The Newsroom - Idiots? Making a statement? Legal Issues?

[jillboston]

Does anyone have thoughts on why The Newsroom  (the first episode of the season focused on the Boston Marathon bombing) would mispronounce Watertown, MA as Waterton? The prevailing thoughts are that it was intentional - but why? They even properly named one of the victims (Martin Richards) and where his memorial was held. It is hard to believe it wasn't intentional.

[downtoearth]

I don't know The Newsroom, but I'm guessing someone from outside Boston directed them to say it wrong. We have a Lewistown in our state that everyone calls Lewiston for some reason?!

[foundmylazybum]

Why would it be intentional?

[ChillyMcFreeze]

?? I can't imagine anyone unfamiliar with Boston would have noticed.I watched the episode literally 10 minutes ago and I didn't notice.

[jillboston]

Nov 11, 2014 12:26:25 GMT -5 foundmylazybum said:

Why would it be intentional?

The thought is that it could have been nothing but. I think if this were another show I might say - well, they just didn't look into the name well enough - but the writers of Newsroom have to be poring over news video while writing the show - they use footage IN the show. 
If it had been a really obscure part of the story, also maybe, or an understandable mispronunciation based on spelling (Dedham - a suburb is pronounced Deddim not DedHAM for instance). This just seemed .. odd. Plus Sam Waterston is from Cambridge - city right next to Watertown. 

[gpw]

OK, I just scrolled down without reading. I love The Newsroom, but I haven't watched the first epi of season 3 yet...will there be spoilers here?

[jillboston]

Nov 11, 2014 12:34:32 GMT -5 gpw said:

OK, I just scrolled down without reading. I love The Newsroom, but I haven't watched the first epi of season 3 yet...will there be spoilers here?

nope

[4speedy]

I am going to butcher this spelling, but isn't Worchester, Mass actually pronounced "Wooster."

I don't think I would get all up in arms about the name of a MA town being mispronounced. Why is this offensive to you?

[wawa]

I can't even begin to come up with a nefarious reason for this. Is it somehow a dig to slightly mispronounce a name of a town? Doesn't it seem more likely that they just got it wrong?

[cville]

Well, as an east coaster who grew up watching shows set in the east refer to things like "The 95" for years, I pretty much presume everyone in Hollywood gets everything wrong about anything east of Hot Springs.

[Skyesthelimit1212]

I don't watch Newroom, I can't stand Olvia Munn, but in any case, I'll take the mispronunciation of Watertown over the reporter who on the day of the bombing said, "it looks like a bomb went off somewhere." in response to how quiet Watertown was.

[jillboston]

Nov 11, 2014 14:18:48 GMT -5 4speedy said:

I am going to butcher this spelling, but isn't Worchester, Mass actually pronounced "Wooster."

I don't think I would get all up in arms about the name of a MA town being mispronounced. Why is this offensive to you?

it's actually pronounced "wister" or "wooster" depending on where you come from in MA. I could totally understand a one-off mispronunciation of a town like Worcester, Woburn (woooburn) etc. But if you have the proper spelling of Watertown it is impossible to pronounce. This was also not an SNL skit or the Jimmy Kimmel with a one liner. The show was devoted to the subject, it is a fictional news show centered around the news that came out of this event. I'm not really offended because I'm actually starting to think that they were trying to make a point (the point they were making all throughout the show in fact) about how news screws up things - especially when they are trying to get ratings.

[meshaliuknits]

Nov 11, 2014 12:25:15 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I don't know The Newsroom, but I'm guessing someone from outside Boston directed them to say it wrong. We have a Lewistown in our state that everyone calls Lewiston for some reason?!

That's how I would pronounce both of those towns.


cville putting "the" in front of numbers related to freeways/highways is a hotly debated issue in CA. Hollywood is on the "the" side of the split.

[wawa]

Nov 11, 2014 14:23:38 GMT -5 cville said:

Well, as an east coaster who grew up watching shows set in the east refer to things like "The 95" for years, I pretty much presume everyone in Hollywood gets everything wrong about anything east of Hot Springs.

People mispronounce town names ALL THE TIME. 
Off the top of my head from my travels:
Reading PA. (red-ing not like the thing you do with books) 
Lancaster PA.  (it's not Lan-caster.  It's closer to Lanc-astir.) 
Ellicott city (the cott is sorta elided.  Ellic't?  no idea how to type that.)
North Versailles, PA (actually pronounced Ver-sales.  As painful as that may be.)

