Cassandra

While passing a 4-hour layover at ORD, I heard them call a flight for Tucson, and it brought to mind an old spy-vs.-spy movie in which one spy's cover was blown because he mispronounced Tucson as "Tucksin." That got me to thinking about other US cities with very particular pronunciations, e.g., Worcester, Mass. When I hear someone pronounce it something like "Wursesstur," I know (at the very least) the person has never been there.

So what other names of towns or cities would blow the cover of an evildoer non-native who doesn't know the right pronunciation?

PS: does anyone remember what movie that was?

Gene

I think that your evildoers might be stymied by "Chicago" which my grandfather taught me to pronounce by a rhyme: "Chicken on a car, car wont go that's how you say Chicago!".

bob_brown

I think there are several in Georgia that would get anyone except a non Georgian.
Winder (like in windup and pitch)
Cairo (kayro)
Vienna (Vy enna)
Omega (Omeeeega)

And a good one is that river in Louisiana: The Atchafalaya

And I can usually tell when a non southerner pronounces Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi.

Ani

OK-this is a REALLY simple one-but the pronunciation is finite. We are coloradoans. The pronunciation is ColoRAHdo-like avoCAdo..NOT Coloraaaado with a long A. Just a little pet peeve.

LuccaBrazzi

Is it Ne-VA-da (like "cat") or Ne-VAH-da (like "water"?)

LuccaBrazzi

A-ma-RILLO...or A-ma-REE-yo? (Texas)

pspercy

A-ma-RILLO as in Brillo !

John

Speaking pf Worcester,Mass.{Wista} How about Leominster,Mass.{Lemon stir}

gplimpton

Nevada, Missouri = pronounced nuh-VAY-duh
La Canada, CA = La can-YAH-duh
Faribault, MN = FAIR-boe
Des Plaines, IL = Dess-PLANES
Prescott, AZ = PRESS-cuht
Cairo, IL = KAY-roh
Woonsocket, RI = wuhn-suh-KETT
Spokane, WA = spoh-KANN (not spoh-KANE)
Bolivar, MO = BOLL-iver (rhymes with oliver)
Schuylkill River, PA = SKOO-k'll
The Dalles, OR = the dawles (not dals)
El Dorado, KS = El Doh-RAY-doh
De Kalb, County GA = Dee KABB
Reading, PA = RED-ding
Casa Grande, AZ = cassa Grand (not kah-suh gron-day)
Racine, WI = ruh-SEENPierre, SD = PEER
Metairie, LA = METT-uh-rhee
Concord, NH = CONK-erd
Tonopah, NV = TONN-oh-pah
Versailles, IN = ver-SAYLES (as I recall?)
Wilkes Barre, PA = Wilks Berry
Orion, IL = ORE-ee-unn (rhymes with corian)
Simi Valley, CA = See-mee valley
Yakima, WA = YAK-uh-muh
Lancaster, PA = LANK-uh-stir
Baltimore, MD (bawl-uh-muhr if you're a local)

Can anyone think of proper phonetic spelling for Norfolk without being crude?

hauntedheadnc

Raleigh, NC -- "RAH-lee" -- Never "Rally."

Charlotte, NC -- "SHAR-lut" -- This is a city name you hear butchered frequently around here, but only because of the pronouncer's accent, which usually buries the R in a nasal honk. Remember that while you may pahk your cah in "Bahstun", you will park it in Charlotte -- not "Sha-lutt."

Asheville, NC -- "ASH-ville" or sometimes, "ASH-vuhl," but never "Ayeshville." With this city, it's the spelling that bedevils most, however, not the pronunciation. To remember the proper spelling of my city, just remember that there's "EVIL in AshEVILle." Ooh... scary! ...But not half as scary as the awful horror novel with that title.

Tryon, NC -- "Tri-YON" -- Handy to know if you have more money than God and decide to immerse yourself in the horsey set in this WNC town.

Saluda, NC -- "Suh-LOO-duh" -- Written out like that, the name is longer than the two-block Main Street of this lovely little burg.

Leicester, NC -- "Lester" -- A bone of contention between denizens of Buncombe County, home of Asheville and this community, and those of other mountain counties who see no reason to run all those beautiful syllables together, though Leicester gets off luckier than Worcester, MA, which when pronounced correctly sounds like a sneeze. Call it "Lester" or "LEE-sester" and you'll be right regardless.

Brevard, NC -- "Breh-VARD" -- Not "Breverd" as some tourists insist on calling it. A good thing to know as the town's public art projects take off over the next few months. Statues of native mountains animals in copper, iron, bronze, and marble... I might go take a look myself.

Etowah, NC -- "Eddo-WAH" -- Home of a good barbecue restaurant and a great many subdivisions, but you must pass through it en route to Brevard.

And last but not least, these are not pronunciation problems, but frequently asked questions about the local area. Yes, there is a bat cave in Bat Cave, and a flat rock in Flat Rock, so quit asking.

Clifton

New Madrid, MO - Pronounced "New MAD-rid", not "New mah-DRID". I was never sure what city it's named after once I learned the pronounciation.

mari808

any place name in hawaii.

Anonymous

Kissimmee, FL: ka-SIM-mee, not KISS-a-mee

Massachusetts is full of towns and neighborhoods that betray new TV announcers from out of town: In addition to Worcester and Leominster, there's Waban (WOBB-in), Dorchester (DOOR-chester), Hingham (HING-um), Harvard (HAH-vid), etc. Plus places like Boston Common and the Public Garden that are made plurals by out-of-towners.

Anonymous

My daughter just advised me that although Dorchester would be correctly pronounced DOOR-chester by visitors, the locals say DOTCH-iss-tah.

OliveOyl

Beaufort, SC Bewfert (rhymes with few).

Beaufort, NC Bowfert

Metairie, LA also pronounced by old time New Orleanians as Met'rie.

Burgundy St in New Orleans. Bur GUN dy.

Plano, TX Plain-o

Bexar County, TX (San Antonio) Bay-har

St Pete, FL please, please, please, NEVER St. PeteS! Aargh that hurts my ears.

Ryan

If you want to sound like a New Yorker and not a tourist, Houston Street is pronounced "Houseton" and not like the city in Texas.

OliveOyl

Bob_brown, another GA town that would throw the average person...Albany, Ga is albA'nE

And from Florida, Boca Grande is Boca Grand (just like the word grand), not grahnd or grahnday.

Judy24

Same names, different pronunciations:

Newark, NJ = NEWark
Newark, DE = newARK

Cassandra

This is fun, and thanks for all the examples. Did anyone get Lima, OH (Lime-a) or Berlin CT (BER-l'n)? BTW, Gplimpton, I think Woonsocket is actually accented on the second syllable -- I always heard "wun SOCKit", but it's been a while. And someone from Penn. once corrected me re:Wilkes Barre (saying it's "Bar" to locals) but I'm not sure I believe him.

Always thought "Albuquerque" might be a tip-off, although I'm not even sure there's agreement as to whether it's 3 or 4 syllables.

Kal

Alooohaaaa,
Pet peeves from a cranky guy on a "Monday 2" morning:

"Pixburgh" for Pittsburgh

"Ory-gone"..Oregon

People that have never been to New Orleans, Chicago or New York should not be allowed to call it "Nawlins", "Cheh-caw-guh" or "Noo Yawk"..

And anybody over 30 that says "Cali" when they mean California should have their Grecian Formula and Metamucil taken away for a week.

b-(