Mispronunciation of Massachusetts (Worcester, Haverhill, Peabody: travel, home, moving to)

[Ovide4]

I have a number of relatives down South that insist that Massachusetts is pronounced as Mass-uh-tu-setts. Since my father was born and raised in Western Massachusetts, we have continually been befuddled by their insistence on the mispronunciation. My only thought is that it might be the relic of some old Civil War era joke. Does anyone know what the origin of the mispronunciation might be?

[RemiJP]

Do they pronounce others words containing the syllable "chu" as "tu"? If so, that's pretty unusual! If not, how weird! I've never heard that before!

One variation I've heard commonly here is "maz-ah-chu-zits"

[in_newengland]

I've heard both of those mispronunciations. The first one, from the south, I've heard when dealing on the phone with someone in the south -- they try to pronounce it but can't say it correctly.

The second, the ----zits, sounds stupid to me. Where do they ever get THAT.

[leorah]

I've heard the "Massatusetts" pronunciation too, most recently by Barack Obama in one of the debates. YouTube - Barack Obama Mispronounces Massachusetts....MASSATOOSITS.

(This is NOT a slam against Mr. Obama, just an observation that the mispronunciation isn't restricted to those from the South.)

[leisurej]

I just had to jump in on this one.

I'm from SC. We've lived all over the east. Yes, I'm one of those that pronounced Massachusetts as "MASS_A _TU_SETTS". Southern accents (SP?) make a lot of words sound incorrect. With in the south the accents from there own languages in some areas. When living in Chicago, I have a lot of words that I used that would confuse my students, such as: "Cut on the computer", " Mash the enter button", etc. They would just look at me with the "WHAT" expression.

I grew up near Charleston, SC. There the black population have their own language called Gullah. Gullah is related to Jamaican, Bahamian, and Krio (a language in West Africal.) Gullah people were also called "Geechee".

So there's a lot of influences on the southern accents.

However, I must say, my husband grew up in Oklahoma, an I give him a hard time about some of his words, especially roof. When he and his family pronounce it, it sounds like "Ruff", like what a dog says.

So all over the country our accents affect how words sound to others.


I'm moving to Massachusett's this weekend. A co-teacher from MA, told me that the reason I couldn't spell it is because I wasn't pronouncing it correctly. Now I have no problem.
She also shared with me that I'm going to have problems with the names of towns there. Such as Peabody, Leominster, Worcester, and many others.
So we southerners are not the only one's who can pronounce things correctly.

[CaseyB]

Are you saying this is a Gullah pronounciation? I've travelled all over SC and never heard anyone say "MASS_A_TU_SETTS". I find the Charleston accent to be very soft and easy to understand.

Welcome to Massachusetts.

[Valerie C]

I got confused with where Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama were actually from, since their accents seemed to change with whatever demographic they were trying to identify with that day...

Anyway, here are some pronunciations for various places in Massatusetts:

Andover is An-Dovah (Ahhn-Dovah if you live there)


Beverly is Bev-a-lee (Bev-Lee if you live there)

Boxford is Box-fid

Danvers is Dan-Vis or Dan-vus NOT Dan-verse

Gloucester
Gloss-tah (NOT Glow-Ces-Ter!!)

Groveland is Grovelind (Grove-lin if you live there)

Haverhill is Have-rill (long a, rhymes with pave) (not Hav-er-hill)

Leominster is Lemin-sta (not Leo-min-ster)

Marblehead is Mah-bl-head

Metheun is Meth-oo-en (not Met-hue-en)

Peabody is Pee-buh-dee (NOT Pea-body)

Rowley is Row(rhymes with cow)-lee (not Row(rhymes with hoe)-lee)

Salisbury is Salz-berry (not Sal-is-bury)


Saugus is Saw-gus

Swampscott is Swam-skit

Have fun, and no we won't hold it against you, but we might look at you funny! Welcome to New England!

Here are some other helpful hints to get you through:

Definitions of Common Words:
Frappes have ice cream, milk shakes don't.

If it's fizzy and flavored, it's tonic. Soda is club soda. Pop is dad. When we mean tonic WATER we say tonic WATER.

Scrod is whatever they tell you it is, usually fish

It's not a water fountain, it's a bubblah.

It's not a trash can, it's a barrel

It's not a shopping cart, it's a carriage.

It's not a purse, it's a pockabook.

It's not a basement, it's a cellar. Not a wine cellar, just a cellar...

Brown Bread comes in a can. You open both ends, push it out, heat it in melted butter in your black cast iron fry pan, and eat it with baked beans and Essem hot dogs.

They're not suckers, they're lolly-pops

They're not tennis shoes, they're sneakers.

Have a nice day

Originally Posted by leorah

I've heard the "Massatusetts" pronunciation too, most recently by Barack Obama in one of the debates. YouTube - Barack Obama Mispronounces Massachusetts....MASSATOOSITS.

(This is NOT a slam against Mr. Obama, just an observation that the mispronunciation isn't restricted to those from the South.)

[leisurej]

No, I'm not saying that is the way it's pronounced in the Gullah language. Just that all over the south there's so many different accents.

When you say you've traveled all over SC, where are you referring too? Just curious.

I grew up in a small town of 5 railroad tracks and 4 stoplights. When I'd meet someone from another town over, you could almost tell which town they were from just from the accents on certain words.

I've traveled so much and took voice lessons that I've lost a lot of my heavy accent (Except when I'm on the phone with friends and family from home).
I haven't lost my accent and hope to never loose it.

Most South Carolinian's don't pronounce the "ro" in Carolina. My mother was a teacher also and she's always giving me a hard time about how my friends say, "South Ca-LI-Na"

I think the way you guys pronounce things up there is really strange! And I'll adapt to my new surroundings soon. We are all from different cultures.

[leisurej]

Just had to add, when I lived in Kenosha Wisconsin they had many different words for things than what I was used to. But my favorite was...

A high school student was giving me directions and he told me to go to the "Stop and Go Light". It took me forever to figure out what he was referring to. We call them "Red Lights" here.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by leisurej

No, I'm not saying that is the way it's pronounced in the Gullah language. Just that all over the south there's so many different accents.

When you say you've traveled all over SC, where are you referring too? Just curious.

I grew up in a small town of 5 railroad tracks and 4 stoplights. When I'd meet someone from another town over, you could almost tell which town they were from just from the accents on certain words.

I've traveled so much and took voice lessons that I've lost a lot of my heavy accent (Except when I'm on the phone with friends and family from home).
I haven't lost my accent and hope to never loose it.

Most South Carolinian's don't pronounce the "ro" in Carolina. My mother was a teacher also and she's always giving me a hard time about how my friends say, "South Ca-LI-Na"

I think the way you guys pronounce things up there is really strange! And I'll adapt to my new surroundings soon. We are all from different cultures.

The Upstate, Columbia & metro, the lowcountry and south along the Georgia border. I know what you mean about "carolina", sounds like "care-lina".

Even though Massachusetts is fairly small, we also have different accents across the state.