I have heard in-market real life newscasters say every single one of those wrong. 

And tangent - there was a traffic guy on one of our local radio stations that mispronounced the name of the company sponsoring the traffic report wrong every.single.time and it drove me nuts.  Finally I commented on their FB page that somebody should fix that, and the next day - he said it right.  Every time I hear it now I mentally high five myself.

[elleblue]

Nov 11, 2014 14:30:03 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Nov 11, 2014 12:25:15 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I don't know The Newsroom, but I'm guessing someone from outside Boston directed them to say it wrong. We have a Lewistown in our state that everyone calls Lewiston for some reason?!

That's how I would pronounce both of those towns.


cville putting "the" in front of numbers related to freeways/highways is a hotly debated issue in CA. Hollywood is on the "the" side of the split.

There is no debate, freeways always have a "the" in front. 


/gavel 

[cville]

Nov 11, 2014 14:30:03 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Nov 11, 2014 12:25:15 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I don't know The Newsroom, but I'm guessing someone from outside Boston directed them to say it wrong. We have a Lewistown in our state that everyone calls Lewiston for some reason?!

That's how I would pronounce both of those towns.


cville putting "the" in front of numbers related to freeways/highways is a hotly debated issue in CA. Hollywood is on the "the" side of the split.

Hollywood is WRONG!

Also, I think the notion that this was done on purpose to make some sort of larger point about the news being inaccurate is giving Aaron Sorkin way too much credit.  And I say this with love, because the West Wing is my favorite.

[Skyesthelimit1212]

wawa, we pronounce it Red-ing in MA too.

Oh and it's a rotary, not a Round-About or a Traffic Circle.  LOL 

[mbcdefg]

Nov 11, 2014 14:31:42 GMT -5 wawa said:

Nov 11, 2014 14:23:38 GMT -5 cville said:

Well, as an east coaster who grew up watching shows set in the east refer to things like "The 95" for years, I pretty much presume everyone in Hollywood gets everything wrong about anything east of Hot Springs.

People mispronounce town names ALL THE TIME. 
Off the top of my head from my travels:
Reading PA. (red-ing not like the thing you do with books) 
Lancaster PA.  (it's not Lan-caster.  It's closer to Lanc-astir.) 
Ellicott city (the cott is sorta elided.  Ellic't?  no idea how to type that.)
North Versailles, PA (actually pronounced Ver-sales.  As painful as that may be.)

I have heard in-market real life newscasters say every single one of those wrong. 

And tangent - there was a traffic guy on one of our local radio stations that mispronounced the name of the company sponsoring the traffic report wrong every.single.time and it drove me nuts.  Finally I commented on their FB page that somebody should fix that, and the next day - he said it right.  Every time I hear it now I mentally high five myself.

An interesting one in New Jersey is Secaucus ... people from that immediate area, like me, pronounce it "SEE-caw-kus." Everyone else in the state says "Suh-KAH-kiss." Both are considered acceptable.

[wawa]

Nov 11, 2014 14:34:03 GMT -5 Skyesthelimit1212 said:

wawa, we pronounce it Red-ing in MA too.

I ruined one of my friend's days when I told her it's pronounced redding and so is the railroad in Monopoly.   I have no idea why she took it so hard that she'd been mispronouncing it all this time, but she did.  She swore up and down that I was wrong. 

[foundmylazybum]

Nov 11, 2014 14:27:09 GMT -5 jillboston said:

Nov 11, 2014 14:18:48 GMT -5 4speedy said:

I am going to butcher this spelling, but isn't Worchester, Mass actually pronounced "Wooster."

I don't think I would get all up in arms about the name of a MA town being mispronounced. Why is this offensive to you?

it's actually pronounced "wister" or "wooster" depending on where you come from in MA. I could totally understand a one-off mispronunciation of a town like Worcester, Woburn (woooburn) etc. But if you have the proper spelling of Watertown it is impossible to pronounce. This was also not an SNL skit or the Jimmy Kimmel with a one liner. The show was devoted to the subject, it is a fictional news show centered around the news that came out of this event. I'm not really offended because I'm actually starting to think that they were trying to make a point (the point they were making all throughout the show in fact) about how news screws up things - especially when they are trying to get ratings.

I mean this with kindness...you are over invested lol.

