And just this year I have been kidded a couple of times by my Michigan neighbors at the lake for saying "DE troit", and not the kind of rushed "de TROIT" of their speech. (With the accent more on the second syllable.) But that is a Chicago thing, one of hundreds, I hear.

So, now I've been saying I'm going to MO' town at the end June. The real funny thing is that they are so much younger that when I got out my Motown tapes, and started playing Martha and the Vandella's, Temptations etc. they didn't even "get it." But my other neighbors did and they were really LOL.

The carpet bagger senator Norm Coleman from Brooklyn who won a seat as US Senator for Minnesota calls our state Minnesoter. Typical New Yorka.

Oregon is pronounced Thanks-for-visiting-now-go-home.

New Orleans is pronounced N'orlans.

jorr, I thought that was Nawlins.

OK, I just spent some time reading about the pronunciation of Missouri. There is a guy who has spent much of his life researching and writing about the various pronunciations.

Turns out, it's a complicated subject with lots of variables and NO right answer. A few interesting details, however:

If you were born before 1945, you are more likely to say Missourah. For every decade later that you were born, you are more likely to say Missouri.

St. Louis seems to have the highest relative proportion of people who say Missouree. This may be a reflection of its big city status, as people from outside the state are also more likely to say Missouree, and I'm extrapolating that people moving to the state were most likely moving to a major city.

As one writer put it, Missourah is the favored pronuncation of "lifelong residents, especially older people and people with rural roots or preferences."

And then it keeps getting more and more complicated...but I'm done with it.

LOL jorr,
JimF, I know , I know! But I am always being corrected on some pronunciation, so this will not be new to me
Upon arriving in NC from Ca as a child, I was laughed at for sounding "funny".
Upon arriving in NYC from NC/Ca, I was corrected everytime I said the words dog, law, paw, water, until I stamped my tiny little foot and said I will just say it & you figure out what it means!!
So Or e gun will just have to put up with me ( nuther damn forner!)

I too think the Missouri debate is just an issue of where you grew up. Here in St. Louis I never, ever hear Missourah. I too have heard people pronounce it that way more in the South and here we kind of joke about how thats the way the hicks say it. Not to offend anyone, just being honest. I don't go to KC very often, so it may be different over there.

Tracy

I'm from St. Louis, and everyone here says Missouree. However, most politicians running for state-wide office pronounce it Missourah, so I think that must be more common. They probably have taken a poll to determine thier pronunciation and Missourah won.

How about "GIVE me a BREAK"?

I come from a long line of Oregonians. You can always tell if someone is new to the area or visiting by the way they pronounce Oregon. OR-EE-GUN is how locals pronounce it. Dear Old dad would be turning over in his grave if his precious Oregon Ducks were slighted in anyway. Meanwhile I moved on to Wenatchee.

Just in case this hasn't been covered in an earlier reply:

If you pronounce Oregon correctly in the following sentences then they would make sense:
"The skin is the largest Oregon in the body."
"The man waved his Oregon at the startled crowd."
"The Oregon transplant had an Oregon transplant."

Hope this helps!

Growing up very near, but not in St. Louis, I heard both "eeee" and "ahhhh"... however, on the matter of the pronunciation of the state, that I can't recall.

I beg to differ, mrwunrfl. I'm a native, and none of those made sense to me. Orygun is how I've always pronounced it. But maybe it's like Missouri, where only we old guys say Orygun. Oruhgun has also gained widespread acceptance.

OMG! !
This is so entertaining! Except the part about Santa Claus
Especially Goe - Trav - il
I was told right away about Will AM ett, or Will Dammit!!
I think that I was right about the old guy on NPR pronouncing Missourah .. it is an old geezer thing

OK, back to Ore gun..
Glisane isn't Glis an but Glee san..right?
Couch is Kootch?
What else? Tell me know, I have to pass the test to get in pretty soon!!

sorry, that should be
Tell me now....

Hi Scarlett! I think it's Glisan, pronounced like Gleason. No?

Hey, does anybody want to come on down to Florida to Kissimmee!!!!!

By the way what's a pendantic?

Right on both counts, Scarlett.

Glisan = Gleason; Couch = Kootch. I don't think you need to worry about this one, but just in case, Houston = Hewston.

Anybody want to get started on Massachusetts' pronunciations of certain cities and towns? Guess out Scituate is pronounced?







Sit -chu - at! Not Skitch u ate!

Thank you honey!!
I went through the Houston/Howston thing in NYC

BTW- CNBC just had a nice program segment on about the real estate market in Portland Or gun and it is lookin Good! We just have to hurry up and Get There!!

Sounds like CNBC got it right. That is some Oregon-ization.

Scarlett, I once worked with a lady who claimed she couldn't pronounce h's so, to her, Houston was ouston... she went to awai'i on her oneymoon, stayed at the ayatt and drank arvey wallbangers...she was a oot! :-?