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I'm sure there are a million examples of words that people pronounce differently. (Do you pronounce the 's' at the end of Illinois?, Missouree or Missourah, etc.)

But I'm gonna start with one that I wonder if I'm weird cause I hear people pronounce it one way and I think its just wrong:

Topo

While technically not a word, it is the name of a software package, and is frequently pronounced as an abbreviation.

I think its "top-oh" (rhymes with mop, flop, hop). I hear others pronounce it with a long-o: "tow-poh" (taupe-oh?). It drives me crazy.

Of course, I derive this from the original "topographic" which the initial o is pronounced "ah" versus "oh". (At least according to Dictionary.com)

Any thoughts on Topo, or other words that Dubya might have misunderpronuncicated?

Oh, yeah, I had forgotten about that one!

azbackpackr wrote:I also tend to say Casa Grande the redneck way, even though I know perfectly well how to pronounce it in Spanish.

I keep forgetting to do that. People look at me like I just said "Mazatzal" with all the z's.

Speaking of which, how *are* you supposed to pronounce Mazatzal?

kingsnake wrote:Speaking of which, how *are* you supposed to pronounce Mazatzal?

When a difficult question like this comes up, I turn to our source for important answers - Te-wa (and I'm still not sure I pronounce his name correctly). ;)

High Country camping 12/8-9th by te-wa » Dec 02 2007 4:32 pm . . .*according to new info found on the Tonto Forest website, the correct pronunciation is Mah-zaht-zahl. Interesting. Mazatzal is an Aztec word meaning "place of deer" but it is also a Paiute indian word for "place in between". Both cultures seem to pronounce it this way despite the local casino in Payson butchering the term. Simply say it like it looks.

Since very few people are fluent in ancient Aztec or Paiute, I guess we are stuck with the Casino Tribe's pronunciation which alliterates to "Mad as Hell". Sort of an old "When in Rome . . ." thing.

sepulveda. seh puhl VEA duh

everyone calls it seh PULL vih duh
ill pronunciations travel outside AZ borders for sure.

"the" grand canyon. it's called grand canyon. what's with the "the"? nobody says "i'm going to the sycamore canyon" - "lets go hike the oak creek canyon"

sierra is a word that means "mountain range" (or, more than one mountain) so why is it that people pluralize a spanish word, and then lack the understanding that it makes no sense to say "wides mountain range"? in this context, the word "sierra" is already plural, to mean more than one mountain, a "range". If anything, it would be slightly more correct to say "sierras ancha" yet that is also speaking of more than one Range. So, "sierra ancha" it is, no matter how many individual mountains fall under the range.

i already understand that i'm too lazy to capilalize, please don't point it out.

Al_HikesAZ wrote:Since very few people are fluent in ancient Aztec or Paiute, I guess we are stuck with the Casino Tribe's pronunciation which alliterates to "Mad as Hell". Sort of an old "When in Rome . . ." thing.

i'm calling b.s. on that for two reasons.. i did speak to a professor of native languages in mexico city via email, his name was david somethingorother, and he confirmed it is aztec.. he also said it is pronounced like one would pronounce our "CLUE" to similar aztec words. this clue word is "Mazatlan". it's def. not "mad-a-lon". its Maz-aht-lahn. so it is, Maz-aht-zahl.
one translates to "land" of deer, the other, "place" of deer.

it took me the better part of a summer to change the way i used to say Madda-zell.. but i finally got it, and so can you!

now where did I put my hala peeno?

In Los Angeles the city is San Pee-dro, not San Pay-dro ...

te-wa wrote:... so it is, Maz-aht-zahl ...
it took me the better part of a summer to change the way i used to say Madda-zell.. but i finally got it, and so can you!

My friendly local innkeeper (an outstanding chef) is from Tucson and the correct pronunciation bugs him every time. He always asks "Where?". He also uses every other common non-standard pronunciation I know of, but I can't give him a hard time because his food is too good to risk being banned. (I have three strikes against me for not liking the Phillies, Eagles, or most of all, the Flyers, so I'm not sure what's keeping me in the game).

Is a chef from Philly is someone who makes their steak wit wiz?

I've always called them the Matsa Balls around the locals just to watch them blow snot out their nose.

kingsnake wrote:Is a chef from Philly is someone who makes their steak wit wiz?

Most are. I think he's a provolone guy, although I never asked. He definitely knows that I'm a provolone guy.

big_load wrote:provolone

Is that pronounced Prav-alone or Prav-a-lonee?

PLC92084 wrote:

big_load wrote:provolone

Is that pronounced Prav-alone or Prav-a-lonee?

Two long o's, no "ee".

i was once alone in provo, utah.

Ok, this is an Arizona thing that I find very amusing: If you are not from Phoenix, beware when someone is giving you verbal directions if they tell you to turn onto "Rule Road." There IS no "Rule Road" in Phoenix. It is RURAL Road, but for some unfathomable reason, people in the Valley of the Sun do call it "Rule Road." To further amuse me, they will also say they would like to live out in a "rule area" where they could have a couple of horses...

Arizona: IT RULES!

As someone who owns a home less than half a mile from Rural, I agree with you. But I've always thought it was midwesterners who were the mispronouncicating culprits. And I believe the way they say it is more like "ROOwel".

People from the Midwest?? You mean, about half the population? (or at least, their parents?). ;)

When I first moved to Tucson (from Hawaii--didn't that get a lot of comments!) back in '86, I was astonished at how many people from Michigan I kept meeting. Well, heck, I wouldn't want to live in Michigan, either!

Incidentally, at my first job in Tucson, a very, very, very yucky one at a restaurant in the Tucson Mall, I mentioned living in Hawaii. I later learned that many of my co-workers thought I was making it all up! Seems they just could not fathom it at all. I think there are still an awful lot of people in this state with that incredibly narrow outlook. It's very sad.

If and when I ever retire I'm movin to Ohiowa. I'm convinced nobody lives there anymore.

i had a buddy that just could not say it right. not that he didnt try, he just had a speech impediment, of sorts. it was "Roo-rarw"
- and who the heck thought up the cruel joke/word "impediment". or "lisp" for that matter..

Yeah, that pronunciation is pretty common in the midwest, and perhaps even more so in the rural south.