Colorado City Pronunciation (Fort Worth, Midland, Lamesa: home, construction, live in)

[Westerntraveler]

I used to fish for redfish at Lake Colorado City when I was a kid.I live in Midland.I noticed that the newscasters in my area pronounce Colorado City "coloraydo".Is the correct pronunciation of Colorado City "Colorawdo" or "coloraydo"?

[Lucidus]

The correct pronunciation is with a long AY sound. Colo*RAY*da

[Sandstorm214]

Yes, it's irritating (to me at least) but that is the locally accepted pronunciation. I never understood why Colorado City and Lamesa are pronounced the way they are. I'd love to know the back-story behind those odd pronunciations.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Sandstorm214

Yes, it's irritating (to me at least) but that is the locally accepted pronunciation. I never understood why Colorado City and Lamesa are pronounced the way they are. I'd love to know the back-story behind those odd pronunciations.

I hate both pronunciations, too, but they are what they are....LOL!

[debzkidz]

DH's grandmother lived in Colorado City for many years, and the whole family pronounced it with the "raw" sound. I was always irritated when I heard it pronounced the other way. Lamesa never bothered me. We had a neighbor that always pronounced it "lamayza". We still laugh about that. I would love to know the story's behind it as well. It's one of those weird things, like here OK we have the town of Miami, pronounced My-am-uh. I just can't stand that!

[catman]

Speaking of pronunciations, the little town south of Fort Worth, Joshua, is usually pronounced Josh-u-AY. And how Mexia can be pronounced Mah-HAY-ah is confounding. That's not right in ANY language (except Texan).

[TexasReb]

Alright y'all...I gotta wade in on this one.

I don't know anything at all about "Colorado City", but I DO have a strong opinion about how it should be pronounced. Especially intense because my fiance is a born and bred native of Colorado, considers it her home state, and we argue about this all the time.

Here is my position: Colorado is pronounced "Ka'luh ROD Uh". Distinct syllables and the main on the second, with a slight on the third.

Hers is: Cah-luh-RAH-doe. But said very quickly and not much of a pause between syllables. Except that the "Rah" comes out distinctly!

I give in to her in a very important regard. To wit: The way she says it is perfectly correct in Ka'luh ROD Uh. But not in Texas. And that is where she lives now. Case closed.

Now, ain't that fair, y'all?

[Cathy4017]

Well....how about a native Texan who pronounces the state "Col-o-RAH-doh? No "a" sound for first o.

I always pronounced the tiny town the same way, as did my parents. I did not hear "Col-o-RAY-do" except from much older people, who were in their 80s at the time. Someone said that a newscaster prounounced it the same way, but I never noticed that.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by catman

Speaking of pronunciations, the little town south of Fort Worth, Joshua, is usually pronounced Josh-u-AY. And how Mexia can be pronounced Mah-HAY-ah is confounding. That's not right in ANY language (except Texan).

Isn't that crazy?

However, when I was working on the jobsite in Johns, MS (outside of Jackson), some of the locals who worked in the office and out on the construction site itself were going to the next job, which happened to be in Mexia.

The Mississippians pronounced it the same way....I suppose they picked it up from the Midlanders who pronounced it that way!

I had to ask about it. I had never heard of the place, but am not surprised at the bastardization of the name!

[Sandstorm214]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

I hate both pronunciations, too, but they are what they are....LOL!

Yes. I grit my teeth and say "Luh-MEE-suh" whenever I'm out there. Always defer to the locals.