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That one is just a difference in pronunciation, not incorrect. For the most part, the only people who say awe-nt are people from New England, most the rest of the country will say ant.
People in my family have always said 'unt' not ant (for aunt), and we're Southern blacks. White people say 'ant', like my fiance.
I think the two States that are most mispronounced are Oregon and Illinois. Oregon of course is OR-A-GUN, and Illinois is simply IL-I-NOI. I was amazed how many sportscasters mispronounced Oregon when the Ducks were a major contender in college football.
A couple of others from Washington State which seem to puzzle some:
People in my family have always said 'unt' not ant (for aunt), and we're Southern blacks. White people say 'ant', like my fiance.
Whites and blacks in Minnesota pronounce it "awnt". When I first moved here I thought everyone was putting on airs (affecting proper British: "Oh Ben, you simply MUST come to my pahty to me my awnt from Mankato! )
Both of those are alternate pronunciations. They may be less common, but the words are "actually pronounced" both ways.
Names and places are another thing, because there's a certain degree of ownership of the name. If the Carnegies say "car-NAY-gee", it's "car-NAY-gee". Their family. Their name. Their pronunciation.
Same with places. New Yorkers say Houston St is pronounced "Howston"? So be it.
One of my favorite examples is Appalachian. Most folks in the southern part of the range say "App-uh-latch-in," while folks from farther north say "App-uh-lay-shun." So which is correct? They both are!
It’s pronounced “Howston” bc it is named after a person whose name was pronounced that way, not the city in Texas
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Apparently I've been pronouncing Minot, ND wrong. I have never been near there, so I had never heard it pronounced out loud until recently. I assumed it was Mee No (I gave it a French pronunciation). But I recently learned that it's pronounced My Not.
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