Mispronounced Localities in NM (Raton, Questa: rich, suburb, rated)

[hopeful transplant]

Originally Posted by Jiggs69

I've always pronounced it the Spanish way but I've heard it said as Ra-tone and Rat-un...from a Texan

As for Albuquerque it's supposed to be Alburquerque but an Anglo trader couldn't pronounce the first "r" so was left off his sign.

The pronounces that kill me as a native are:
Mad-Rid (Ma-dreed) w/a roll on the r
Te-su-key (Teh-su-keh)
Po-wa-key (Po - wha - keh)
Ree-uh-doe-ser (Roo-ee-doe-so)

Someone mentioned Tecolote and Tecolotito,those are good areas to avoid if you're not a native,lol.

DH just got back from visiting Rat-on, and just like you said, the locals pronounce it really heavy on the RAT...guess that kinda makes sense.
In all of the places we've lived, I really try to not offend the locals, with things like mis-pronunciation...it's sometimes hard to be accepted into new communities, but that will always leave a sour taste....
Thanks for the info....

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

To'hajiilee means (I've been told) "place near water".

Just call it Twahili (rhymes with Swahili, the language). It seems like just another spanish word once you get past how complicated it looks (and you have the correct pronunciation).


I've noticed that just as there is a bit of snobbery or good-natured snickering toward the ignorant mispronunciations of places (Poe-joe-ak-ee) coming from the locals, some of the locals get also irritated at the overaccentuation from out-of-towners (or ambitious young adults) who insist their background gives them carte blanche to vary from the common pronunciation.

I think it's most noticeable when someone is speaking English to you but will accentuate the locality like they're speaking Spanish (not AL-boo-cur-key but awl-boo-KAIR-KAY), with the accents far in excess of anything heard in English. If it's a Spanish sentence, then that's different.

It's just speech, after all, but is switching languages midsentence supposed to achieve a positive result? Funny how there's so much more to the spoken word than the written word.

I agree with you -- some people go so far out of their way that it sounds only weird. Whatever the locals call it, however they pronounce it would seem to me to be the way to go.

One example I think is funny is listening to Americans try to make sure they pronounce the Rio Grande exactly the way they think a Mexican would want it prounounced -- buy in reality the Mexicans don't call it that, they named it something different, often call it simply El Bravo.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by loborick

You should always pronounce Spanish place names correctly. Just because you are speaking in English doesn't mean you should not pronounce them correctly. You are not switching languages, just pronouncing a word correctly.

And To'hajiilee is a Navajo word, not a Spanish word.

I don't agree with that -- we don't demand that Mexicans and other Latin Americans pronounce all our cities' names correctly. Among themselves, speaking their own language they will call New York "Nueva Yorc", or Chicago "Cheecago" and I doubt most of us get very upset by that.

And I wonder if all of us, including the Mexicans are trying extremely hard to get the Indian pronounciations down pat -- and I've seen many people try to pronounce Navajo words as though they were Spanish which wouldn't be correct at all.

[GregW]

Learn to pronounce name like the people you are with. When in Paris speak like you have a head cold.

[rruff]

Originally Posted by desert sun

and Ruidoso is pronounced Ree-uh-doso, I've never heard anyone say it differently.

Then you haven't heard me say it! I pronounce it close to the way it is spelled... Ru-eh-doso (could be Ru-ee-doso though). But most of the people who live here (mostly from Texas) say REE-uh-doso, or REE-uh-dosa. I guess they have trouble with phonetics... or maybe Ru-eh-doso is more cumbersome to say with a Texas accent.

It means "noisy water" in Apache... and I think it would be spelled differently if it was supposed to be REE-uh-doso... like Riadoso.

EDIT: After a little research I see that ruidoso means "loud" in spanish... which could hardly be a coincidence... and yet many places say it means "noisy water" in Apache. A spanish word acquired by the Apache and the meaning changed a little?

[jsc23]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

To'hajiilee means (I've been told) "place near water".

Just call it Twahili (rhymes with Swahili, the language). It seems like just another spanish word once you get past how complicated it looks (and you have the correct pronunciation).

To'hajiilee is a Dineh/ Navajo place name, not Spanish.
Dineh nationals I have known pronounced it something like "too-wattchillee"

[Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by loborick

And To'hajiilee is a Navajo word, not a Spanish word.

Originally Posted by jsc23

To'hajiilee is a Dineh/ Navajo place name, not Spanish.

If you read my original post, I mentioned To'hajiilee seems like just another Spanish word.

Since it's a place name, it's not tied to a language. And, as spelled, seems like it has mutated significantly from the original Diné. It's an awfully weak argument to make that it's not Spanish.

Using this same logic, Albuquerque is a Moorish word, not Spanish. Let's never mind that the original Moorish Abu-Al-Qurq got mangled by the Spanish, then mangled by English-speaking Americans.

In the end, it's a place. Albuquerque seems like just another Spanish word to some, and the US English version sounds ok too.

[imcrazymary]

According to locals, it's MAD-rid, I spent many a Sunday there.
Also according to locals, it's teh-SUE-kee and poe-HAWK-kay. If you listen to THEM anyway. Trivia: The Poo-Hawks from the old cartoon strip are Pojoaques.
I always heard rat-OWN. And toe-HAJ-ill-lee. SANta fe. la see-EN-ah-ga. san HONE.
And as for Dzilth-whatever-they-call-it (Dzilth-na-o-dith-hle) , we call it DZ.
But what do I know? I used to live off of won ta-BOW Blvd.

[jsc23]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

If you read my original post, I mentioned To'hajiilee seems like just another Spanish word.

Since it's a place name, it's not tied to a language. And, as spelled, seems like it has mutated significantly from the original Diné. It's an awfully weak argument to make that it's not Spanish.

Using this same logic, Albuquerque is a Moorish word, not Spanish. Let's never mind that the original Moorish Abu-Al-Qurq got mangled by the Spanish, then mangled by English-speaking Americans.

In the end, it's a place. Albuquerque seems like just another Spanish word to some, and the US English version sounds ok too.

Sorry, but "...another Spanish word" confused me. I just assumed that for the Navajo place name for a town on a Navajo rez, mostly populated by Navajo, and a center of Navajo culture and government, the local dialect pronunciation would be used... like with Raton, Ruidoso, and Questa...

For the sake of pedantry, etymology is a funny game: Albuquerque quite likely derives from Latin "albus quercus" (tr: White Oak, roughly the same as the Arabic), since Romans first chartered the Iberian namesake town.
Comforting to know place name mangling is an ancient tradition

[Steve-o]

One city in NM I always have a problem with is Abiquiu. How do you pronounce that? Is it "abby-que-ee-you"?