How to properly pronounce towns in New Jersey (Newark, Clifton: wedding, move)

[JerseyG]

Saw this was already brought up but the other night on the news Rosanna Scotto pronounced it Hal-uh-done. I thought she was talking about some place in the city until she said something about it being by Paterson.

Intercourse, Pa is always a crack-up for me. What were they thinking? Better yet, Jersey Shore, Pa? Like 10 hours from the Jersey Shore...

[lammius]

Originally Posted by turnyourback

paramus: puh-RAH-miss. not para-MOOSE.

The only person I've heard say it the latter way was a cab driver. "You want go to Pa-ra-MOOSE?" I said, "Yes I want go"

Bayonne. Just yesterday a kid from Yonkers who speaks French was asking me about that city. I said "Bay-OWN?" He laughed and said he pronounces it "BUY-un" as in France. Tahiti, would you ever tell anyone you're from BUY-un, NJ?

[findinghope]

[quote=lammius;2935711]The only person I've heard say it the latter way was a cab driver. "You want go to Pa-ra-MOOSE?" I said, "Yes I want go"

funny, that is how th italians say it--lol
paRAmoose

[lammius]

TONNELLE

When I first saw it my instinct was to say "Toe-nell"
But I hear most people say "Tuh-null-eee"

The biggest problem is how to spell it. On most maps it's Tonnelle on the Route 1/9 portion, but south of Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City, my maps switch to Tonnele (one L). Street signs in Jersey City are inconsistent. I wish i had a pic of the sign at Tonnel(l)e Av and Newark Av. The sign hanging by the traffic lights says "Tonnele Ave" while the sign mounted to the mast says "TONNELLE AVE."

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by lammius

The only person I've heard say it the latter way was a cab driver. "You want go to Pa-ra-MOOSE?" I said, "Yes I want go"

Bayonne. Just yesterday a kid from Yonkers who speaks French was asking me about that city. I said "Bay-OWN?" He laughed and said he pronounces it "BUY-un" as in France. Tahiti, would you ever tell anyone you're from BUY-un, NJ?

Uh...no. LOL In French class in HS though we did have to say "BUY-un"!

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by lammius

TONNELLE

When I first saw it my instinct was to say "Toe-nell"
But I hear most people say "Tuh-null-eee"

The biggest problem is how to spell it. On most maps it's Tonnelle on the Route 1/9 portion, but south of Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City, my maps switch to Tonnele (one L). Street signs in Jersey City are inconsistent. I wish i had a pic of the sign at Tonnel(l)e Av and Newark Av. The sign hanging by the traffic lights says "Tonnele Ave" while the sign mounted to the mast says "TONNELLE AVE."

Great one! I say "TUNLEE" (real quick, no accent on any part of the word), as do just about everyone I know.

Interesting on the spelling though - never noticed the difference in the number of "l"s. I'm apt to spell it Tonnele.

[pixieshmoo]

hilarious.

Belleville is pronounced "bellevul"

I'm sure 97 people probably said this already but we say Newark - "Nork", not "new ark" like they do in delaware lol!

All the Caldwells are pronounced "Cawdwell"

and we DO NOT SAY JOISEY!!!!!!!

[Badfish740]

There's nothing that grates on my ears more than hearing someone say "TRENT-ton." Everyone knows its pronounced "Trent-in."

Another great one is how my fiancee (North Jersey girl) can never figure out how to pronounce "Gloucester" (her sister goes to Rowan), it always comes out "Glow-chester."

Some of the Indian names up north are tough and I've heard any number of pronounciations:

Allamuchy - Al-a-much-ey, Al-a-muck-ey?

Wanaque - Wanna-que, Wa-nock-key?

[pbergen]

people always mispronounce or misspell hasbrouck heights.

it's pronounced HAZ-brook, not has-browck or has-broke.

on the flip side, i've frequently seen it misspelled as "hasbrook". even on the hagstrom nj map from the 1990s, it was misspelled as "hasbrouk" (they forgot the "c").

[pbergen]

just to clarify or confirm the pronunciation of a few other towns mentioned earlier:

closter is pronounced CLOH-ster (rhymes with "roaster"), not CLAH-ster or CLOY-ster.

lodi is pronounced LOW-die, as someone else mentioned (i've heard a few people say LOW-dee, which makes my stomach turn).

bogota (note the correct spelling) is pronounced buh-GO-tuh, not BO-guh-tah (that would be the city in colombia)

kearny = CAR-nee