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Old 01-23-2008, 05:08 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles
132 posts, read 595,169 times
Reputation: 138

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I noticed during primaries that many newscasters (most from the east) were pronouncing the state of Nevada as Ne-Vah-da with the Vah sounding like the a in "saw" or law". I don't think our neighbors pronounce their state name that way. Are you dissing them? It's Ne Va-da the Va sounding like the "a" in "cat".
What about Oregon? They call it Or-e-gun but some say Or-e-Gone! Shouldn't places be pronounced as the natives pronounce it?
My father grew up in St.Louis and he said it's pronounced Missour-EE, not Missour-AH, but wait, some people from that state pronounce it that way. Could it be possible that it's pronounced 2 different ways WITHIN the same state? Illinois, the S is silent, or is it Illi-NOISE?
Hawaii? Ha-Vai-ee?
New OrLINS, New OrLEENS, New Orlee-ans? 3 ways!
Is it DEE-Troit or De-TROIT?
What Say You?
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Old 01-23-2008, 05:23 PM
 
Location: New Hampshire
2,257 posts, read 8,132,375 times
Reputation: 4108
As an easterner, I contently mispronounce Oregon as "ore-uh-gawn" and Nevada as "neh-vah-duh."

I believe that the "Missourah" pronunciation is primarily limited to southern areas of that state, although someone from MO could correct me. "Illinoise" is just blatanly wrong as far as I know. Actually, the original French pronunciation would be "ee-lee-NWAH," but in either case the 's' is silent (most word-final consonants in French are silent).

I think the local pronunciation of New Orleans is "noo ORE-linz". And I've never heard anyone put the stress on the first syllable of Detroit... (the final-syllable stress also comes from French)

Tourists mispronounce town names in New England all the time, although few people get "New Hampshire" wrong. The true local pronunciation is "New Hampshah," but never "New Hamp-Shire," although some people of French-Canadian descent have the tendency to say "New Hampsheer."
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Old 01-23-2008, 05:23 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
720 posts, read 2,658,642 times
Reputation: 533
Quote:
Originally Posted by LAPalms View Post
Shouldn't places be pronounced as the natives pronounce it?[/b]
IDK, should Texas be pronounced Teyxus?
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Old 01-23-2008, 05:42 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
1,528 posts, read 6,268,563 times
Reputation: 652
Quote:
Originally Posted by lndigo View Post
IDK, should Texas be pronounced Teyxus?
not all of us talk like that... I personally hate it when people stereotype us to speaking like a stupid hick. I say Teh-x-ah-ss.
I don't think there is a particular way to pronounce, some say car-ah-mel some say care-ah-mel... at the end of the day nothing changes, nothing has been solved. Sure it inconvenient to have your state be mispronounced but its not going away anytime soon.
You can argue over how it is going to be pronounced and the argument won't ever end, anyways half of these names are of Spanish and French origin anyways and we mispronounce them... why should we care if we pronounce them right now if we never did in the first place?
IF you want to say it correctly say it how it supposed to be said, us english speaks tend to butcher people's languages... I mean it crazy how off we can be with translations... like
Lisbon-Lisboa
Peking-Beijing
Taipei-Taibei
Munich-Munchen (idk I don't know this one)
Guangzhou-canton (how the heck did we get this one???)
Anyways you get the point, I will try my hardest to correct my horrible(according to the above ) Texas pronunciation but that doesn't mean everyone else will...much less try and and care... It one of those things you can try to change but would be better off getting used to.
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Old 01-23-2008, 06:49 PM
 
Location: kronenwetter
537 posts, read 1,932,749 times
Reputation: 123
I have noticed that sports announcers say Wesconsin for Wisconsin.
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Old 01-23-2008, 10:03 PM
 
Location: Cottage Grove
17 posts, read 54,141 times
Reputation: 17
ugghhh!....i can't stand it when people say oregone!! it makes me smile tho especially when the person saying it has an accent...no big deal tho, it just shows how diverse our country is. "hey r u from ore-gone?"...lol
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Old 01-23-2008, 10:08 PM
 
Location: Washington D.C. By way of Texas
20,500 posts, read 33,308,823 times
Reputation: 12109
Quote:
Originally Posted by lndigo View Post
IDK, should Texas be pronounced Teyxus?
as previously stated, not all Texans talk like that. You won't hear that in the the major cities or metro areas. But you hear it in towns with less than 20,000 people. I know most Texans pronounce Texas as Tex-sis. Saying it very fast.

Here's another one that my mom hates. She's born and raised in Miami but some call it My-Am-Muh. Same thing as the Missouri thing. She absolutely hates that.
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Old 01-23-2008, 11:33 PM
 
8,289 posts, read 13,508,711 times
Reputation: 5018
well Nevada means "snowfall" in Spanish so if you use it the way it is pronounced in Spanish it would be Neh-vah-da. Of course the residents can choose however they want to pronounce it.

Same with Florida which was named "flowery Easter" in Spanish. When we say Florida in Spanish it's "la Flor-ee-da" but most say "Flor-eh-duh" in English.
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Old 01-24-2008, 06:38 AM
 
Location: Maryland's 6th District.
8,358 posts, read 25,147,934 times
Reputation: 6535
I say OAR-gun, nuh-VA-duh (the va as in vat) and call-oh-ROD-oh. As far as I can recall, that is how everyone in Sacramento pronounced them.

I also say miz-OAR-ee. My mom says miz-oar-AH and I have heard plenty of people pronounce it as misery (miz-ER-ee).
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Old 01-24-2008, 07:39 AM
 
Location: SoFlo to SoCal (Hacienda Heights)
1,510 posts, read 5,055,469 times
Reputation: 671
I've never heard anyone say My-ah-muh.... That would sound terrible. I have heard Mee-ah-mee a lot. I say My-ah-mee, Flo-rih-duh (and am a native).

Never thought about it, but I do say Miz-ER-ree. Is that the wrong way to say it? How do the natives say it?

I also say Nee-u ORE-linz, Tex-sis, and Ih-llih-noy.

Never heard Ha-vai-ee either.
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