But Idaho and Utah seem to be free from controversy

[Like all real Anglo-Californians, I pronounce Nevada "nuh-VADD-uh," and Colorado "kah-luh-RAH-doh." Whenever I hear someone say "nuh-VAH-duh" or "kah-luh-RADD-oh," I know there will be deeper communications issues to grapple with.]

[I just thought you should know where I stand on this very important issue.]

Previously Next

[Later (8/22): While I wasn't conscious of it yesterday afternoon, the reason the above pronunciation quirk popped into my head probably had its origins in a conversation I had with Violet while standing in line in my school's Financial Aid office yesterday morning. While living in New Orleans, she had been heavily involved in the local chapter of NOW, and had run an internship program at Tulane University. She was telling this very worthy story, and all I could focus on was that she pronounced it "too-lane," when I had always assumed it was "too-lane." I let her finish her point, and brought up what had distracted me. We spent an entertaining ten minutes discussing local pronunciations of place names. It helped pass the time in line, and distracted us from how much money we were borrowing.]

[I haven't done a list for a while, so here's my List of American Place Names That Aren't Pronounced As I Might Have Expected. (As if you didn't already know I'm a big geek.) Most of these are names I've tripped on in my travels. People are welcome to email or guestbook me their contributions; to make the list, it doesn't do simply to be from a different language (e.g., the towns of La Jolla and Carpinteria, Calif., are actually pronounced somewhat similarly to the actual Spanish pronunciation of la jolla and carpinteria, even though to nonlocal Anglophones, they look confusing); the pronunciation of the name has to be completely whacked vis-a-vis its spelling, even if you know the language from which it comes.]

[Arizona: Tempe.
California: Gough, Kearny and Noe streets (thanks, JBSF!) in San Francisco; Anapamu and Canon Perdido streets in Santa Barbara; Arcata, Isla Vista, Lompoc, Marin, Nojoqui Falls, Paso Robles, Placerville, Point Mugu, Point Reyes, Port Hueneme, Refugio Beach, San Jacinto, San Rafael, Vallejo, Yreka.
Iowa: Waterloo
Louisiana: Chartres, Burgundy, Melpomene and Tchoupitoulas streets in New Orleans; Metairie.
New York: Houston Street in Manhattan; Chili, Honeoye Lake, Rensselaer.
Washington: Puyallup.]

[I won't even get into the British Isles...]