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I grew up in the Mohawk Valley and have moved to the south. I don't feel I have an accent, but I do get busted for my pronunciation of elementary (ella men taree like "airy" - Ive been told it should be like "tree") and documentary.
I live upstate now, but I'm a native of Ronkonkoma. Never understood how Ronkonkoma is hard to pronounce... just sound it out from how it's spelled! haha But growing up down there with plenty of unusual names as well as numerous Native American names has prepared me well for the rest of my life with pronouncing other places.
I did not notice Medina (pronounced with a long "i," not a long "e.")
Does anyone know why so many "upstate" places are pronounced with long vowels instead of the way they are pronounced elsewhere (Medina, Chili, Nunda, Java, etc.)?
Sometimes pronunciations change over time. Before it became a suburb in about 1960, Commack was pronounced "comic" (like a comedian) or "com-mack." The new residents tended to call it "coh-mack" and they outnumbered the old-timers by about 20 to 1. Today there are still some residents that call it "com-mack," but most pronounce it the new way.
How is Steuben County pronounced, STEW-bin or stew-BEN? I have heard both ways.
Is Leicester pronounced "lester?" It is the only way I have heard it, but it was from people who are from Rochester, Buffalo, Jamestown, Medina, and Attica. (plus graduates of Geneseo.)
How is Steuben County pronounced, STEW-bin or stew-BEN? I have heard both ways.
Is Leicester pronounced "lester?"
As for Steuben, I don't know how locals pronounce it, but it is a German name, and in Germanic languages (including English), stress is on the first syllable, so STEW-ben would be the reasonable English pronunciation. In German it would be pronounced, SHTOY-ben.
In England, Leicester is indeed pronounced LESS-ter.
But people tend to pronounce place names in funny ways. I used to joke that Little Britain in Orange County was pronounced LIE-tuhl bri-tane.
Steuben gets a mix of STEW-ben as the more prominent and then stew-BEN ...... pronunciations do tend to new flat though so regardless off where the accent is, it can be hard to identify at times
My favorites are for Chili (near Rochester), pronounced by outsiders like the spicy dish, Lima (south of Rochester) pronounced like the south american city, Olean pronounced as Oleen, and Busti (near Jamestown) pronounced as Busty.
I did not notice Medina (pronounced with a long "i," not a long "e.")
Does anyone know why so many "upstate" places are pronounced with long vowels instead of the way they are pronounced elsewhere (Medina, Chili, Nunda, Java, etc.)?
Sometimes pronunciations change over time. Before it became a suburb in about 1960, Commack was pronounced "comic" (like a comedian) or "com-mack." The new residents tended to call it "coh-mack" and they outnumbered the old-timers by about 20 to 1. Today there are still some residents that call it "com-mack," but most pronounce it the new way.
How is Steuben County pronounced, STEW-bin or stew-BEN? I have heard both ways.
Is Leicester pronounced "lester?" It is the only way I have heard it, but it was from people who are from Rochester, Buffalo, Jamestown, Medina, and Attica. (plus graduates of Geneseo.)
I've spent a lot of time in Steuben County over the years and people born and raised there almost all pronounce it stew-BEN. People who move there or are only there for a short period of time frequently pronounce it STEW-ben, which is the way even the locals tend to pronounce the glass. Go figure that one out. Of course, people born and raised in Binghamton almost all pronounce Beethoven street there BEE-Tho-ven street. I drove cab there for several years and when I pronounced the street like the composer the locals laughed at my "ignorance".
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