Name a place that when people pronounce it you know if they are a from there.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

“Gallipolis” (Ohio)

[Effete Snob]

1. Please identify the area you grew up

...along with your mother's maiden name.


Thank you.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

6. FYI, I'm not from Gallipolis and my mother's maiden name is NOYB!

[Effete Snob]

11. Ah, Noyb! I grew up with some Noybs. From the Hamtramck Noybs?

Although I could never pronounce Hamtramck.

[raging moderate]

2. LaSalle-Peru, Illinois.

"LAY-SALL"

[Floyd R. Turbo]

7. 🤔

[Chainfire]

3. Cairo, Ga.

Pronounced as K-Row by the locals.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

8. 🤗

[raging moderate]

12. Ditto for Cairo, Illinois.

I guess people just took their best guess.

[Totally Tunsie]

63. and Cairo, NY also.

[NightWatcher]

45. and Milan, Ga. Pronounced "Mi-Lan" not "Mill-ahn" like Italy.

[Phentex]

96. Hoschton, Ga (Hoosh tun)

I think Ga has a ton of these.

Manor

Albany

Dacula

[piddyprints]

4. Boca Raton, FL

Well, ok, not FROM there, but if you've ever lived there for any length of time (like a week), you know that Raton is not pronounced like baton.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

9. 😁

[Chainfire]

5. Nawlins, La.

The the rest of us, New Orleans.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

10. 😁

[bottomofthehill]

13. Stolen from google search but

In most of the world, Peabody is pronounced pee-BODY. But in Massachusetts, it's PEE-b'dee.

In general, towns ending in -ham put the emphasis on the first syllable and pronounce "ham" more like "um". For instance, Needham is NEED-um, not need-HAM, and Dedham is DED-um, not dead-HAM. But Framingham is framing-HAM and Waltham is more like wall-tham, so don't get too attached to this rule.

People from Boston love to leave out their r's... yet Norfolk is pronounced Norfork. No idea why on that one.

Quincy should have a 'z' in it: it's quin-zee, not quin-see.

If there are a lot of vowels in a word, chances are some of them are ignored:

Leominster is leh-min-ster, not lee-oh-min-ster, and Billerica is bill-rica, not bill-er-ica.

But sometimes you need to add a vowel: Woburn is woo-burn, not wo-burn.

Worcester may be the weirdest of them all.. It's two syllables, not three: wuh-ster, not wor-che-ster.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

15. 🤔

[chia]

53. Incredible, all these phonetic exceptions in one state :)

[bottomofthehill]

76. It's Massachusetts, that's not all of them.

[chia]

78. I assumed as much. :)

[Alliepoo]

14. Gnadenhutten

(Ohio) The local folks pronounce it “juh nayten”. I was a telephone operator with Ma Bell for many years- heard of lots of little towns with interesting names. And funny to hear people try to pronounce them, sometimes myself included!

[Floyd R. Turbo]

16. 😁

[doc03]

32. Didn't know that and I live in Ohio. Bellaire is Blaire

Berlin is Bur'lin

[yardwork]

75. And Lima Ohio is Lime-ah

And Mar-sayles.

[nebby70]

36. there's one of them in PA too

I believe the translation is 'huts of mercy'

[Paladin]

17. Mexia, TX. (nt)

[Floyd R. Turbo]

19. 🤔

[Paladin]

27. The locals use the proper Spanish pronunciation.

"Meh-HEY-yuh."

[CTyankee]

77. You beat me to it. My mother used to say it so I never mispronounce it (or would cuz I never see it)

I am a 3rd generation Texan.

[cloudbase]

30. And Palestine. n/t

[genxlib]

18. Beaufort SC

They pronounce it like Bu-fert with a long u. Like a misspelling of a dim-witted cousin Buford.

Damn those French

[Floyd R. Turbo]

20. 😁

[Pobeka]

21. Sheboygan, WI

My sister lived in WI for a while. Boy, did she gain an accent. (Did you see what I did with that last sentence? )

[Floyd R. Turbo]

22. 😏

[sanatanadharma]

23. Worchester, MA

[Totally Tunsie]

64. There's no "h" in Worcester.

Now you're really complicating things!

[sanatanadharma]

67. You are right and I ought to have known, growing up...

...in Springfield half a century ago. I never went to "Wister".

[Totally Tunsie]

69. Ya' mean "Whu-stah"?

[sanatanadharma]

84. You must be from Bhu-stun

I was from West Springfield and never learned to talk like an easterner.

