How to Pronounce Western States - Nevada, Colorado, Oregon (live, bill)

[New City V]

Correct pronunciation: Ne-va-duh ("a" as in cat) Click media player image to listen (Nevada).



Nevada is mispronounced by outsiders more than any other state. Most Americans west of the Mississippi River, except for a few wayward Texans, get it right. So, this is mostly an Eastern thing, especially the East Coast. Blame should be directed to an often "not so well informed" East Coast national media establishment. Not to leave others out, I should include two other western states also commonly mispronounced, Colorado and Oregon.

CO New City Vegas Windows Media Audio Player :::: ~~~ Phonetic Pronunciation: kah-luh-RA-doe
NV New City Vegas Windows Media Audio Player :::: ~~~ Phonetic Pronunciation: neh-VA-duh
OR New City Vegas Windows Media Audio Player :::: ~~~ Phonetic Pronunciation: OR-ih-guhn

For some reason, a few folks try to justify mispronouncing Nevada by correctly noting that it is a word of Spanish origin. When they pronounce it Ne-vah-duh, however, they mistakenly believe it is the Spanish pronunciation. More puzzling, however, is why they don't also pronounce any other states in this pseudo-Spanish manner, e.g., California, Florida, and Montana (or cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toledo, and Tucson)? Instead they use the standard anglicized pronunciation.

With the Nevada Democratic Debate taking center stage this week, it should be interesting to see how many East Coast journalists finally discover the correct pronunciation. I already note that NBC's Brian Williams has made the change.

inogolo.com "English Pronunciation Guide to the Names of People, Places, and Stuff"

Nevada
western state in the United States

Name: Nevada
Phonetic Pronunciation: neh-VA-duh
Audio Pronunciation: http://inogolo.com/audio/Nevada_631.mp3

Tags: US states nevada

Notes: Sometimes mispronounced as neh-VAH-duh.

[EscapeCalifornia]

I'm from California and I pronounce Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon the way your clips do. I've heard people pronounce Colorado and Nevada with a long "a" before the "d" but I have no clue how else anyone would pronounce Oregon. Or-e-GONE maybe?

[jazzlover]

Colorado and Nevada are both Spanish words. If one follows the strict Spanish pronunciation for Colorado, it would be pronounced "Koh-law-rah-doh." "Rah" rhymes with "awe." Nevada would be "Nuh-vah-da." Most visitors and many locals do not pronounce it that way. In Colorado, the most common local pronounciation is Cah-la-rah-do--pretty much like the pronunciation in the sound bite. Some pronounce it Cah-la-raa-do, ("raa" using a short "a") which just grates on me like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Another pet peeve of mine is the widespread use of "Coloradoan" to describe one from Colorado. Proper Spanish would be "Coloradan." We don't call people from Mexico "Mexicoans," now do we?

You can spot a "real" Coloradan if he or she knows how to correctly pronounce these four Colorado place names:

Saguache
Cochetopa
Towaoc
Ouray (only about 1 out of 50 get this one right, even out of people who live there)

They are all Indian names and most people are lucky to get one out of four right.

[krudmonk]

Well, obviously.

[davfar]

I'm from CT and I pronounce those three states the way the Media player does. I don't think I've heard them pronounced any other way in fact.

[tahiti]

ignorant east coaster here

until my brother moved to OR-ih-guhn, I pronounced it Or-eh-GONE.

neh-VA-duh? honestly i learned that on these boards. I had no idea it was pronounced that way. i personally like nev-vah-duh better.

and how else would one pronounce colorado other than the correct way?

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by tahiti

and how else would one pronounce colorado other than the correct way?

It's not raw, but rad.

[j33]

Yeah, I always said it 'nav-vah-duh' too ... and on my first trip out to the west coast a couple years back I discovered I pronounced Oregon sort of like 'Or-eh-gahn', which apparently was the source of some sort of amusement for the good folks out there. I have to listen to people pronounce the 's' on Illinois all the time, so they can get over it, just like I have

[New City V]

Re: Nevada - National News Media

Some who say it right:

Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd, Keith Olbermann, Contessa Brewer, Bill Wolfe, Norah O'Donnell, Wolf Blitzer, Candy Crowley, Anderson Cooper, Richard Lui, Lou Dobbs, Shepard Smith, and more

Those who need education:

Tom Brokaw, Joe Scarborough, Dan Abrams, Tucker Carlson, John Harwood, Monica Navotny, Dana Milbank, Willie Geist, Mika Brzezinski and many more

BTW, it is reported that NBC's Brian Williams, co-host for the forthcoming Nevada Democratic Debate, made the change and now pronounces Nevada correctly.

::

[Think (Freedom)]

Well I guess the only one I pronounce correctly is OR-ih-guhn. I've always said Nuh-vaw-duh and Kuh-luh-raw-doe.. I'll correct myself from now on

You know what drives me nuts.. when peolpe say FLAR-duh. Its FLOR-ih-duh.