Portland-eese (or how do I pronounce certain words?) (Detroit: transplants, to live)

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by sueisme

Ha!

Thanks, all. I'm finding these tidbits to be really useful. A longtime Portlander (and longtime friend of my husband's), who hitchhiked here from the east coast in the '70s, told us Glisan could be pronounced either way, although I've definitely heard it pronounced more frequently as "GLEE-sun." Not that I hear it mentioned all that much.

The truth behind the story is that while the street is pronounced "GLEE-sun" the man, and the family for whom it was named pronounced it "GLISS-un." Therein lies the controversy.

One secret to a lot of the pronunciations is that the Indian names, the emphasis is not on the final syllable, but the middle one.

Two of all-time favorite mangled pronunciations is a fishing show (aeons ago) said they were going fishing on the Day-shu-tay river, not the Da-shoots (Deschutes). A more recent late-nite commercial advertised something going on in Too-a-LAT-in, not Too-WALL-ah-tin (Tualatin).

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by puerco

pdxMIKEpdx, I agree with you on most of your post but I've never noticed people saying "Washinton". I've always called it Washington and so have most of the other Oregonians I grew up in Portland with. I did have a friend who moved up from San Diego refer to it was "Warshington". I think it came from her parents' Midwestern roots. She used to go to the laundromat to do her "warsh".

Listen closer, a lot of people say Washington so fast that the g gets dropped. It kind of sounds like "Wah shen ton".

[puerco]

I'll open my ears next time I'm there.
When I lived in NYC I used to have folks say "You're from California, aren't you!" Of course, I was quite insulted. But when I lived in So. CA, people could tell the difference between Californians & Northwesterners when we'd speak. They said we talk slower!

[aroseinrain]

I know my dad grew up on the Oregon coast and in his parents household all the days of the week ended in "dee" instead of "day".. like Mondee, Tuesdee, Wednesdee... but I don't know where they got that from.

[Dom1964]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

and 39th Avenue is pronounced Cesar E Chavez.

LOL... that was good

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by aroseinrain

I know my dad grew up on the Oregon coast and in his parents household all the days of the week ended in "dee" instead of "day".. like Mondee, Tuesdee, Wednesdee... but I don't know where they got that from.

My dad grew up in Los Angeles and has these same pronunciations for the days of the week. I'm betting the roots of that pronunciation are in the Midwest.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by aroseinrain

I know my dad grew up on the Oregon coast and in his parents household all the days of the week ended in "dee" instead of "day".. like Mondee, Tuesdee, Wednesdee... but I don't know where they got that from.

I never heard that growing up in Chicago but I have heard it out here. When I first moved to Portland, people asked me if I was from New York because of my "accent." But as we discussed on another thread, often people who have never been "back East" blend everyone east of the Rockies as people from "back East " aka New York.

I would explain that Chicago and and New York accents are quite different and both have different dialects depending upon what area of the cities you come from. Chicago is John Goodman; New York is Barbara Striesand.
But Oregonians are not the only ones confused by this. When Hollywood tries to portray Chicago gangsters, they usually have them using New York accents.

I used to work with a woman from Boston who had a very pronounced Boston accent. She told me people also asked her where in New York did she grow up.

I find in Oregon, some people speak with a sort of what I think of as a Western sort of twang and a little bit of a drawl I always identified as a Western sort of accent. I have always had difficulty distinguishing the "native" pronunciation of the words "pin" and "pen." They sound alike to me with the "pen" sound dominating.

I also hear the word "across" pronounced with a "t" on the end: acrosst. I also can't tell whether or not people are saying "sale" when they mean to say "sell" and vice versa. I don't know if the words are being used interchangably or the pronounciations are made same.

I think the pin-pen; sell-sale and other pronounciations that are not coming to mind right now are due to the fact that my speech opens up vowels more whereas vowel sounds here are more short and clipped.

I love listening to the way people talk and am interested in where the origin of their speech is from. People no longer ask me where I am from when they hear me talk. Native friends tell me my Chicago accent comes out occasionally but I sound more like them after living here all these years. However, if I pronounce something wrong like the name of a street I am immediately corrected. And there are still times when my speech isn't clear to them.

[TDNY]

My wife's grandfather, who is 90ish and has lived in Oregon City for many decades, but is originally from Washington, pronounces it Warshington. So does my father, who grew up in Massachusetts but who's father is from Tacoma Warshington also.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by TDNY

My wife's grandfather, who is 90ish and has lived in Oregon City for many decades, but is originally from Washington, pronounces it Warshington. So does my father, who grew up in Massachusetts but who's father is from Tacoma Warshington also.

I had a friend who was from Ohio. She also pronounced it "Warshington." I thought it was an Ohio thing.

[Deezus]

I've heard some oldtimers in Washington State say "Warshington"' on occasion...

When my car broke down by the Dalles this summer the tow-truck driver kept saying "Warshington" as well--although he said he was originally from Chicago, but grew up mostly up around Puget Sound.