Prounounciations: Colorado Places (Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins: transplants, 2009, construction)

[livecontent]

You guys think you had problems, well, listen to this...

I grew up in New York, so I hat da difficulti in saying wurds, ya, know, like waater, paark, yoous etc. but my first house here was on a street with Coors in the name---I figure dat gotta be real lucky

No matter what I said; how I said it; to who I said it; no one understood my address.... I would have to spell it and they would say, oh, you mean Coors... with some little sound that I could not copy....

I tried Cooors, Kuuurs, Curs, Choors, Chuurs, Cours, Cures, Coeurs, Koors, Kuers.....every which way, twisting my mouth until I got lip pain.....no one understood me.....

Even in a bar, I could not get that beer---I just pointed to the tap.....

So, I sold the house, and moved......

Livecontent

[COflower]

Saguache is pronouced saw-watch but I think the actual pronunciation is saw-watch-ay

[vegaspilgrim]

How do you pronounce Uncompahgre? (as in the mountain and national forest with that name)

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

How do you pronounce Uncompahgre? (as in the mountain and national forest with that name)

Un-come-pah-grey.

Other Spanish words that are butchered in Colorado

Salida - pronounced suh-lye-dah. Spanish is suh-lee-da
La Junta - pronounced hunt-ah. Spanish is hoon-tah.
Durango - pronounced Dur-ayn-go. Spanish is Dur-ahn-go.

I've even heard people call Pueblo Pee-eh-blo instead of Pweh-bloh.

[BarryK123]

Here's a basic question:

How do you pronounce Colorado? Is the "a" pronounced like "at" or like "rot?"

[winglady]

I grew up in the Denver area, and my current home town was always pronounced
MON tross

(note the "s" sound of the last syllable -- rhymes with "gross")

Now that I live here, I hear the old-timers pronounce it
MONT roze

(think of "mont" as a root of "mountain", and the flower "rose" -- they often include a tiny pause between the first and second syllable)

Similarly, most of my life I heard
you RAY

But in Montrose, many pronounce it
YOU ray

(emphasis on the first syllable)

Oddly, most of the people I've met who actually live in Ouray, pronounce it as we did in Denver (you RAY --- emphasis on the 2nd syllable). I seldom hear people saying 'OOO ray', or 'ooo RAY', even if those may be more historically correct.

[SaxLuva]

[quote=BarryK123;4998789]Here's a basic question:

How do you pronounce Colorado? Is the "a" pronounced like "at" or like "rot?"[/quote

it's pronounced like the "a" in father

[Sockeye]

The short a is correct, as if spoken like ColoRODo. Another one that gags me is when someone says "Westminister". This is a sign of lack of education, particularly in the humanities. Imagine Wordsworth writing "Composed Upon Westminister Bridge".

[Neditate]

Originally Posted by Sockeye

The short a is correct, as if spoken like ColoRODo. Another one that gags me is when someone says "Westminister". This is a sign of lack of education, particularly in the humanities. Imagine Wordsworth writing "Composed Upon Westminister Bridge".

Thank you. I have gone 'round and 'round with people about that. Many years ago before I lived here I pronounced it ColoRADo (with my nasally Wisconsin accent which thankfully I have lost). When I moved here it became ColoRODo just from listening to the folks who were raised here. But I still catch flak from people who moved here telling me that I say it "wrong".

I agree, the Westminster mis-pronounciation always bugs me too. I totally understand people saying Loui-ville (as in KY) when they don't know better because it's spelled the same.

[Noahma]

I have to say, if I hear West minister one more time, I am going to go NUTZ

its minster, not minister.

lol