There are some here in the Midwest that get mispronounced a lot -
Montevideo, MN…it’s not pronounced like the South American city (Mon-tah-vi-DAY-oh) but “Mon-tah-VID-ee-oh” (so the last part is “video” like TV).
Pierre, SD…it’s not like a French guy’s name (Pee-yair). It’s pronounced “Peer”, like a ‘pier’ where a ship would land.
Winona, MN…isn’t “Why-know-nah” (like Wynonna Judd) but “Whi-know-nah”.
Sault Ste. Marie, MI (and ONT)…thanks to the Soo Line, I think most railfans know “Sault” rhymes with “Zoo” so it’s “Soo Saint Ma-ree”
Nicollet, WI is “Nick-o-lay” but Nicollet in MN is “Nickle-it”.
Des can cause trouble…Des Plaines, IL is normally “Dez Plaines” but Des Moines IA is “Duh-Moin”. BTW Dubuque IA, is “Duh-byooke”.
Faribault, MN is generally “Fair-a-bow” but people from there sometimes pronounce the “t” so it’s more like “Fair-a-bolt”.
BTW I think ones like these are different from local slang / blurred pronounciations that come up, like people in Milwaukee WI saying “Mwaukee” or New Orleans LA residents saying “Nahlins”.
FWIW if you like Spam, Austin MN where it’s made is pronounced the same as the one in Texas, but Hormel, the company that makes Spam, is called “Hoar-MEL” pretty much everywhere but Austin MN…people there say “Hormull” (kinda rhymes with “normal”).
Ever hear a Baltimorean pronounce the name of his city? Lots of variants from the people who call the place home. There’s BAL-TEE-more; BALL-a-mer; BALL-da-mer; BALL-mer; and probably others. Please refrain from calling him a Baltimoron. That’s not appreciated. [:$]
Just a follow-up: From my home I can pick up Brewers games. Milwaukee native Bob Uecker always says “Mill-wah-kee”. People there talking to each other sometimes slur it to “Mwah-kee” but I think if you asked them how to say it, they would say “Mill-wah-kee”.
BTW Monticello in Virginia (Thos. Jefferson’s home) is “Mon-tah-chell-o” with the “cello” part pronounced like the musical instrument. But if you’re in Monticello, MN you’re in “Mon-tah-sell-o”.
Ever hear a Baltimorean pronounce the name of his city? Lots of variants from the people who call the place home. There’s BAL-TEE-more; BALL-a-mer; BALL-da-mer; BALL-mer; and probably others. Please refrain from calling him a Baltimoron. That’s not appreciated.
Tom
I usually heard BALLimore when exploring its streetcar system as a teenager.
Chuck, I well remember that one–and, as you, I do not remember where I first saw it. I glanced quickly through A Treasury of Railroad Folklore, but did not find it, though it may well be there. Perhaps Paul North or Jeff Hergert can help us.
I’m more in favor of LANK-uh-stir, for the town/county here in South Carolina. (BTW, that’s the “PAL metto State”; we can always spot the outsiders who want it to be “PALM etto”.
It involves a detour, so on my trips through South Dakota on U.S. 281 I’ve seen the signage but never called on the town of Athol to learn the local pronunciation. I’d be curious.
According to my atlas, there are three others so-named in the U.S., nicely distributed geographically: in Idaho, Kansas and Massachusetts.
Here in Michigan, we have the small town of char-LOTTE, contrasting CHAR-lut NC.
We have a small town Pompeii, pronounced POM-pee-EYE. Detroit (not day-TWAH) is full of street names like Gratiot (GRASH-ut), Livernois (LIVE-er-NOISE)
Someone already mentioned Sault Ste Marie, which is SOO saint marie, but to us it is just “the Soo”. Yes, the same Soo as the railroad. Nearby is the Mackinac bridge as well as the same named Island and in the water, the straits. That is pronounced MACK-ih-NAW.
Charlotte VT (Rutland/Vermont Railway) is pronounced the same way, and is the source of the name and pronunciation of the Michigan town - there are also other western Vermont names in the area - a legacy of the Erie Canal. My mother’s mother graduated from Charlotte MI High School, and my father’s mother had a “cottage” in the Vermont town.
Over here on the other side of the Green Mountains there is the village of Ely (“EE-LEE”) on the line between Thetford and Fairlee.