Thank you for subtracting from the store of knowledge about the English language and how to pronounce it.

Place names are correctly pronounced the way residents ponounce them: Spo-kan, not Spo-kane, etc.

Since no one else has brought it up, Chicago is in Ill-i-noi NOT Ill-i-noiS. It's Chi-CAAH-go, Ill-I-Noi!

Another no-no is calling Iowa Ioway.

The Iowans get quite upset. :-B

... especially the ones in Dez Moinezzzz

And then there are those people from Or A Gone who go over to Hawahhhhyaaah or over to Europe to vist the EYE-talians, or talk about the war in Viet Nahhhhm or spend a weekend in 'Frisco or perhaps Coloradaaaah..and then there's Missoureeee or is it Missourah or LouisVILLE or Louahville or Mis'sippi????

Missourians pronounce it MissourUH. We non-natives pronounce it Missour-ee. Oh, and the ss is pronounce zz.

When in Rome aren't we sposed to do as the Romans? If the locals say "or E gun", why would I argue?

If I was born in NY, and live in MO, does that make me a misfit Mizzoorun?

I have a headache.

Ok now I'm confused. I'm not sure how I said it before. I never thought it was wrong because my family lives there and I think I say it the way they do but who knows.

After reading all the posts I think I'm going to say it wrong. I think I say Or-uh-gun. Whatever. I think there's too much thought going into this.

As long as were going to talk about proper ways to say stuff lets start with Illinois. Don't pronounce the S thats what I've been told. Also Pierre, South Dakota. When I was there they said it like Pier (like those things on the beach) but because I took French and also the way my teachers said it I would say Pee-air. What do you think?
-Jenna

Well, I have to agree with Marilyn on the Missouri debate. I have lived in the St. Louis area all my life, and no one I know ever calls it "Missourah". Actually, I work for the Missouri Foundation for Health and our Foundation uses "Missouree" Foundation for Health both here in the office and when featured on the local news.

And for Jenna, I assumed the "Illinois" debate would come up eventally! I live in Illinois, about 15 miles from St. Louis. Trust me, no one in Illinois pronounces the "s"!

Tracy

I heard a man on NPR pronounce Missouri, Missourah. But he was old, maybe it has changed since his day :)

I have been coaching the Yankee to pronounce Oregon + Or a gun...instead of his usual Arr e gone..yankees!

What an enjoyable thread!

I was so surprised that it took almost to the end of this long thread before swalter518 brought up the Illinois thing. There has been a bumper sticker here for eons which just reads "Illinois State Motto- Please Don't Pronounce the S."

And do you know I have heard professors and one CEO from another state clearly speak of the great state of Illinoisssss (Il-in-noise) in their lectures/speeches, multiple times.

And around here is it definately never Missour-ah or St. Louie. Totally with Marilyn on that one. Even at SIU, which is right next door, I don't think I ever heard the ah or St. Louie.

Most of us here in Chicago say "Or A gone" - but not all. Now I'm going to start listening more closely on that one. We have our own speech pattern challenges here. And because of that I think many, many people are very easy- going about pronounciation. If you come close you're ok. Not the grammar and pronounciation police of other places in the USA. For instance, we can all understand our dynasty the Daileys, with no problem.

Rainmonkey, here in the upper Midwest we say "pier" for Pierre, S.D.

One that's tangled me is Norfolk. I assumed it's "nor-folk." Apparently it's something like "nahfuk."

JJ5, at last, someone who agrees with me on Missouri. I never knew ANYONE in St. Louis who said Missourah, Illinoise, or St. Louie. Those were, to my mind, the pronunciations of foreigners, except that Missourah was something I heard from people who came from the sticks. (I do realize that others disagree. :-D )

my ex husband is from Ironton Missouri-
which is pronounced "Arnton Missourah" by the locals.

Right, sunbum, exactly!

When we tourists arrive in Portland in July, will there be a phonics cop spot-checking passengers, sending those back who cannot articulate "Or A gone, Or E gun or Ora guhn?"

I fail.

Jim

Wow! I'll have to tell my nuclear physicist DH that he's really a KC bumpkin for saying "Missourah." Who knew?

This is starting to really bother me! There must be SOME reason why people say either Missour-ee or Missour-ah -- geographic, class, level of education, ethnic background. We just don't seem to be able to find method in the madness. I'm going to dig into it a little and see what I can find.

obxgirl, I didn't mean to insult anyone, just to say what my experience was growing up in St. Louis. Maybe it's the opposite in KC?

No, Jim, we don't send you back. But if you can't enunciate it correctly, you will be charged a fee based upon your planned length of stay. Gotta make up for no sales tax somehow!

Marilyn, I too suggested further up the post that it might be an east MO vs west MO. What do I know? I'm from Chapel Hill!

I dont know if Missouri is an east- west thing or more of a north- south thing.
I asked my mother in law once about it- she was an English teacher- and she seemed to think it was more of an educational thing. Although she lived in Ironton (which is south of St Louis) - she pronounced it Missouri while many of the locals said Missourah.