List of irregularly spelled places in the United States
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This list is a sublist of List of irregularly spelled English names.
List
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ The "s" sound generally merges with the same sound in "City."
- ^ In contradistinction to the surname, by convention, these rhyme with "Oliver"
- ^ The town of Calais in France was for centuries also pronounced /ˈkælɪs/ in English; today /ˈkæleɪ/ KAL-ay, with initial stress in British English and final stress in American English are the normal pronunciations.
- ^ a b Cf the surnames Du Bois and De Bois, which are often /-ˈbwɑː/
- ^ cf. English low-lying point (without a middle syllable).
- ^ Eau Claire, Wisconsin is pronounced more closely to the French pronunciation: /oʊˈklɛər/ (oh-KLAIR)
- ^ cf. intuitive Borough of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, which is pronounced /ˈɛfrətə/ EF-rə-tə
- ^ cf. intuitive/ˈɡælvɪstən/ GAL-viss-tən for larger Galveston, Texas
- ^ As per traditional English town, county and nursery rhyme
- ^ Beginning defies traditional English rules (cf. green) But Greenwich, New Jersey is pronounced as if it were "green-witch" [1]
- ^ cf. intuitive /ˈhɑːrlɪŋən/ HAR-ling-ən for Harlingen, Netherlands
- ^ Intuitively /ˈhaɪndmən/ HYND-mən is sometimes used outside Eastern Kentucky
- ^ Named via Sam Houston after Houston, Scotland, a concatenation of "Hu's town"'
- ^ The last syllable is standard in the British pronunciation of hurricane, but not in American English, whereas the first syllable is counterintuitive and muted compared to hurricane in either.
- ^ Anecdotally, locals of Hurricane say that the proper pronunciation rhymes with that of the neighboring town La Verkin.
- ^ cf. various Waco towns
- ^ locally
- ^ with two syllables only
- ^ As per English town and county
- ^ Uncommon, rare, or dialectal pronunciation
- ^ cf. the obvious final syllable of Miami, Florida
- ^ All derived from Montpellier, France [mɔ̃pɛlje]
- ^ equivalent to the British English pronunciation of Moscow, Russia. Other Moscows in America are /ˈmɒskaʊ/ MOSS-kow, the American English pronunciation of the Russian city.
- ^ Homophone to the dining course, dessert
- ^ The pronunciation /nɪˈvɑːdə/ niv-AH-də, while fairly common (particularly in the eastern United States), is stigmatized locally.
- ^ cf. Newark, New Jersey /ˈnuːərk/ NOO-ərk, and Newark, Delaware or Newark, New York /ˈnuːɑːrk/ NOO-ark generally
- ^ Traditionally locally /ˈnwɔːrlɪnz/ NWOR-linz with a very light /w/ is used, i.e. between the local and national.
- ^ Identical to the English county of Norfolk, and intuitive given the common word folk. Popular navy wordplay notwithstanding, the vowel in the last syllable is unstressed, very short, and closed, as in foot. Locals born in or after the last half of the 20th Century, who have partly or wholly adopted the American Broadcast Accent, often pronounce it /ˈnɔːrfɪk/ NOR-fik with the r substituted for /ɻ/
- ^ cf. Palestine: /ˈpælɪstaɪn/ PAL-ist-eyen
- ^ cf. the regular American pronunciation of "Christian", /ˈkrɪstʃən/ KRISS-chən
- ^ cf. common and well-known Spanish approximations elsewhere.
- ^ Or intuitively per Spanish among Hispanics
- ^ Italian ruined city pronounced /pɒmˈpeɪ/ pom-PAY)
- ^ cf. Raleigh surname and brands traditionally said like Wall
- ^ Locally.
- ^ cf. given name Sigourney: /sɪˈɡɔːrniː/
- ^ Same as examples in England such as London Borough of Waltham Forest. cf. greatly US well-known comparators.
- ^ Woburn, Bedfordshire and Woburn, Toronto are simply /ˈwoʊbərn/ WOH-bərn
- ^ Mispronounced as /ˈwuːstər/
- ^ As per traditional English town, county and sauce
- ^ Though the pronunciation /ˈjækəmə/ YAK-əm-ə is also heard. The Native American people for whom the river, city, and county are named now prefer the spelling Yakama.
References
[edit]- ^ "Arkansas". Dictionary.com.
- ^ "Bethlehem, Bethlum or Bethleum -- there's no one way to pronounce it". March 25, 2013.
- ^ "Pumpkin Rollers in No Man's Land". Car And Driver. May 2002. Archived from the original on December 3, 2005.
- ^ Markarian, Taylor (May 29, 2019). "35 City Names Around the World You're Mispronouncing". Reader's Digest. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ Though indeed named after the country Chili, now Chile Town of chili.org
- ^ "The evolution of Demonbreun Street". The Tennessean. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
- ^ Not intuitive /piːˈbɒdi/ pee-BOD-eegroup= n
- State of Michigan, Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. "Pronunciation Guide - 'You Say it How in Michigan?' for Michigan Names and Places". www.michigan.gov. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
- "A Pronunciation Guide to Places in Ohio". E. W. Scripps School of Journalism. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
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