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Old 06-05-2007, 11:09 PM
 
Location: Jersey City
7,053 posts, read 19,222,723 times
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I'm starting this thread to lay to rest a few uncertainties I have about pronouncing the names of several places in New Jersey. Please, if you have an opinion, share it. For each of the following I've heard people pronounce these places each way.

First up, the township of Pequannock in Passaic County (or is it in Morris)?
Is this place pronounced "PEE-qua-nock" or "Puh-QUAN-ick"?

Next, Bernardsville in Somerset County. Ber-NARDS-ville or BUR-nurds-ville?

Bogota in Bergen County. BO-go-tah (like the capital of Colombia) or Buh-GO-duh?

Closter in Bergen County. Cloh-ster or Claw-ster?

Iselin in Middlesex County. Iz-lin or Ice-lin?

Finally (at least for now), Secaucus in Hudson County. SEE-caw-cus or Seh-CAW-cus?



Those are the ones I want to put to rest for now. If there are places you feel unsure about how they're generally pronounced, share them and see what the city-data community can come up with.
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Old 06-06-2007, 12:11 AM
 
Location: Bronx, NY
2,806 posts, read 16,334,944 times
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For Pequannock I always say PUH-QUAN-nuk

For Bernardsvills I pronounce it as BUR-nurds-ville.
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Old 06-06-2007, 12:34 AM
 
8,256 posts, read 17,264,129 times
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sometimes a city can have different pronunciations and all are correct. one might come from a different dialect than another- one say from the South another from New England areas. i can't think of a city but English people say muh-THU while Americans say MU-ther
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Old 06-06-2007, 12:52 AM
 
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o ok. heres one. some say New Or-LEENS while others (i know we do in CA) say New OR-lins
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Old 06-06-2007, 05:42 AM
 
9,124 posts, read 36,284,317 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lammius View Post

Iselin in Middlesex County. Iz-lin or Ice-lin?

.
Wow- we actually made the list....lol.

Anyone who lives here calls it IZ-lin- the only time I hear ICE-lin is when I call a customer support center and give them the zip code, and they "just want to confirm that's in ICE-lin New Jersey".

Bob
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Old 06-06-2007, 05:53 AM
 
Location: NJ
12,283 posts, read 35,596,229 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lammius View Post
I'm starting this thread to lay to rest a few uncertainties I have about pronouncing the names of several places in New Jersey. Please, if you have an opinion, share it. For each of the following I've heard people pronounce these places each way.

First up, the township of Pequannock in Passaic County (or is it in Morris)?
Is this place pronounced "PEE-qua-nock" or "Puh-QUAN-ick"?

Next, Bernardsville in Somerset County. Ber-NARDS-ville or BUR-nurds-ville?

Bogota in Bergen County. BO-go-tah (like the capital of Colombia) or Buh-GO-duh?

Closter in Bergen County. Cloh-ster or Claw-ster?

Iselin in Middlesex County. Iz-lin or Ice-lin?

Finally (at least for now), Secaucus in Hudson County. SEE-caw-cus or Seh-CAW-cus?



Those are the ones I want to put to rest for now. If there are places you feel unsure about how they're generally pronounced, share them and see what the city-data community can come up with.
1) Puh-QUAN-ick
2) BUR-nurds-ville
3) Buh-GO-duh
4) Cloh-ster
5) Iz-lin
6) this one drives me nuts. it's SEE-caw-cus. ppl who live in and around there call it SEE-caw-cus, the rest of the state calls it Seh-CAW-cus.

when i was younger i called the state below Washington "OR-EH-GONE" (you know, the only other state where you can't pump your own gas). my brother moved there and beat it into my head that it is "OR-EH-GUN".
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Old 06-06-2007, 05:53 PM
 
Location: Jersey Shore
1,574 posts, read 4,742,409 times
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[quote=tahiti;837141]6) this one drives me nuts. it's SEE-caw-cus. ppl who live in and around there call it SEE-caw-cus, the rest of the state calls it Seh-CAW-cus.

when i was younger i called the state below [quote]

This made me smile. I grew up in Bergen County and always called in SEE-caw-cus. Then I read somewhere it's supposed to pronounced the other way. I figured I must've sounded like an idiot for all those years! Glad to see I was wrong. Well, I'm sure I've sounded like an idiot about other things.
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Old 06-07-2007, 09:05 AM
 
Location: Jersey City
7,053 posts, read 19,222,723 times
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Thanks for the responses, everyone. I guess the only one I'm really surprised about is Pequannock. For a few years I've been saying PEE-qua-nock and nobody ever corrected me. Then on CBS 880 one day recently I heard them mention the town, pronouncing it Puh-QUAN-ick. I was like "LOL that's a funny mispronunciation" and my co-worker replied, "umm, that's how it's pronounced" and she might as well have added "you jackass" at the end.

Secaucus... SEE-caw-cus sounds funny to me too, but I'm trying to use it more.
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Old 06-07-2007, 09:14 AM
 
857 posts, read 1,996,861 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lammius View Post
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I guess the only one I'm really surprised about is Pequannock. For a few years I've been saying PEE-qua-nock and nobody ever corrected me. Then on CBS 880 one day recently I heard them mention the town, pronouncing it Puh-QUAN-ick. I was like "LOL that's a funny mispronunciation" and my co-worker replied, "umm, that's how it's pronounced" and she might as well have added "you jackass" at the end.

Secaucus... SEE-caw-cus sounds funny to me too, but I'm trying to use it more.
You know, if you look at how other native american words are pronounced, PEE-qua-nock is probably correct. But I know people from there, and the correct americanized/localized pronunciation is definitely "Puh-QUAN-ick"
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Old 06-07-2007, 10:10 AM
 
Location: TX
5,412 posts, read 15,881,851 times
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I grew up in Parsippany and often heard outsiders mispronounce it by not putting the accent on the 2nd syllable.

More recently, I lived near Moorestown (not Morristown). The locals down there pronounce "Moorestown" almost as "Morristown", which drove me nuts since I grew up near Morristown. So I called it "MOORS-town", with the long "o".

Also, for Gloucester, the locals pronounce it as "GLAW-stur". I don't see an "a" in there, so I call it "GLOUS-ter". I'm sure South NJ folks are now glad to see me out of the state.
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