Oh! The highway discussion reminded me. Referring to the Philadelphia highways as "76" or "476" instead of the Schuylkill and the Blue Route.
Don't get me started on the recent change on of I-95 in Bucks County to 295. To get to Princeton from my house, Google tells me to take the right lane to take the I-95 ramp to Trenton and then immediately merge onto I-295 East. There is no other option. I am so confused.
DH has a friend/colleague from France who'd graduated from Rice University, worked in Philly for a time and then went back to France. He was asked to lecture at a conference "at the university in Newark" so he and his wife arrived a few days early to sightsee in NYC figuring they'd take the train to Newark the afternoon before the talk.
When they turned up at the Holiday Inn there was no reservation or conference. He was supposed to be in DE.
When I was in college, I took the train into NYC with a friend that I worked with. I was maybe 20, she was 18, it was our first time going into the city by ourselves without an "adult".
We knew we were going to Penn Station in NYC.
Guys.
The last stop before Penn Station, New York, is.... Penn Station, Newark.
We were talking, heard the conductor say "Newark Penn Station" which SOUNDS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE NEW YORK, and got off.
Then my friend panicked and refused to just wait to get on the next train and go the rest of the way into the city. So she paid like $150 for a cab to take us. Oopsie.
And people that call University of Pittsburgh UPitt. All of my out of town Carnegie Mellon classmates did this.
ARRRGHHH YESSS thank you for this. I also went to Pitt and I cannot tell you how many people say, "Oh right, UPitt!" and I just wince and nod.
People have covered most of the fun town names around Boston already, so I'll just add these two: Quincy, MA = "Quin-zee" People who grew up here (not me) also don't say 95 or I-95 - the highway (*not* freeway!) will always just be 128.
St. Louis has many French street names/neighborhoods that are absolutely butchered beyond the point of recognition. I grew up here and only just realized a few years ago that the street I had driven down thousands of times - Chouteau - was also the street I'd heard pronounced Show-doe my entire life. This article breaks it down pretty well:
Also, while both are correct, locals call it Highway 40 (farty) and everyone else calls it I-64. I still switch back and forth depending on who I'm talking to. When I first moved here, it took me always took me a minute when people used one or the other to know they were the same.
St. Louis has many French street names/neighborhoods that are absolutely butchered beyond the point of recognition. I grew up here and only just realized a few years ago that the street I had driven down thousands of times - Chouteau - was also the street I'd heard pronounced Show-doe my entire life. This article breaks it down pretty well:
Also, while both are correct, locals call it Highway 40 (farty) and everyone else calls it I-64. I still switch back and forth depending on who I'm talking to. When I first moved here, it took me always took me a minute when people used one or the other to know they were the same.
I split the difference and call it 64/40, but 40 if I'm talking to my friends and family. The thing I can't stop myself from doing is calling Mercy "St. John's Hospital."
It's fun reading this and thinking about places I've lived and where you all live.
I grew up near Annapolis so agree with ssmjlm on Rowe Blvd, and then I lived as an adult in DC, New Hampshire/Boston area, and now SoCal. I have definitely gotten used to saying "the" in front of all the interstates. tacokick, my sister and parents live in Ellicott City. I think of it as "L-a-kit" rather than "ellie-kit."
In the San Diego area, there are a lot of Spanish-inspired names. Most people know how to pronounce La Jolla (I still remember learning that from the movie Traffic when Catherine Zeta-Jones first said it), but when I first moved here I had to get used to Via de La Valle being "Vi-yay" and similar.
Maine has so many Native American place names: Damariscotta and Sagadahoc are the ones I most often hear wrong, but there are dozens. People call Calais Ka-lay, like you would in the original French, when it’s “callus.” Bangor is “Bang-gore,” not “banger” or “Ban-ger.”
IDK, it’s Maine; why should anyone know this stuff? Local to Portland, we have so many new people—it would be very hard to get it all right.
I've been wondering this, as someone who wants to move to the mid-coast - is it DAMrascotta or DaMARascotta? I've heard both. The second is intuitive, wikipedia implies the first, so that's what I've been using.
