Place names that are pronounced differently in only that specific place.

[Darren]

I'm not sure how this happened but my father and his mother both have /aɪ/ in hoist.

/ɔɪ/ → /aɪ/ is a very old and largely obsolete shift that used to characterise southern dialects, now restricted to only a few lexicalised items like "rile".

[äreo]

I'm not sure how this happened but my father and his mother both have /aɪ/ in hoist.

/ɔɪ/ → /aɪ/ is a very old and largely obsolete shift that used to characterise southern dialects, now restricted to only a few lexicalised items like "rile".

Ah, I didn't know that. That probably explains it.

[Emily]

one time someone gave me directions that involved a road called /'hæməʃɑ:/, so naturally i searched the freeway signs for "hammershaw", breezing right past the exit of jamacha road, which i saw and dismissed as /hə'mɑtʃə/

another local shibboleth is "cuyamaca", found in the names of a state park, a mountain, a lake, a community college, and so on, and which ultimately comes from a kumeyaay word that wass passed through spanish into english. its spelling suggests /kujə'mɑkə/ but it is actually /,kwiəmækə/

[Arzena]

There's a New Athens /nuː ˈeɪθənz/ in Southern Illinois. Also the Augustine in St. Augustine, FL is pronounced by Floridians as /ˈɔːɡəˌstiːn/ but if you pronounce the saint's name that way to certain learnèd men they may have a chuckle at you.

There are some place names in America that are pronounced differently in the place that they refer to, or alternatively: There are some place names in America that are habitually pronounced incorrectly outside of the place that they refer to.


Can you think of any other examples? (Other languages are welcome too.)

In Austin, TX, the street named Guadalupe has the pronunciation [gwa.ɾə.lup] that marks you as a local compared to the standard Anglacized pronunciation of <Guadalupe> /gwa.ɾə.lu.peɪ/. There is another street with a name derived from a Spanish placename that has been similarly clipped: San Jacinto as [sæn.dʒæk].

There's also /ˈmæn(t)ʃæk/ for Menchaca. Also more broadly some old-school Texas tells are /ˈkaɪoʊt/ for coyote andˌ/ɹiːoʊˈɡɹænd/ for Rio Grande.

I almost included Manchaca, too, but I doubted my memory of that pronunciation haha

[Linguoboy]

Shame I'm late to the party. I love these threads.

I know I've posted to death about my particular hometown faves (e.g. Courtois, Gratiot, Cabanne, etc.), but I've learned a couple new ones recently.

From a friend in Syracuse, I have the correct local pronunciation of Skaneateles in upstate New York and it's a thing of beauty.

Another friend recently moved a couple streets up in the adjacent neighbourhood and is now living on a street called Thome. They need to have a block party so all the neighbours can get together and hash out how to say it. (It's been thoroughly gentrified, so I don't know if there are many oldtimers who remember a traditional pronunciation.) Since this is Chicago, I imagine most folks say /ˈθoʊm/, but the existence of /ˈgoʊθiː/ has me holding out hope for a disyllabic pronunciation.

[Travis B.]

There's also /ˈmæn(t)ʃæk/ for Menchaca. Also more broadly some old-school Texas tells are /ˈkaɪoʊt/ for coyote andˌ/ɹiːoʊˈɡɹænd/ for Rio Grande.

I am used to that pronunciation of Rio Grande here; I can't recall ever hearing anyone actually pronounce Rio Grande as /ˌriːoʊˈɡrɑːndeɪ/ in English.

[Man in Space]

Another friend recently moved a couple streets up in the adjacent neighbourhood and is now living on a street called Thome. They need to have a block party so all the neighbours can get together and hash out how to say it. (It's been thoroughly gentrified, so I don't know if there are many oldtimers who remember a traditional pronunciation.) Since this is Chicago, I imagine most folks say /ˈθoʊm/, but the existence of /ˈgoʊθiː/ has me holding out hope for a disyllabic pronunciation.

In Cleveland we'd be inclined to /tʰõʊ̯mi/ due to the former Cleveland Indian Jim Thome.