Which Texas towns are the most mispronounced?

[NoClueWho]

Some of the names y'all are listing are not difficult at all...you just need to brush up on your Spanish!!!

[TXRunner]

Place names are historical and have a conventional pronunciation when spoken in English. Sometimes the pronunciation of the name retains features of the original language, but many times they do not. I’m fluent in Spanish, but I don’t pronounce the town of Amarillo as I would in Spanish. One example is the town of Medina. There is one in Texas pronounced “medeena” as you would in Spanish, and there is one in Minnesota pronounced “Medeina or med-EYE-na” with a very Fargo-style long “i”. I pronounce it depending on how the locals pronounce it, not the etymology of the word.

Other languages hijack English words the same way. When I’m in South America they use chicle for gum(Chiclets), polo for t-shirt, and Quaker for oatmeal. In each case they pronounce the word as you would in Spanish. When I speak English I pronounce the word as I would in English, and when I speak Spanish I use the Spanish pronunciation.

[SenorChip]

Originally Posted by TXRunner

Other languages hijack English words the same way. When I’m in South America they use chicle for gum(Chiclets), polo for t-shirt, and Quaker for oatmeal. In each case they pronounce the word as you would in Spanish. When I speak English I pronounce the word as I would in English, and when I speak Spanish I use the Spanish pronunciation.

I think is because that is the correct way, you pronounce as you read in your language.

[High_Plains_Retired]

How about Lamesa?

[Raider Scott]

Palacios....

[NoClueWho]

Originally Posted by TXRunner

Place names are historical and have a conventional pronunciation when spoken in English. Sometimes the pronunciation of the name retains features of the original language, but many times they do not. I’m fluent in Spanish, but I don’t pronounce the town of Amarillo as I would in Spanish.

I'll give you that there are some notable exceptions here and there, like Amarillo, but Texas is a border state that is FULL of Spanish speakers and Spanish influence, so most towns in Texas with Spanish names tend to retain the Spanish pronunciation. If you know Spanish but have never been to some of these Texas towns with Spanish names, you are better off just playing it safe and pronouncing it the way it's pronounced in Spanish than trying to break it down and butcher in English and possibly be COMPLETELY off.

Originally Posted by TXRunner

One example is the town of Medina. There is one in Texas pronounced “medeena” as you would in Spanish, and there is one in Minnesota pronounced “Medeina or med-EYE-na” with a very Fargo-style long “i”. I pronounce it depending on how the locals pronounce it, not the etymology of the word.

LOL, well that's because it's MINNESOTA, which is a VERY long way from the heavy Spanish linguistic and cultural influence of Texas, so that only makes sense.

[SanJac]

Refugio by a long shot. For the life of me I don't know how people get RU-FEER-IO out of RE-FOO-HEE-O

[lonestar2007]

Two Yankee traveling salesmen were passing through Mexia and decided to stop at the local DQ for a quick hamburger. The pronunciation of the town came up while they were eating and the one salesman said it was pronounced "Mex e ah". The one other salesman said he had thought so too but swore he had overheard someone say it with the sound of hay in the word, sounded something like "Ma hay uh". Well, neither one of them could figure out why that would be, so decided they needed to ask a native.

They finished up their meal and on the way out they stopped by the counter and one of the guys asked the girl working there "how do you pronounce the name of this place?" She stared at him for about half a minute, then slowly said, " . . D_A_I_R_Y . . Q_U_E_E_N . . "