The Upstate NY Pronunciation Guide! (Rochester, Commack: live in, office, teach)

[jfkIII]

Catskill Area
Coxsackie...(COOKS-sah-key or cah-SOCK-key)
Cairo...(Kay-row (like the syrup) or Care-oh)
Ravena...Rah-vee-nah
Saugerties...Saw-ger-dees
Poughkeepsie...Puh-kip-see

[Mercator Projection]

Originally Posted by Jeromeville

PS... if in doubt about how to pronounce a name in CNY or WNY... especially if it's a classical name, or the name of a foreign country or city... just pronounce it like an illiterate 19th century farmer would! chances are, you've got it right!

Funny, but true!

An exception would be Worchester, which as a kid, I always wanted to pronounce WAR-chester, but it retains its English pronunciation, WIS-ter.

[I'minformed2]

In all reality; pronunciation of any city across the world is actually pretty subjective. We (Americans) pronounce the largest city in Italy "Rome", but there, its "Roma". Parisians refer to their city as "Par-EE". TECHNICALLY there is no "correct pronunciation" for any city anywhere; just a general common way of saying it based on how the locals do. If somebody immigrated from the Baltic states of Eastern Europe to the Rochester area and pronounced the local town of Riga just like the city in their homeland; who am I to tell them they are saying it wrong?

[Mercator Projection]

Originally Posted by Mercator Projection

An exception would be Worchester

Or if I could spell correctly, it would be Worcester.

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Catskill Area
Coxsackie...(COOKS-sah-key or cah-SOCK-key)
Cairo...(Kay-row (like the syrup) or Care-oh)
Ravena...Rah-vee-nah
Saugerties...Saw-ger-dees
Poughkeepsie...Puh-kip-see

Cairo depends on who says it. It can be said like Cairo in Egypt or Kay Row.

Valatie is one of my favs! You can always tell when someone's not from these here parts with this one!

Cohoes
Latham
Albany - Al is the mayor, but the city isn't named for him
Schaghticoke - enjoy this one!

[ki0eh]

I thought of another contribution from my old home county. Seems the old timers will pronounce Marathon MEAR-uh-thin. I don't know if they grate when they hear MEAR-uh-THON but I think that's a known recognizable variant (not like pronouncing a nearby much richer community Scan-eat-el-lus which will mark you for life )

[NJ Bear]

SCAT-a-coke

Lay-thum

Vuh-lay-sha

[juppiter]

Originally Posted by Jeromeville

Albany area
Greenwich... (GREEN-wich)
Colonie... (kah-la-NEE)... like "colony" but with stress on last syllable
Rensselaer... (ren-sa-LEER)
Watervliet... (water-VLEET)
Cohoes... (ka-HOSE)

I've always pronounced Rensselaer "Rens-ler" and I know I'm not alone...

Also, "Awl-buh-nee" if you're from the city or middle-class burbs, "All-buh-nee" if you're from the nouveau riche burbs.

[UpstaterInBklyn]

Since you are assembling a comprehensive list, here are some suburbs of Buffalo. Mostly they are pronounced like they are spelled, but non-natives generally need some practice and have to say them slowly the first few times:

Cheektowaga (Cheek-to-WAU-guh)
Tonawanda (Tah-no-WAHN-duh)
Blasdell (BLAZE-dell)
Lancaster - (LINE-caster or LAN-caster) Not like in Pennsylvania, where it is pronounced LINK-ki-ster

Also, there is a small town north of Jamestown called "Gerry" but for some reason it's pronounced like "Gary"

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

Cairo depends on who says it. It can be said like Cairo in Egypt or Kay Row.

When we moved here from Valatie 10 years ago, we went to enroll the kids in school and gave our address, pronouncing Cairo like the Egyptian city. The woman at the school said that if we planned on living here, she suggested that we pronounce it like a local. When we asked her the preference, she told us Care-oh or Kay-Row....but never like the city in Egypt! Every so often I here one of the Albany weathermen say KYE-roh...but never heard it locally.