo Illinois is actually pronounced Kay-ro. Ironically, the part of the state it's located in used to be called little egypt.

    Some people used to think the White Sox played at Cominskey Park.

    The same people think the Bears play at Soldiers Field.

    The 'S' at the end of Illinois is silent, but both in Des Plaines are not.

    Hardcore south siders eat Polish Sassage.
  • bd0027
    bd0027 Posts: 1,053 Member
    Louisville, Ky

    In KY it's pronounced "loo-uh-vuhl".
    I have no idea why, but it is.

    Hurricane, Wv also drives me crazy. "Hurr-uh-cun"

    I'm from Kentucky and I say Lul-vul. It really just depends on where you're raised.
  • deluxmary2000
    deluxmary2000 Posts: 981 Member
    This isn't a pronunciation, but I'm from the Philadlephia suburbs, and we eat HOAGIES here. Apparently everyone else in the entire country calls them "subs" or "grinders". Not sure why we had to be special.

    Also, people in Pennysylvania pronounce water as "woodder" instead of "wahter". Drives me insane.
  • ShannonS921
    ShannonS921 Posts: 194
    I could list so many of these...

    But the one that was recently brought to my attention and has been grating my nerves...there is a tiny little speck of a town near us here in NC called Conetoe. The first time I saw the sign, I read it as "Cone-toe". I was informed that it is pronounced "Cuh-nee-tuh"...WTF?! This bugs me for some unknown reason and I will always call it "Cone-toe".
  • ShannonS921
    ShannonS921 Posts: 194
    This isn't a pronunciation, but I'm from the Philadlephia suburbs, and we eat HOAGIES here. Apparently everyone else in the entire country calls them "subs" or "grinders". Not sure why we had to be special.

    Also, people in Pennysylvania pronounce water as "woodder" instead of "wahter". Drives me insane.

    I'm from PA originally and I have always called it a Hoagie! :smile:

    I do pronounce it as "wahter", though.

    One thing that people pick on me for is the way I pronounce creek....I say "crick"....apparently that's odd! :laugh:
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    When people pronounce specific as "pacific"

    The hate......it burns in my heart like a million suns when heard.
  • CaddieMay
    CaddieMay Posts: 356 Member
    Cairo Illinois is actually pronounced Kay-ro. Ironically, the part of the state it's located in used to be called little egypt.

    Some people used to think the White Sox played at Cominskey Park.

    The same people think the Bears play at Soldiers Field.

    The 'S' at the end of Illinois is silent, but both in Des Plaines are not.

    Hardcore south siders eat Polish Sassage.
    Learned the pronunciation of Cairo by reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." :smile:

    ETA: Damned auto correct.
  • Michelle_Padgett13
    Michelle_Padgett13 Posts: 417 Member
    When people pronounce specific as "pacific"

    The hate......it burns in my heart like a million suns when heard.

    Ha ha! That one gets me, too.

    I'm in Savannah, GA, and people here pronounce the H in vehicle: Vee-hickle. Drives me nuts.
  • kxbrown27
    kxbrown27 Posts: 769 Member
    Joliet is pronounced Joe-lee-ette. Far outside of Chicago people say Jolly-ette.
  • Yurippe
    Yurippe Posts: 850 Member
    They are not wrong pronunciations, they are unexpected pronunciations. Without shibboleths, how would you know who was local and who was a transplant?

    Around here we have Berlin and New Berlin, both pronounced BURR-lin. Also, Teutonia Ave is pronounce TIE-tone-yah

    SE WI?
  • CaddieMay
    CaddieMay Posts: 356 Member
    Bangor, Maine is pronounced "Ban-gore" not "Ban-ger." Just so you know.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    AX a question? go to the LIE-BARRY?

    :laugh:
    when my niece says 'ax' when she wants to 'ask' someone something, I tell her she can't go around axing people, it's a federal offense & they'll put her in jail :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    You should have seen her face the first time I'd said it to her.....priceless. No one ever thought to correct her before, she's 10! :huh:

    'look-tid' as in the past tense of look makes me crazy too
    'tooken' past tense of taken
    'mines'...just NO.

    edited for spelling..derp.

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