Do Americans struggle with their own place names?

Question

In the UK we have quite a few places that aren't pronounced as they're written. For example Worchester and Leominster. We also have places that are pronounced phonetically but people still struggle for example Llanelli or Pwllheli.

Now we all know America borrowed place names from not only the UK but from throughout Europe, that's a lot of different pronunciation rules. For example I've had a browse around Gwynedd, Pennsylvania on Google Maps and see quite a few places that have Welsh spellings. If you didn't know how to pronounce letters like dd and ll you'd struggle to say Gwynedd or Llewellyn road.

So given your place names come from all over Europe do you struggle with them? Do you pronounce them the correct way or the American way? Do you live in a town or street that's a nightmare when you have to tell people your address?

SaoirseS · Accepted Answer

Yes, quite a few actually. Close to where I live there's a town called Basehor; it's pronounced like BAser, not Base Whore. Also close by is Olathe, which is pronounced Oh-LAY-tha, but outsiders struggle with it. You can always tell someone isn't from around here when they pronounce Arkansas City and the Arkansas River like the state of Arkansas (AR-can-saw); it's Ar-Kansas. There are also places like Leoti, Neodesha, Kechi, and Salina. I think every state in the Midwest US has a town named Osceola, which invariably gets pronounced Ah-see-OH-la rather than OH-see-oh-la. As Aviator-Tom points, out, there are quite a few New England place names that people frequently mispronounce.

Msputiton · Accepted Answer

Well yeah.

What's crazy bout America is each state feels like it's a different country in a way. From laws to prices, pretty much everything. Including the dialect.

Example city of Houston texas is pronounced "Hewston"

There is a town in georgia spelled Houston but pronounced "Houseton"

People in Baltimore maryland cannot say Baltimore properly. People who live in Baltimore pronounce it "Ballmore" people who live outside it pronounce it "Balltamore"

And don't even get me started on how messed up people say my home town of "picayune"

Lliam · Accepted Answer

There are a lot of Spanish place names in the U. S. They are pronounced phonetically.
Amarillo, Texas, for example, is pronounced Ama-rilo, the gringo way, instead of the correct way - Ah-mah-ree-yo (yellow, in Spanish).

One that stands out in my mind is a street near where I grew up. Ximeno. Everyone pronounces it Eks-emeno. I always took it for granted.
When I was in high school, I went to a girl's house and noticed an envelope addressed to someone whose middle name was Ximeno. I kind of chuckled until she explained that it's pronounced Hee-mey-no.

There are indigenous place names, too. Some of those are a mouth full.

MrOracle · Accepted Answer

Sometimes. In the Bay Area, there are a lot of Spanish names, since Spain had settled the west coast 200 years before the Gold Rush, but Spanish names are mostly pretty easy for Californians. We also have Native American names, and those can be more challenging. We even have some Ukrainian names in the North Bay area.

You'll find Swedish and Norwegian names in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Russian and Polish names in Ohio, Spanish and Native American all across the Southwest, and many more. The locals don't have trouble, but folks from other areas of the country definitely struggle at times.

AviatorTom · Answer

I think every country has place names that people struggle with.

Here are just a few:

Worcester (Wooster) Mass

Chili (CHI-LI, not Chi-lee) New York

Charlotte (Shlot) New York, and Charlotte (Shar-lit) North Carolina

Missouri (Mizz-ooo-rah) or {Mizz-oo-ree)?

Nevada (Ne-vah-dah) or (Ne-veah-dah)?

Old_Golden · Answer

We have Houston Mill Road here which is pronounced House-Ton not Hyu-Stun, and Cairo, Georgia is pronounced Kay- Row, not like the one in Egypt. I think it mostly depends on where the Europeans who settled a place or became the primary population pronounced it ages ago and everyone has just accepted it as the norm by now.

Listening to GPS try to pronounce things can be hilarious but confusing at times...

SnowedIn · Answer

I think it's sort of summed up by the line in the musical where Professor Higgins, referring to the English language, says: "In America, they haven't used it for years."

DarkWinterNights · Answer

Where I live a lot of the names are a strange mix of Russian and Native, whenever I hear people try to pronounce them they usually butcher them. There are a couple that are so long I have a problem remembering them, so I understand the challenge.

exitseven · Answer

We have Worcester (pronounced Woo-ster) and Leominster (pronounced Lem-in-ster) and of course Quincy (pronounced Quin-zee)

Noahzaid · Answer

You took my advice and changed your profile picture ❤️

bean2k21 · Answer

Americans can barely speak English, must less English.

goaded · Answer

I was happy until I discovered there was a town called Bicester. Bis-ter, Bi-cester?

Anonymous · Answer

Quote: 'Do you pronounce them the correct way or the American way?' +1 It's funny because its true.

Anonymous · Answer

The biggest problem is that because America is so big there are multiple towns and cities with the same name ie Springfield

Whatthefluff · Answer

I'm in New England. While locals will pronounce it correctly, people from other parts of the country have no idea. Worcester, for example.

Walrus_au · Answer

Woolengabba, Wagga-Wagga, Canberra, Woomera, Cooberpeady... you were saying?

Fuentes · Answer

No I live on the west, so I don't deal with this weirdo names. We use Raza names out here

WhitneySnow · Answer

Willamantic Connecticut lol

Debbie14217 · Answer

no i dont think so but maybe some do

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