Place names that don't sound like they look.... (live, vs)
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This was born out of the "mispronounced city names" thread.
What are place, City, county town names that don't sound the way they look.
For example, in New York, we have Taughannock State Park at Taughannock falls.
How do you pronounce that? Tawgahnuck? Toffanock?
Well it's pronounced like a nearby Pennsylvania area town, Tunkhannock....both pronounced " tongue can knock".
The NY City of Skaneateles....looks like "scan e at tell less" but is pronounced more like "Skinny atlas". This one could go under mispronounced cities, but is also another example of it not sounding like it looks.
Many of New York's place names are derived from native American names, and the English pronounciation may not match how it looks. Influenced by the Iroquois (ear oh coy) tribe place names. There are many strange looking place names of native American origin across the country, as here in New York.
We also have the Tioughnioga river here. Tie of nioga? That would be close ( it's " Tea off knee oh gah"). That one, I guess, could look like it's pronounced though...
Other areas of the country have the same issue.
I'm NOT talking about certain local pronounciation idiosyncrasies, like "Naw lens" instead of "New Ore leans".
I'm thinking about place names that you wouldn't think were supposed to sound the way they do when you look at them. Like Taughannock...
Kanawha County, the Kanawha River, and Kanawha City in West Virginia. The H is silent.
Hurricane, West Virginia is NOT pronounced like the storm! How someone pronounces these two place names is usually the first indication that are definitely are visiting or have only recently moved there.
In Louisiana, places are still pronounced the French way vs a more Americanized pronunciation (ex: LaPlace, Breaux Bridge, Grosse Tete, Bayou Teche). In contrast the city of Versailles, Kentucky is pronounced "Versales" vs the French way like the palace in Paris.
Rio Grande, Ohio (where Bob Evans first started) is pronounced "Rye-o Grand" vs the Spanish pronunciation in Texas. I think Ohio and Kentucky have an especially large number of places that have foreign counterparts but are pronounced in a very American way.
The city of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, is actually in a rather flat part of the state. Nothing to do with mountains or rocky terrain. Supposedly it was named for a rock in the Halifax River.
As for pronounciations, I can think of BER-lin, New Hampshire, La-PLAYta, Maryland, but La_PLAHTA River, Argentina. BEW-fert, (Beaufort), South Carolina, but BOE-fert, North Carolina. STAN-ton (Staunton), Virginia. And try pronouncing Natchitoches (Louisiana) and Nagodoches (Texas)
We have one in NY, I think called "worster", but I call it Wooster, after the Mass. Town.
Reminds me of
"Worcestershire sauce", which many stumble their way through. I have little problem, but many do. Lol
WORCESTER, Massachusetts. People outside the region are always saying WAR-chester, when natives pronounce it "WUHS-tuh". And wrongly spelling it "Worchester." At one time it used to be the 50th-biggest city in the United States, and very well-known.
This was born out of the "mispronounced city names" thread.
What are place, City, county town names that don't sound the way they look.
For example, in New York, we have Taughannock State Park at Taughannock falls.
How do you pronounce that? Tawgahnuck? Toffanock?
Well it's pronounced like a nearby Pennsylvania area town, Tunkhannock....both pronounced " tongue can knock".
The NY City of Skaneateles....looks like "scan e at tell less" but is pronounced more like "Skinny atlas". This one could go under mispronounced cities, but is also another example of it not sounding like it looks.
Many of New York's place names are derived from native American names, and the English pronounciation may not match how it looks. Influenced by the Iroquois (ear oh coy) tribe place names. There are many strange looking place names of native American origin across the country, as here in New York.
We also have the Tioughnioga river here. Tie of nioga? That would be close ( it's " Tea off knee oh gah"). That one, I guess, could look like it's pronounced though...
Other areas of the country have the same issue.
I'm NOT talking about certain local pronounciation idiosyncrasies, like "Naw lens" instead of "New Ore leans".
I'm thinking about place names that you wouldn't think were supposed to sound the way they do when you look at them. Like Taughannock...
Let's see what we've got.
One of the things I love about upstate NY is the long list of unpronounceable city names.
I'd say it has that in common with Washington State, which brings us such names as:
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