What’s in a name?

My older family pronounced that the same way. I thought maybe I was mis-remembering, but I think not.

I moved to Boston from the Midwest and have been here for 41 years, so I’m used to Boston accents. However, I was stumped in the beginning. Shortly after we moved, I called the RMV to find out where I should go to get a new driver’s license. The woman on the phone told me the closest place was at “Knot Station”. My first thought was–that’s a weird name. So I asked, “Knot Station, spelled K-N-O-T?” The reply–"No, it’s N-O-R-T-H Station.”

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Reminds me of when I went to an interview for a job in a nearby district, but that started to get rural. When I had called the HR office for directions, they told me to turn on “Parish Road.” I kept looking at the map and couldn’t find Parish Road to save my life (and parish is what Louisiana calls a county). As I drove around looking at other landmarks mentioned (like a drugstore or grocery) I came across Paris Rd and had a big aha moment. It’s one of those IYKYK kind of things for that part of the state. :slight_smile:

In our family (mom’s family mainly grew up in the midwest, though they did spend a few years in the Boston area) it’s pronounced wister-sure sauce. :slight_smile:

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This story reminds me of my freshman year philosophy professor, Dr Hwang, newly arrived from China in the 1970s. She invariably introduced herself as “Hwang, not Wong, that’s another name.”

(And of course my father, having heard the story, greeted her at graduation when I introduced them by saying, “Hello Dr. Hwang. Not Wong? That’s a different name, yes?”

Many years ago when I served a three month detail for SSA in Baltimore, I learned to say Ballmur Murlin.

And there’s that body of land east of NYC : Lawn Gailand.

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We have the city of Albany here. Pronounced All-BANEE"

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Same here, but DH’s family turned it into a joke calling it, “What’s this here sauce?”

Our Canadian neighbors corrected our pronunciation of Calgary: It’s Cal-GARY.

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How about BERlin New Hampshire? Not BerLIN.

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Newark - the city in NJ is “New-erk” (rhymes with perk), the city in DE is “New-ark” (rhymes with park).

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I love hearing national news people try to pronounce “Bangor,” a town in Maine (it’s in the news occasionally when a plane flying from Europe has to make an unexpected stop there). It’s a tough one. “Bang-gore” is close.

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As a person who lived on LI from age 4 until college, I have found that to be an unfortunate stereotype.

I went to SUNY Binghamton (now Binghamton University), where Beethoven St was called BuTHOven, and Goethe St. GOthe.

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Is it pronounced the way Roger Miller sang it in “King of the Road?”

(dating myself)

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I didn’t know Bangor is in that song. I will check it out.

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Yup!

Good to know (re: Bangor).

I probably would have pissed off a bunch of Mainers by referring to it as Banger.

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In New Mexico where Spanish is commonly spoken as a first language and many, many landmarks and towns have Spanish names and García is most common surname, there’s a small town on the east side of Sandia Mountain south of Santa Fe named Madrid, which has the un-Spanish pronunciation of MAD-rid.

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Also in NM, but not Spanish related, the town of Thoreau was pronounced “threw” by my NA coworkers.

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Absolutely pronounced “Threw”. Been there many times.

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