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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?

Speaking of laughing, I laughed pretty hard yesterday while driving my school bus up 4th St. in Flagstaff. The old 4-runner ahead of me had a bumper sticker that said, in very large letters "Jesus Loves You." As I got up behind him I saw that the smaller letters said, "Everyone else thinks you're an *$$hole!" I laughed all the way to the high school. I would get one of those, but then I probably couldn't park the Buzzmobile on school property any longer. Sure made my day though!

azbackpackr wrote:The old 4-runner ahead of me had a bumper sticker that said, in very large letters "Jesus Loves You." As I got up behind him I saw that the smaller letters said, "Everyone else thinks you're an *$$hole!"

I've seen that one too! Back in Boston in the 1970's when the sport of hockey and top players Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito were on everyone's mind, there appeared another Jesus bumper sticker. It proclaimed, "JESUS SAVES.....AND ESPOSITO SCORES ON THE REBOUND!"

I just saw this post and it made me laugh........I truly believe that it's all regional dialects that account for the mangling of names/things. Being from New England, I'm one of the manglers of these names. I say toe-poe for Topo and someone did point out that there is only one consonant so it would be a long "o". Mogollan is Mug-e-own although my Dad calls it the Mongolian (more on my Dad's dialect a little later). I still can't pronounce Mazatzal after 10 years in the this state....I always say Mah-zat-zal which is probably wrong!!!

Here are a few places in New England that are always trashed:

Worcester, MA.....it's Wust-ter not War-ces-ter
Woburn, MA...it's Wu-burn not Wo-burn
Martha's Vineyard.....it's Martha's Vin-yerd not Martha's Vine-yard
Greenwich CT is Gren-nich not Green-wich

My mom is from northern Maine and they have buddadoes, not potatoes When counting, it's one, two, tree, not one, two three. (all French there)

My dad is from Lancaster County PA and they truly had fun with the English language. "Turn off the lights" became "outten the lights" (YES...out somehow became a VERB) and "You shouldn't do that" became "you daresn't do that".

I call Pepsi and Coca cola soda NOT pop and a submarine sandwich will always be a grinder to me. Fortunately I never forsaked my "r's" and I still have mothers, fathers, brothers etc.....the true Bostonians and Rhode Islanders have Muthas, Fathas and Brothas.

Trish

Don't forget the Caa, Baan, baath (Car, Barn, Bath).
My kids (Born in Chicago), were constantly picking on my Mom's (Maine) and Dad's (Boston) pronunciations.

Trishness wrote:the true Bostonians and Rhode Islanders have Muthas, Fathas and Brothas.

When my family was stationed in England (from Massachusetts...), I spent the first 4 months in speech therapy to correct my "impediment". Apparently, what I accused people of doing to their cars (paaaakking!?) wasn't acceptable,; nor was the way I referred to my family membas. Go figa!

PLC92084 wrote:When my family was stationed in England...

Whoa! "Queen's English" is a totally different language altogether! Let's not start down that road.

Well, I heard something today that just bugs me. And it has to do with that place called Elves Chasm in the Grand Canyon. Apparently there is some river runner's custom where you are supposed to mispronounce "chasm" using a "ch" sound rather than the correct "k" sound. (Chasm is correctly pronounced "kasm.") Anyway, apparently, even people who know better will go ahead and pronounce it incorrectly on purpose. My boatman friend reminded me that one should always go with the "local pronunciation." I retorted, "So, who are the locals? The friggin' ELVES?"

Sheesh.

After working my *SS off to get there, I pronounced the place the way it's supposed to be pronounced! Elve's KASM

What has the water done to them!?

azbackpackr wrote:I retorted, "So, who are the locals? The friggin' ELVES?"

Spoken like a true dwarf.

kingsnake wrote:Spoken like a true dwarf.

How did you know?

PLC92084 wrote:After working my *SS off to get there, I pronounced the place the way it's supposed to be pronounced! Elve's KASM

What has the water done to them!?

No pumpkin there!

Devils' KASM too... I've given up correcting people. I figure by the time I'm 80, they'll be right and the correct pronunciation in Webster's online will be changed. You can't fight linguistic evolution - no matter how hard you try.

Now, I think there MIGHT be something we can do about those freaking dwarves, though ;)

I am still trying to get on a river trip this summer. I will ask the elves when I get there.

But they might not want to talk to a dwarf.

Supplemental lottery just went up today. I am busy trying to pick dates.

This one came up today:

Kinder Crossing.

Is it kinder, like binder and finder, or kinder like hinder and cinder?

I originally pronounced it with a short i sound, but later decided that it meant the crossing was easy, or kind, and therefore switched to a long i. But I don't know if one is actually correct or not. Anyone?

chumley wrote:Kinder Crossing.

Whenever I have a naming issue I go to the source - Arizona Place Names by Will C. Barnes. He talks about Kinder Spring in Coconino County in Long Valley. It was named

"After Runyon C. Kinder, well known sheepman who in latter Eighties, ran sheep near here. Lived for some years in Holbrook, in business as Brown and Kinder, Livery."

Well that didn't help much did it But if you can find someone from Holbrook who knew the family. Maybe look through the Holbrook phone book and call up any Kinders and ask how they pronounce their name. (/not) Or go through the obitiuaries and find a medium who can contact the deceased ?

The Kinder in the investment firm Kinder, Morgan is pronounced like blender not blinder. But I've been known to be wrong once or twice. "And that's about all I have to say about that."

kinder, as in German for children.

te-wa wrote:kinder, as in German for children.

I agree that it's KIN-DER as in kindergarden. Of course this might just be my East Coast biased accent coming out.

@Trishness That's how I say it, too, but I have the same problem. I also pronounce all Spanish place names as if they were Spanish, which is another clear sign of not being from around those parts.

big_load wrote:@Trishness That's how I say it, too, but I have the same problem. I also pronounce all Spanish place names as if they were Spanish, which is another clear sign of not being from around those parts.

I also tend to pronounce most Spanish names using correct Spanish. Not ALL the time, though. I don't say Lohs Ahn-hel-ays for Los Angeles. I just say LA.

Drives me nuts when people in Tucson don't pronounce La Cañada correctly. Some do, some don't.

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

Another one that drives me nuts is "ocotillo." People get the "ll" part right as to the Spanish, so why not the "O" part? They say "ah ca teeyo." It's just as easy to say "Oh ca teeyo."

Grumble grumble. I know, I know, it really doesn't matter in the large scheme of things, does it? ;)

From a friend that visited from New Zealand:

La Cañada = "la CAN-a-da"
La Cholla = "la CHOL-ah"
Ocotillo = "ah-ko-TIL-oh"
Quesadilla = "kway-sa-DIL-e-ya
and of course, Mogollon = "mon-GOL-e-an"

He also thought a lime would taste sweet like a kiwi fruit, and it turned his face inside-out when he took a big bite of one.

Vallejo (north of Oakland) drives me nuts as you pronounce the L sound ...