SDonCC

Do you say the first "r" or not??

Is it pronounced "swathmore" or "swarthmore?"

HarrietMWelsch

Swarthmore College :: Writing Program :: A Sociolinguistic Investigation<br/> of the Pronunciation of Swarthmore

Though I don't think their samples were broad enough. In short, though, both are accepted.

mythmom

Oohh, cute, interesting. Harriet, thanks for posting, because I have felt so gauche in that I could not make myself drop the "r".

I like the young linguists looking at this.

And I think this is probably a fairly consistent phenomenon, that a local population will evolve its own pronunciation and entering folks WILL apply rules from other situations.

Cases in point: I live in Suffolk (Suffik -- not proper symbols, I know) County, but my dad insisted on calling it Suffo-l-k county.

And visitors frequently call Houston Street in New York Houston Street as in Houston, Texas.

I think Bowdoin has a more interesting problem with it's name, which is wittily addressed in a cartoon on its website. Just when the pronunciation is sorted out, I think someone says, "Oh, so this is Colby?"

Vassar actually imports a program to pronounce Poughkeepsie for purusers.

cadence76

And please, don't anybody pronounce the "H" in Amherst!

Pizzagirl

As a Philly native, even though I haven't lived there in ages, I would say "Swathmore." No r. I also drop the r from Charlie; it comes out more like Cholly unless I make an effort otherwise.

Forgetmenots

Also a Philly native, and this being my third year at Swat...I pronounce it with the r. I think that basically all students pronounce it with the r but many locals (from the area - not Philly) drop the r, as the linked article seems to agree with. :]

Toolmaker

I live in New Jersey, near Trenton: Chre-in. I retain the first "R" Swarthmore, My Colleague (from PA.) drops it.

mrmarky

just got a DVD from Swarthmore - it's pronounced both ways by the students in the video.