Correct pronunciation of "New Orleans"

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by smarino

Only phonies pronounce it as Nawlins. Mostly Yankee phonies.

And that erks the hell out of me !!!!!

[Mob Town Mane]

I used to say "New Or-lins" but then I developed saying "New Aw-lens" because my parents & grandparents both say it like that. I don't mind when a person from not around here says "New Or-leens" because the original Orleans, France was pronounced "Or-leens", so that's probably the actual correct way to say it. Nobody says "N'awlins", Nobody SAYS "Nola", and definitely not "Naw Awlins"...The "New orleans accent" isn't even relevant among younger people & nobody talks country down here either. Every time I watch any TV show or movie based in New Orleans they always talk "awl ****ry like dis"...that's not how anybody talks. Most of the accent down here is more in words than really speech, like "where ya at" etc. Older people still have the actual accent but people that are under 40 don't really. If you go down to Houma, Thibidoux, Grand Isle etc. you'll hear it more often.

[southerngirl17]

I've been visiting New Orleans since 1998 and now live here, and I can't for the life of me get on the "New Or-linz" train! I always call it "New Or-leenz" and can't seem to change! Trying to say it the "right" way doesn't seem natural to me - I hate faking it but I do it sometimes to not sound like a newbie. LOL

[Magic Qwan]

In Shreveport, we call it "New Orlands"

[chartquest1954]

I like to "DX" the AM radio dial, and I'm pretty sure I remember WWL saying New Or-lee-uns back in the 1960's.

But, what makes the New Or-LEENS way have such longevity and prominence, is because of MUSIC...I can think of at least two popular songs which pronounced it that way.

FREDDIE CANNON "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans"
GARY "U. S." BONDS "New Orleans"

And, I forget, did Johnny Horton also pronounce it that way, in the biggest of all his hits, "Battle of New Orleans"?

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This isn't the first or last time that the erroneous pronunciation of something was perpetuated because of a song (or songs).

Only in the last ten or fifteen years, have I started to hear the strong coffee pronounced correctly as ES-presso. Before that, I almost always heard it said EX-presso. I attribute that entirely to the #1 song hit from 1963, by JIMMY GILMER AND THE FIREBALLS, "Sugar Shack." ["Expresso coffee tastes mighty good..."] Only as that former hit became old enough to shift away from public awareness, as it eventually became "old fogey" music for those outside the desired marketing demographics, did ESPRESSO seem to start taking over the preferred method correctly.

Going farther back, TIJUANA...though to this day I commonly hear it wrongly pronounced as Tee-a-Whanna or (more often) Tea-a-Wanna (which is actually MORE wrong). In 1958 the KINGSTON TRIO used the latter pronunciation in their song "Tijuana Jail." Later on, when HERB ALPERT's band had the hit "Tijuana Taxi," radio announcers ALWAYS used one of those two pronunciations.

The proper way to say it is Tea-Whanna, but I hear it pronounced wrongly more often than not, to this day.