The Upstate NY Pronunciation Guide!

[forblueskies]

Pretty funny! I have a few.

Near Rochester:

Avon - AA von (A is like "at" without the t, not like the cosmetic co.)

Leroy - I've heard it pronounced LEE roy and also Lu ROY by Leroy natives. Take your pick.

Southern tier:

Bolivar is BAAH li vur It's pronounced with that southern tier "ahh" twang

In the Adirondacks, or A di roun dacks as we like to say:

I've often been corrected on the pronounciation of my hometown, usually by downstaters from NYC or Long Island - Schroon Lake is pronounced Skrewn Lake, not Shroon Lake. Makes me laugh every time I get corrected.

Tahawas, an old mining town near Newcomb that's long gone, but is familiar to many high peaks climbers: Tu HAWS, not Tu HOW as (my husband's mis-pronounciation)

For some reason, my husband always says CHEST er tun instead of Ches ter town - just like it's spelled.

Piseco is Pu SEE co

[jfkIII]

Voorheesville...the h is silent...pronounced Voor-eeze-vill

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by UpstaterInBklyn

Here are some WNY small towns with unusual pronunciations:

Java (JAY-va)
Nunda (NUN-day)
Castile (CASS-tile)

I know this thread is about Upstate places, but Long Island has some real doozies. For example:

Ronkonkoma (Ron-KON-koh-ma)
Hauppauge (HAUGH-pawg)
Wyandanch (WHY-an-danch)
Syosset (sy-OSS-et)
Commack (COH-mack) (rhymes with "lowjack")

Lawn Guylander chiming in.

To the person who posted Schroon (Skrewn) Lake -- please laugh at me, too. First time out I said Ssssshroon, too.

Hauppauge is more akin to Hop ahg (ah as in open up and say "ah")
Wyandanch is more akin to WHY un danch

Years ago I worked for a national courier. A misaddressed parcel came into my office and I had to find the correct location. All I knew was that the sender from PA was sending it to a company in Hop Hog, NY

[Puru]

What about Niskayuna (Nis-key-oon-ah or just plain "Nis-key")and Scotia (Skoh-sha)? I can't count how many times I've heard people pronounce those in weird ways! I guess people don't realize that Scotia is pronounced the same way as Nova Scotia. :/
I've even heard people get confused trying to pronounce Guilderland, but I always thought that was one of the easy ones.

[Annette99]

Our local boy scout troop had to teach our town board this one a few years ago, I live in the Town of Shawangunk, Hamlet of Wallkill, Shawangunk is pronounced Shon-gum. We're the range next to the Catskills.

[ki0eh]

Replying to another thread I remembered another one. Groton (GRAH-tun)

[johntedder]

In 2004 Greenwich the Musical was performed and recorded. Bob Warren wrote a song called "Greenwich" about how to pronounce the name. It is pretty funny. I had the pleasure of seeing this live. They did record a CD and DVD though that you can order from the site below.

The people of the Village of Greenwich and Town of Greenwich performed in the musical.

Bob Warren - Singer Songwriter . . .

[ref301]

Chazy = shay ZEE

AuSable = AW saybull

[scjo52]

I'm no expert, but upstaters sound like Chicago to me. My brother's name is Robby and they call him "RA-bee" like the "ra" in rabbi or rat. A lot of people don't really have an accent, but those from long time resident families seem to be the one's who pronounce "O" like the "A" in rat.