Pronouncing Town Names

[2-Wheeler]

How about Olathe, Kansas?  That one gets butchered all the time.

Well in Colorado the town with the same spelling is pronounced: oh-LAY-thuh

Here are a few more tough ones in Colorado:

Ouray:  yer-AY
Saguache:  suh-WATCH
Niwot: NY-waht
Florida: fluh-REE-da
Huerfano: WAR-fuh-no
And the town were I work that shouldn't be too hard, but is most often pronounced wrong by non-locals: Louisville: LOO-iss-vill

[indypartridge]

Well, I know one of those. Worchester is pronounced Wuh-ster. The uh in there is hard to explain, though...it's not the u in luck, it's the shorter u sound in wood.

Interesting. I grew up near Wooster, Ohio. Does NOT rhyme with rooster. It's pronounced Wuh-ster, exactly as you described it - with the 'u' sound in wood.

A little town nearby is Berlin, with the accent on the first syllable instead of the second. So instead of pronouncing it as you would "ber-LIN, Germany", it's BERL-in.

[buzzbeejr]

how about Salladasburg, PA?

[Jim 134]

John brought up the town near him called Fork'ed River (emphasized for syllable count, not for spelling).

Around here there are tons of towns that you have to be a local to pronounce properly.  One of the biggest giveaways that y'all ain't from 'round heah is how you pronounce the name of the town of Quincy.  Tell me how to pronounce it like a native - and if you're a native, don't play! 

We also have Worcester, Leicester, Athol, Woburn, those are the worst at the tip of my tongue.  Give them a shot!

 

                reinbeau.........

    Some more are
Chicopee,Peterham,Ashburnham,Westminster and Athol



  BEE HAPPY Jim 134 

[Natalie]

You forgot Weymouth Ann.
No one ever knows how to pronounce it when I am on the phone giving my address.

[beemaster]

I swore I posted to this a long time ago - ugh.

The two that gets most attention in Central/Southern NJ are:

Colliers - said as Kai Ards - I actually have always said Collie-ers, but few locals know what I'm talking about

Forked River - where Fork and Ed and pronounced separately as in They put a Fork in Ed. This one always gets a chuckle in movie theaters when local commercials made elsewhere called it "ForkT River" and new Philadelphia weathermen always get corrected by the TV news staff "Live" when Forked River is used as a sample on the weather map and called Forkt.

[1frozenhillbilly]

well two wheeler beat me to olathe co.  i lived near havre de grace md when i was in the army (havr di gra)  and i have heard news anchors really butcher kenai alaska,  locals pronounce it keen eye  oh and dont even talk about travel hosts  andrew zimmern called it ken ah i :rofl:

[bassman1977]

Try this one...

Ebensburg.

Aside from the correct pronunciation, I've heard two other failed attempts.  I'll say what they are later on.