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gordon ramsy
Originally Posted by garethmorgan
(Post 12764161)
One of the little pleasures of life is hearing the attempts of the English, in particular, to pronounce Welsh place names.
The alphabet is very different, there are no X, Z, J or K; W and Y are vowels; written pairs of letters like CH, RH, LL, DD, FF all go into one square in crosswords or Scrabble and have specific sounds, so it's understandable. When I was in college in Swansea in South Wales I remember two particular examples of being asked directions. One lorry driver asked me how to get to 'Ruddy Deaf-Aid' I needed a bit of time to work out Rhyd Y Defaid - pronounced 'Reed Er Day-Vide' and meaning ford of the sheep. The other, which I had to see in writing before being able to help, was an enquiry for 'C. A. Ten'. Written I could see that it was Caio, pronounced Kye-Oh. |
i often joke that the arkansas river is the only river in the world that changes its name when it crosses a political boundary (from KS to OK).
another fun one: what is the proper pronunciation of "arkansas city" (in southern kansas)? answer: "ark city." in all my years in wichita, i never heard anyone ever refer to it by its full name. |
There a few in Illinois that are odd, such as Marseilles (pronounced Mar-Sails). My favorite one is a small town in central IL, San Jose (pronounced San Joes).
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The capital of South Dakota - Pierre - is pronounced Peer by So. Dakotans and I love Peabody, Mass. - Peebudy with a very short budy.
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There is Russiaville, IN pronounced as Rouxsaville and DE has Hockessin which is pronounced as hoe kessin. Tucson, AZ is to son not tuc son ;)
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My home town is not New Or-leens. It's either New Or-luns, or if you are an older native, it can be New Aw-yuns. I grew up saying New Aw-yuns, but got tired later in life of hearing people say, "huh?" Now, I say New Or-luns. "Huh?'. :D
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pronounced as a native, no one understands baltimore md.
baw-mur mur-ln. only accent is on baw. what about all them forn cities. no outsider gets them right. i feel very foolish when in washington dc to be talking about par-ee, ve netz iah, fi re en ze.. i also do not claim to have gone to skool in baas tn. |
Prescott, Arizona. They say "Press-kit to ryhme with Biscuit" as a way of teaching out of towners.
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Louisville
Louaville Louieville Louville ........ |
San Pedro, California
San Pedro is a industrial port suburb of Los Angeles to the south of LAX. Locals always call it "San PEE-dro". Really grates on me because there is no pee in Spanish name for St. Peter.
(Correctly in Spanish pronounced as "San PAY-dro") (Also, the "San" in any California city name should sound like the "a" in "lawn" and not the "a" in "sand".) |
Originally Posted by tev9999
(Post 12768360)
Louisville
Louaville Louieville Louville ........ Don't forget Tronto, from our friends up north (at least those from the US). And I thought I had my Hawaiian down, even tossing in the okina, but Hawi threw me when I found it was Ha-vee |
The town of Amherst, Mass., has a silent "h:" "Amerst." Most Boston-area newscasters, reporting on the eponymous college, the UMass campus, or anything else there get it wrong.
The city of Quincy, Mass., is pronounced "Quinzy." Most people who learned about our sixth president, John Quincy (pronounced "Quin-see") Adams, get it wrong. The city in Spain is Gre-NAH-da, but the Caribbean island is Gre-NAY-da. Most pseudo-sophisticates get the latter wrong. |
Originally Posted by 17thousandkm
(Post 12762519)
Oh, there's also Launceston (Tasmania) - if you pronounce it "Lawnceston" the locals get quite uppity - it's "Lonceston".
The Cornish town of Launceston is pronounced as just two syllables, however: <Lawnston> |
Originally Posted by FLYMSY
(Post 12767480)
My home town is not New Or-leens. It's either New Or-luns, or if you are an older native, it can be New Aw-yuns. I grew up saying New Aw-yuns, but got tired later in life of hearing people say, "huh?" Now, I say New Or-luns. "Huh?'. :D
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Originally Posted by CPRich
(Post 12768947)
Don't forget Tronto, from our friends up north (at least those from the US).
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