My mom, who has lived around there for 50 years but is not a native, says it more like the first. The second syllable is hardly pronounced at all.
I hope you do move here! The Rockland area is one of my favorite places on earth.
When I was in college, I took the train into NYC with a friend that I worked with. I was maybe 20, she was 18, it was our first time going into the city by ourselves without an "adult".
We knew we were going to Penn Station in NYC.
Guys.
The last stop before Penn Station, New York, is.... Penn Station, Newark.
We were talking, heard the conductor say "Newark Penn Station" which SOUNDS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE NEW YORK, and got off.
Then my friend panicked and refused to just wait to get on the next train and go the rest of the way into the city. So she paid like $150 for a cab to take us. Oopsie.
This is super common - I have no idea whey they are called the same thing. Any time I am on the train there is at least one tourist confused wand I tell them NYC is the next stop.
lAnd there is no S pronounced at the end of Illinois.
I have never heard anyone pronounce Illinois with the S even when they aren’t from Illinois (I am Michigan) but this is often one of the things people bring up when asked these questions (not necessarily on here).
My dad’s wife probably pronounces Illinois wrong. We have a city in Michigan called Novi pronounced No Vi (Vi like you pronounce the v-i in visor) but my dad’s wife pronounced it NoVEE and I generally had no idea what she was talking about even though I live relatively close to the city.
Anyway, we had lots of roads or cities most people who grew up in Michigan can only pronounce (to name a few):
Schoenherr Gratiot Dequindre Sault Ste. Marie Ypsilanti Mackinac Okemos
People around here also say that stand "on line" instead of "in line".
Native NYers, please explain this to me!
Omg. I do not understand "on line". Unless there is a physical line on the floor you are standing on, the line is comprised of people. Therefore you are IN line.
In Atlanta Ponce de Leon Ave. is not said with the Spanish pronunciation. It's Pahnce duh Leon (Leon-the guy that works on your car, not the Conquistador).
Georgia towns:
Villa Rica Villuh Ricuh
Lafayette - La Faye Ette not Lahfee-ette.
Dahlonega - Duh Lon eh guh (does not sounds Talladega).
Grocery store: Krogers. It's just Kroger. No S.
Food: Pollo said "Polo" all the time here. No, it's more like Poy-Yo.
Quesadilla - Kes a Dill Uh
In SC, the county where Myrtle Beach is located. Horry County. It's not Whore-ree. It's Or-ee. Like in French. Some natives to the county will say Oh-ree.
There’s a city two hours west of Nola, in Cajun land, called Lafayette, and we say La-Fee-ette, with emphasis on Fee.
Ok douche, go ahead and call it mud. My husband DID have halitosis. We addressed it after I talked to you girls on here and guess what? Years later, no problem. Mofongo, you're a cunt. Eat shit. ~anonnamus
I’m from Hawaii … so pretty much any street name or word that has Hawaiian language origins. 😋
lol when I first moved here we were looking at houses in Kapolei,and I would talk about it all the time at work. One day this girl was like "it's not kap-oh-lay! It's cop-uh-lay" (I think. Now I just forever feel like I say it wrong lol). Poor people though I was probably driving them crazy.
The first one off the top of my head is in Cincinnati I can tell if a traffic reporter is new or not from here if they call Reading Rd "Reeding Rd." It's pronounced "Redding Rd."
In MA we have Readville (REEDville) which is about a 20-minute drive from Reading (REDDIng) so that never caused confusion.
Louisville. There was an entire tourism campaign based on different ways people try to say it. Non locals tend to say loo-EE-vil. Some locals say a version of that with the accent on the first syllable but there is more blending of the sounds. Most locals and the rest of the state says lou-AH-vul or LUH-vul.
There is a subsection of older people (70s+) around me who pronounce Cincinnati with an UH sound at the end instead of the EE sound. Not exactly local but I’ve always been curious where that comes from.
Sadly, it’s only because Louisville is in the news that I’ve noticed how pleasant the local pronunciation is, Loo(ah)ville, but with the middle syllable almost inaudible. That’s how I say it now.