primalclaws1974 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Have ever been to a new town or place and when you say the name out loud, the locals act like your an idiot? I have done it numerous times in my travels. But I don't need to go out of my home state of Iowa to give you examples. Nearby is a town called "What Cheer". It has been listed many times as a funny name, probably because people think it is saying "where is there fun in this place?". It is actually pronounced "Watt Cheer". Another town (in the same county) is called "Sigourney". The town was named after the founder's daughter, but townsfolk pronounced it wrong so many times, the name stuck sounding like Sigourney Weaver. The last is my home town. It is "Grinnell". Most people not from here say it as if it rhymed with "kernel". It is actual spoken as "Gra-Nel". Do you have odd pronunciations of towns in your area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saholy Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 We lived in Iowa for awhile too and so I am familiar with some of those towns. Iowa has alot of towns that were also originally founded by the french, the same as my home town in Detroit, Mi. We have alot of towns that have French names but the locals have long mispronounced them. I had no clue until I met some French speaking natives who told me 'Dee-troyt' is not the right way to say 'Dee-twah' which is the way the original word was meant to be pronounced. There are other towns with a similar sad story. I'm not on a hunt to find out how to properly say these names and am curious how many foreigners might recognize them upon hearing them said correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baburra Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 I know it's not a town technically but I always found the way Arkansas was pronounced to be very odd. I don't know why they chose to spell or pronounce it that way but it is amusing to me. Also I know Louisville locals prefer it when people pronounce their town name correctly which is a version that eliminates the "I" sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verba Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 We lived in Iowa for awhile too and so I am familiar with some of those towns. Iowa has alot of towns that were also originally founded by the french, the same as my home town in Detroit, Mi. We have alot of towns that have French names but the locals have long mispronounced them. I had no clue until I met some French speaking natives who told me 'Dee-troyt' is not the right way to say 'Dee-twah' which is the way the original word was meant to be pronounced. There are other towns with a similar sad story. I'm not on a hunt to find out how to properly say these names and am curious how many foreigners might recognize them upon hearing them said correctly.That explains the strangeness of the names being founded by French. I love hearing French language. In fact, I attempted to learn it several times. But my word, I have a really difficult time pronouncing their words much more remember them. You don't read them as spelt. Even the French teacher of my daughter told me that it is really difficult for other nationalities to learn their language for that reason. When my family and I visited France, we had to rely on my eldest daughter to read for us the names of streets and their popular places. They sound so strange! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primalclaws1974 Posted January 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 We lived in Iowa for awhile too and so I am familiar with some of those towns. Iowa has alot of towns that were also originally founded by the french, the same as my home town in Detroit, Mi. We have alot of towns that have French names but the locals have long mispronounced them. I had no clue until I met some French speaking natives who told me 'Dee-troyt' is not the right way to say 'Dee-twah' which is the way the original word was meant to be pronounced. There are other towns with a similar sad story. I'm not on a hunt to find out how to properly say these names and am curious how many foreigners might recognize them upon hearing them said correctly.You are right that there are a lot of French names of towns and other places in Iowa. You wouldn't think it would be a place for the French, as I don't think I have met a single French person in my life. "Des Moines" is probably the number-one mispronounced name in Iowa, even by Iowans. Many people say the "S" at the end of both words, but they are, in fact, silent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lushlala Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 In general, we all mispronounce a lot of French words to the point of hilarity LOL I'm going to throw in a few British examples:Welwyn Garden City- pronounced "Welin"Daubhill- pronounced "Dobil"Edinburgh- pronounced "Idinbra"Leicester- pronounced "Lesta"Salford- pronounced "solford"...just to name a few! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dora M Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 For many years I lived in a town called Mullumbimby, a name which caused a lot of hilarity among my friends overseas. The locals affectionately call it "Mullum". Visitors to our area often mispronounced the name of our town, but it has never been a big deal.I have an acquaintance who lives in a place called Whataknobby, and the people of that village have fought long and hard to change its name. From what I hear, they haven't had any success so far. Instead, they decided to make use of the unusual name and attract tourists to their place and boost their local economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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