Mispronounced City and State names (university, suburb, directions)

[Verseau]

Originally Posted by lammius

That's odd because I hear the Virginia Norfolk pronounced so differently. NAW-F*ck. Drives me nuts when I'm on the Newark City Subway here in NJ and the automated announcement comes, "Next stop, Nor-Follllllk Street." It makes this Virginia native shudder! haha. I hear people in New England say Nor-Fork and fam in the Philadelphia area say Nor-Foke (rhymes with coke). Complete with the unique Philadelphian way of pronouncing long "O" sounds, it comes off pretty strange/funny to me.

Hmm, actually Norfolk, Massachusetts is also pronounced NAW-f'k. Who'd have thought that people in MA and VA would pronounce something the same way?

[lammius]

Originally Posted by spark240

But that's all okay, because these people are all referring to different places.

I'd describe the most common Virginia pronounciation a little differently. Naw-fulk, but with the "L" sound partially swallowed. It's muddled though, because there are so many military people there from other parts of the country, where they say their Norfolks differently.

I grew up there (Portsmouth) and I'd say the whole "naw" thing is something you only hear among the older people anymore. Most people in my generation (I'm 25) pronounced the R in Nor but the final syallable is indistinguishable from the 4-letter F word! haha. This resulted in a mock cheer for private schools such as Norfolk Academy and Norfolk Collegiate, "we don't drink, we don't smoke, nor-f**k nor-f**k!" Next time I talk to my grandparents I'll listen for a swallowed L.

Also, apart from Newark's Norfolk Street, the pronunciations I talked about were how people talk to me about Norfolk, VA.

[lammius]

Originally Posted by Verseau

Hmm, actually Norfolk, Massachusetts is also pronounced NAW-f'k. Who'd have thought that people in MA and VA would pronounce something the same way?

That's interesting, but not totally surprising, actually. People in MA and coastal VA have that nasty habit of dropping R's like they're hot potatoes. I do a bit of it and people sometimes ask if I'm from Boston. (of course i've also been asked based on my accent if I'm from Alabama, South Jersey, Brooklyn, and Australia!!!)

[TheWereRabbit]

Originally Posted by Drover

That's simply a function of accent. New England has a non-rhotic accent, meaning the "r" sound following a vowel sound is frequently dropped, hence the "r" in Concord kind of disappears and becomes "Conkid." On the other end of the spectrum is the highly rhotic Chicago accent, where "Concorde" is often pronounced almost the same as "conquered."

Actually the difference is pronounciation has little to do with accent. In Concord NH and Concord MA it is correctly pronounced as Conquered by someone with no accent, which with an accent becomes Conkid. However, the INCORRECT pronounciation would be neither of these but "concorde" like as in the plane. Both Conker'd and Conkiiihd are fine. Conkooorwd is not.

[Khayla007]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

Cherryville North Carolina
is pronounced Chair vul and often can be mistaken by a local pronouncing it as one syllable.

Every NC city pronounces ville as vul except Asheville it does pronounce ville as veal

And for the life of me I can not understand it. It drives me crazy how Ville=VUL
I also don't understand how Brookshire =Brook Shur

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

Hoping to expand on the phonetics above...we usually say Woos-tuh not Wuss-tuh.

The main thing is that Worcester is not pronounced Wore-chester. Every time I hear that I crack up.

I've heard people here in the Midwest pronounce Worcestershire sauce Wur-chester-shire sauce

[j33]

I've always thought it was pronounced "woostahshore" sauce. At least, that was how I was taught to say it, and it stuck.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

I've heard people here in the Midwest pronounce Worcestershire sauce Wur-chester-shire sauce

Well, that's not a problem we'll have for very much longer. In two generations the correct pronunciation will be "La Salsa Ingles"

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by lammius

I grew up there (Portsmouth) and I'd say the whole "naw" thing is something you only hear among the older people anymore. Most people in my generation (I'm 25) pronounced the R in Nor but the final syallable is indistinguishable from the 4-letter F word! haha. This resulted in a mock cheer for private schools such as Norfolk Academy and Norfolk Collegiate, "we don't drink, we don't smoke, nor-f**k nor-f**k!" Next time I talk to my grandparents I'll listen for a swallowed L.

Also, apart from Newark's Norfolk Street, the pronunciations I talked about were how people talk to me about Norfolk, VA.

The Norfolk in Nebraska is pronounced "Naarfaark" ...I'm not kidding, that's how they really say it...

Des Moines, Iowa has no "s" sound anywhere in its pronunciation

[Mississippienne]

Biloxi, MS is pronounced "Bi-luck-si" not "Bi-lox-i."

Pass Christian, MS is pronounced "Pass Christianne".

Gautier, MS is "Go-shay".

Saucier, MS is "Sew-sher".