[CentralMass]

81. Whatever you do don't look up Toll Booth Willie (Adam Sandler) on youtube.

[CentralMass]

24. Worcester, MA.

[padfun]

25. Boise

It's pronounced Boy see, Not Boy Zee

[Emile]

26. Minnesota

They have their own accent up there!

[LastDemocratInSC]

28. Presque Isle, Maine.

The local pronunciation is Presque "eel".

[doc03]

37. I hear some people call Presque Isle PA Press Q Isle

[LastDemocratInSC]

41. Here's another one like that:

Buena Vista, Virginia .... is "Buna Vista" with a long u.

[Leith]

87. In Michigan

it's pronounced like "byoo-na" vista.

Swartz Creek - Not Shwartz Creek.

[Captain Zero]

29. Luouavil, Kentucky

nt

[Itchinjim]

31. Des Moines, Ia.

[cloudbase]

33. Versailles Township

Just outside of Pittsburgh.

[nebby70]

38. drat -- was just gonna post that --

[cloudbase]

42. Great minds, and all that.

Judging by your user name, my guess is that you're definitely a yinzer.

[nebby70]

56. grew up there and still have my memories clumped together with a gum band

you too????

[cloudbase]

58. Me, too.

Grew up in Oakland. Left in '73.
Just sent my brother in Mobile a goody box from Primanti's for his birthday.

[nebby70]

92. so if I told you ...

... I used to take the flying fraction down thru So side to go to the Dirty O ...
... would that make sense????....
... the burghs changed a lot since we were there -- shoot, the strip is respectable now even!!
... been gone since the early 80s -- but my heart will always be there .....

[sarge43]

34. Concord NH

conCURD, not CONcord

[Freddie]

35. Central Pennsylvania

Effort-a, not Eff-RA-ta

Leb’non, not Leb-a-non

And the famous potato chip Utz is pronounced ootz, not rhyming with “nuts”

[Totally Tunsie]

66. I've been saying Utz's name wrong all this time.

Thanks for the lesson.

[Freddie]

74. I think now that they've gone nationwide

They advertise with the “wrong” pronunciation. Used to be a local company from the Pennsylvania Snack Food Belt and it was always “ootz” to locals.

[sinkingfeeling]

39. Lots of Ohio ones. Lancaster and Lima

[lark]

40. San Francisco

They just call it the city. If anyone says Frisco, they aren't from there. New Orleans is another, Nawlins is how the locals says it.

[Bucky]

61. Having been born in New Orleans

I've heard a lot of variations. Most folks say "New Orlins", "Norlins", "Nolins", or even "New Orleans" when speaking in public. If you say it with an exaggerated "Nawlins" you end up sounding like a Dallas DJ doing a promotional spot for a bad Texas-based Cajun food eatery.

[petronius]

89. When I went to grad school in Louisiana (moving from California) it was interesting to realize

that there is not really a 'southern accent'--which should have been obvious--but that there is so much regional variation: even New Orleans itself had detectable neighborhood variations...

[woodsprite]

43. Newark, DE

[we can do it]

94. New Ark😹

[BoomaofBandM]

44. Milwaukee. If from that area, the l is silent.

[EYESORE 9001]

46. Medina, Ohio

Pronounced ‘meh-DIE-nuh’ not ‘meh-DEEN-uh.’ GPS always uses the same pronunciation as the Arabic City, prompting rounds of ‘funky cold Medina.’

[DinahMoeHum]

47. Beaufort, NC (different from Beaufort, SC)

The North Carolina town is pronounced "BOW-fert" BOW as in "bow and arrow"

[DinahMoeHum]

48. Pass Christian, MS

pronounced "Pass Christy-Ann"

Also, the residents along the Mississippi Gulf Coast are often referred to as "Coastians". At least according to their newspaper the Sun Herald https://www.sunherald.com/

[Bantamfancier]

49. Not a town but

There’s a road right by Don Scott airfield in Columbus that trips up out of towners every time.
Used to have people ask me how to get to God Own road.
Would give them the correct directions to Go Down road.

[Polly Hennessey]

50. Las Vegas

[femmocrat]

52. Let me guess,,,

LOSS - Vegas?