[jillboston]

Nov 11, 2014 14:39:43 GMT -5 foundmylazybum said:

Nov 11, 2014 14:27:09 GMT -5 jillboston said:

it's actually pronounced "wister" or "wooster" depending on where you come from in MA. I could totally understand a one-off mispronunciation of a town like Worcester, Woburn (woooburn) etc. But if you have the proper spelling of Watertown it is impossible to pronounce. This was also not an SNL skit or the Jimmy Kimmel with a one liner. The show was devoted to the subject, it is a fictional news show centered around the news that came out of this event. I'm not really offended because I'm actually starting to think that they were trying to make a point (the point they were making all throughout the show in fact) about how news screws up things - especially when they are trying to get ratings.

I mean this with kindness...you are over invested lol.

quite possibly.

[LoveTrains]

Nov 11, 2014 14:31:42 GMT -5 wawa said:

Nov 11, 2014 14:23:38 GMT -5 cville said:

Well, as an east coaster who grew up watching shows set in the east refer to things like "The 95" for years, I pretty much presume everyone in Hollywood gets everything wrong about anything east of Hot Springs.

People mispronounce town names ALL THE TIME. 
Off the top of my head from my travels:
Reading PA. (red-ing not like the thing you do with books) 
Lancaster PA.  (it's not Lan-caster.  It's closer to Lanc-astir.) 
Ellicott city (the cott is sorta elided.  Ellic't?  no idea how to type that.)
North Versailles, PA (actually pronounced Ver-sales.  As painful as that may be.)

I have heard in-market real life newscasters say every single one of those wrong. 

And tangent - there was a traffic guy on one of our local radio stations that mispronounced the name of the company sponsoring the traffic report wrong every.single.time and it drove me nuts.  Finally I commented on their FB page that somebody should fix that, and the next day - he said it right.  Every time I hear it now I mentally high five myself.

Or this is really embarrassing - I grew up outside of Philly, in South Jersey.

I also thought Wilkes-Barre was pronounced like Wilks Bar, not wilks berry. 

that is weird that they mispronounced it. I obviously don't live far from Boston but sometimes the reporters mispronounce places like Woburn and Peabody on the Providence local news. 

I would assume that it was intentional that they mispronounced Watertown if it happened throughout the show but that is totally weird...I don't watch the show so I don't know enough about it. 

[meshaliuknits]

Nov 11, 2014 14:50:36 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Have you HEARD the way they pronounce New Orleans on tv?? And the accents they give us??

Why yes, yes I have. Scott Bacula and I have a date tonight and I will hear it again.

That said IDK that y'all don't sound like that.

[cattledogkisses]

I don't think this is worth getting worked up about. Massachusetts in particular seems have a lot of easily/commonly mispronounced towns (Worcester, Woburn, Peabody, Leominster, Dedham, Needham, Quincy, etc. etc.).

[ECB]

What legal issues would there be from this? That's what I'm curious about.

[cattledogkisses]

Reading, Waltham... the people who named and decided the pronunciations of some of the towns in the greater Boston area were on crack. Lol.

[Skyesthelimit1212]

Nov 11, 2014 15:00:17 GMT -5 ECB said:

What legal issues would there be from this? That's what I'm curious about.

Every time they show over head shots of The Longfellow bridge in a movie or tv show as depicting all of MA my soul dies a little, can I sue?

[wawa]

Nov 11, 2014 14:50:36 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Have you HEARD the way they pronounce New Orleans on tv?? And the accents they give us??

I avoid saying the name New Orleans at all costs.  I know no matter how I pronounce it somebody is going to tell me I did it wrong.

If I must, I just say it fast and mumbly and hope for the best.

This is also my approach to the word crayon. 

[cattledogkisses]

Nov 11, 2014 15:06:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Nov 11, 2014 14:50:36 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Have you HEARD the way they pronounce New Orleans on tv?? And the accents they give us??

I avoid saying the name New Orleans at all costs.  I know no matter how I pronounce it somebody is going to tell me I did it wrong.

If I must, I just say it fast and mumbly and hope for the best.

This is also my approach to the word crayon. 

There's more than one pronunciation for the word crayon?

[Skyesthelimit1212]

Nov 11, 2014 15:07:42 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

Nov 11, 2014 15:06:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

I avoid saying the name New Orleans at all costs.  I know no matter how I pronounce it somebody is going to tell me I did it wrong.

If I must, I just say it fast and mumbly and hope for the best.

This is also my approach to the word crayon. 

There's more than one pronunciation for the word crayon?

Is is like caramel or carmel?