Mis-pronouncing your Destination
Nov 5, 2009 | 4:23 am
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Biggleswade
Programs: SK Gold, AY Gold
Posts: 13,675
Wasn't there a (almost certainly apocryphal) story, at the time of the collapse of the great Albanian pyramid scheme, that there was panic in Canada as a result of breaking news reports of 'widespread unrest and violence in Tirana'?
Nov 5, 2009 | 2:20 pm
#35
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 196
Not really a destination but my current city - Chisago City. On the phone, everyone will pronounce it "Chicago". We have a rich history of Swedish cultures here, but because we tend to live in an area where there was a lot of Native Americans at one time, THEY named it Ki-Chi-Saga, which means fair and lovely and large waters. The name has been changed slightly through the years. It creates problems such as, I was booking a trip this week and the travel rep said to me, "Ok we have you leaving "Chicago" da da da. "Uh, no, I actually need to leave from Mpls"
Nov 5, 2009 | 2:45 pm
#36
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Nowhere AK
Programs: AS mileage plan
Posts: 401
Ketchikan is really not that hard to pronounce, yet I manage to totally confuse every call center agent. The same with Metlakatla. Some interesting names in my areas. I like Naukati the best (Naah-ki-ti). Of course, we have Knudson Cove and no the K is not silent. Don't ask me why!
Nov 5, 2009 | 9:49 pm
#37
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S+, Choice Platinum
Posts: 23,319
Ketchikan is really not that hard to pronounce, yet I manage to totally confuse every call center agent. The same with Metlakatla. Some interesting names in my areas. I like Naukati the best (Naah-ki-ti). Of course, we have Knudson Cove and no the K is not silent. Don't ask me why!
Talkeetna: tall-KEET-nuh. I've heard tal-KIT-nuh, tal-uh-ka-LIT-nuh, and about anything else you could imagine.
Seward: like sewer with a D. Everyone from Outside calls it SEA-ward.
Kenai: KEY-nye/KEEN-eye. Tourists can't help but call it ki-NYE/kin-EYE.
And nearby Soldotna is always mangled to sol-id-oh-DIT-na or something (the least wrong I've ever heard was sole-DOTE-nuh). It's sole-DOT-na.
Kotzebue: I have NEVER heard anyone pronounce this correctly. It's KOTZ-uh-byoo (Kotz for short). I've heard kotz-eh-BWAY and kotz-uh-BOO-ee.
Valdez: it's val-DEEZ, not val-DEZZ or bal-DAYSS (we're not hispanohablantes here
). (Cordova was [indirectly] named after Crdoba, Spain, but it's cor-DOHV-uh.)And yes, we really do have a Tatitlek up here, right between Valdez and Cordova. It's pronounced just like you'd think.