[femmocrat]

51. Duquesne, PA

Pronounced, Du-KANE

Versailles, PA, Pronoucece VER-sells

Ligonier, PA, Pronounced Lig-on-EER

Carnegie has two pronunciations. Car-NAIG-ee (the town) and CAR-negg-gy (as in the university)

And don’t forget Picks-burg! LOL There are tons of these in SW PA.

[ironflange]

54. Calgary AB

We locals say Cal-gree, those from away say Cal-gary. The same applies to Toronto (Trawna).

[sakabatou]

55. I can name a place that when people give it a nickname, you know they're not from there.

[Bucky]

60. Like how people from New Orleans don't ever say "The Big Easy"

and certainly not "Nawlins"

[sakabatou]

62. Or people who call San Francisco, "Frisco."

[Emile]

57. Boston, Massachusetts

Down on thorty thord street.

[Bucky]

59. Real Houstonians know how to drive from Kuykendahl Rd to Fuqua St w/o writing it down.

pronounced from "kir-ken-doll" to "fyuu-kway"

[csziggy]

65. Cairo, Georgia (pronounced like Karo syrup by the residents)

Kissimmee, Florida - the emphasis should be on the second syllable, but non-locals tend to say KISSimmee. (Just read an article that says to pronounce it KUH-sim-EE. Well, back when it was a cow town with the biggest business being a saddle shop, they said it kuh-SIM-ee. I guess the influx of tourists since Disney World went in has changed that!)

Estiffanulga, Florida - even Florida residents have trouble with this one. Locals call it "Stiff and Ugly."

Wewahitchka, Florida - Just call it Wewa. Locals don't even try to say the whole name.

[Totally Tunsie]

68. Greenwich, CT.

It's not "Green-witch"...there's no colorful spooky flyer. It's "GREN-ich" if you're from there.

Just gonna' throw in the Kancamagus Highway in NH here, just because.
It's not "Kanka-mang-us", and it's not “Kang-ah-mangus.”
The correct pronounciation is "Kan-kuh-MOG-us".

Fun thread.

[Behind the Aegis]

70. Prague, OK

Rhymes with the "Hague".

Louisville, KY is pronounced with two syllables, not three. Lou-vuhl

[Tikki]

71. Hueneme...as in Port Hueneme CA

It's a Port Town..It's a Beach Town...It's Two Towns in One..

Old-timers call it Wha knee me
Most often pronounced Why Knee Me

Tikki

[Totally Tunsie]

72. Ojai and San Joaquin, CA

"O-hi"
"San-wa-keen"

[Trailrider1951]

73. Puyallup, WA

Pronounced pew-ALL-up. If they pronounce it correctly, ask them to spell it.

[frogmarch]

79. Pierre, South Dakota

is pronounced "Peer" by those in the know.

[Solly Mack]

80. Buena Vista, Georgia

Bū- na Vista

[tosh]

83. That's close to home for me.

the best thing in or around Buena Vista is ...

Pasaquan

[Solly Mack]

85. It is both unexpected and a surprise.

[Angleae]

82. Sequim, WA

[petronius]

88. Are people actually *from* Sequim? I thought it was all retired Californians...

(Kidding, of course, but I have family who moved up there and I have listened in on many conversations with randomly-met strangers about "where in So Cal did you live?" and "when did you move up?" and "Why It Is Better Here Than In God-Awful California Which Has Absolutely Gone To Hell In A Hand-basket"...)

[Aristus]

90. Puyallup, Washington.

[Mr.Bill]

91. Baltimore.

Bawlamore Merlin. I was born there but we moved to California when I was eight in 1961. Kids laughing at how I talked made me lose the accent. Even though I'm 68 now, if I go to Baltimore the accent returns within an hour of getting off the plane.

[we can do it]

93. Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

[we can do it]

95. Lewes, DE

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

97. Houston County, Georgia

Hint: it's pronounced like Houston Street in Manhattan.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

98. Armada, Michigan. Also, Lake Orion, Michigan.

[CottonBear]

99. Talliaferro County, GA (pronounced as Tolliver)

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/taliaferro-county/

[smirkymonkey]

100. Houston Street in NYC.

Anyone who is from NYC knows it is pronounced "House-Ton" and not "Hyoos-Ton".

[Wicked Blue]

101. Noo Joisey nt

[bluedigger]

102. Madrid, Maine

MAD-rid.

And then I live just down the road from the main settlement of the Ute Mt. Ute here in Colorado - Towaoc. I'll let you guess that one.

[VGNonly]

103. Ontonagon MI