Here s a story about how people in various cities actually pronounce heir names.

Just for the record, I may be out of commission for a while due to work on my foot. They say I won't need an ambulance, just a toe truck.

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:
They say I won't need an ambulance, just a toe truck.

You have to go to Seattle to get a toe truck.

Interesting that they didn't include Oregon. Many people pronounce that wrong. Most of the listed ones I have apparently been misprouncing, though not Louisville or Spokane. I find Missouri interesting. Parts of Missouri pronounce it Mi-ZIR-ee; other parts pronounce it Mi-Zir-ah.

So funny, Tinman.

The two most common pronunciations of Missouri I heard at the University of Missouri during the '60s were:

1 and 2. I also heard it jokingly pronounced misery.

I think pronunciation 2 was a little more common. It seemed to me that people from the North seemed to use pronunciation 1 more often and people from the South tended to use pronunciation 2. It may be an urban/rural difference also.

Wikipedia says " Further pronunciations also exist in Missouri or elsewhere in the United States . . . "

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

Yes, I say it like #1. So, Tinman, being from Washington state, how do you say Oregon?

This isn't unique to North America, of course. Take my home town, Greenwich. nowadays a suburb of London. Most 'outsiders' know enough so they don't pronounce the final syllable like 'which', but usually only Londoners know that the first syllable rhymes with 'grin', not 'green'. It's usually pronounced 'Grinnidge' or 'Grinnitch', with the ultra-locals mostly using the latter variant.

Oregon

I know of Greenwich only because of GMT ('Grinnitch' Mean Time).

It must be the midwest then where many (not me anymore) stress the last syllable with ON.

I also pronounce it "Grinnitch."