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Old 02-17-2012, 08:32 PM
 
Location: Southern New Hampshire
4,643 posts, read 13,947,733 times
Reputation: 4626

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North Shore names:

Bradford = Brad-fid
Haverhill = Hav (long A)-rill (rhymes with Pave-pill)
Amesbury = Ames-bry
Boxford = Box-fid
Groveland= Grove-lind
Salisbury = Solz-Berry or Solz-Bry

And in New Hampshire:

Plaistow = Plass-toe
Newton = Newtn
Mont Vernon= Mount Ver-nin
Bedford = Bed-Fid
Hampton = Hamp-tin
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Old 02-17-2012, 10:47 PM
 
837 posts, read 1,225,755 times
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Shrewsbury = SHREWS-berry
Worcester = wiss-TAH as in wiss-TAH-sheer sauce
Peabody = PEE-buddy
Nahant = nah-HAHNT
any town ending in "ham" = um except for Wareham where the "ham" is pronounced. Why this is, I don't know
Weymouth = WAY-muth

And Quincy is always prounced as "quin-ZEE". Say it any other way and anybody who's a native will automatically know that you're not
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Old 02-18-2012, 01:20 AM
 
Location: San Antonio
4,422 posts, read 6,259,038 times
Reputation: 5429
Leominster = Le min stuh
Leicester = Le stuh
Oxford = Ox fid
Sutton = Suh in
Chatham = Chat um, but Eastham = Eastham LOL

For those of you in western Ma,
Amherst = Am erst
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Old 02-18-2012, 05:48 AM
 
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,032,639 times
Reputation: 28903
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valerie C View Post
Salisbury = Solz-Berry or Solz-Bry
I knew this one! YAY me! I only know this, though, because we live near Salisbury St. (in Woostah!) and I hear it a lot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xo_kizzy_xo View Post
And Quincy is always prounced as "quin-ZEE". Say it any other way and anybody who's a native will automatically know that you're not
Exactly like Houston vs. Howston St. in New York. I might as well carry a camera and pack a lunch.
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Old 02-18-2012, 06:33 AM
 
Location: The State Line
2,632 posts, read 4,050,947 times
Reputation: 3069
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valerie C View Post
North Shore names:

And in New Hampshire:

Plaistow = Plass-toe
Newton = Newtn
Mont Vernon= Mount Ver-nin
Bedford = Bed-Fid
Hampton = Hamp-tin
Interesting. When MA residents say "Bedfid" and "Newtn", NH towns don't come to mind... . MA pronunciations don't necessarily translate in NH. They would think you're a MA resident that doesn't know any better.
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Old 02-18-2012, 12:04 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,654 posts, read 28,682,916 times
Reputation: 50525
After hearing so many WMass towns mispronounced on tv last year after the tornadoes ------ Amherst is AM-Erst, not AM-Hurst. Monson is Mun-Sun, not Mon-Son.
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Old 02-18-2012, 07:05 PM
 
Location: Southern New Hampshire
4,643 posts, read 13,947,733 times
Reputation: 4626
And as I just heard on the (Boston) news a couple nights ago...

Windham is Win-dum, NOT Wind-ham


Quote:
Originally Posted by Valerie C View Post
And in New Hampshire:

Plaistow = Plass-toe
Newton = Newtn
Mont Vernon= Mount Ver-nin
Bedford = Bed-Fid
Hampton = Hamp-tin
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Old 02-18-2012, 07:43 PM
 
Location: Springfield and brookline MA
1,348 posts, read 3,099,314 times
Reputation: 1402
whatley =waitlee
leverett = levrit
shutesbury = shootsberry
blandford= blanfird
and i am sure the list can go on and on.
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Old 02-18-2012, 07:46 PM
 
14,021 posts, read 15,022,389 times
Reputation: 10466
Holyoke is Pronounced Holi-oak nor Hi-oke-ee
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Old 02-19-2012, 11:07 AM
 
1,201 posts, read 2,670,108 times
Reputation: 1407
Quote:
Originally Posted by LexWest View Post
I think this link will be very helpful for newcomers/out-of-towners:

How to Pronounce Massachusetts Town Names, Middlesex County
Not really, since any number of the presumptuous "pronunciations" is wrong:

Boston - pronounced Baws-tin by everybody I know - both local and non-local alike (like me). I have never met anyone who pronounces it Bahs-tin (except in very bad movie accents).

Raynham - Don't know why this is such a hot button in discussions on this fourm (I saw it mentioned somewhere), correctly pronounced Rayn-um (including in Bristol County itself). Don't know where this Rayn-ham stuff is coming from. In fairness, there might be people who say that, but I've never met them.

Taunton - Similarly, Taunton can be pronounced either as Tawn-tun or Tahn-tun (reserved only for those semi-literate locals who say things like "I'm going to the dawk-ta 'cause I have the flu.")

Worcester - Variously pronounced Wis-ta, Woos-ta, Woos-ter. Anything goes except Wor-cester or - worse yet - Wor-chester, in which case you get whatever response you get (and deserve)!
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