14 Places You’re Probably Pronouncing Wrong

by Adam

Not necessary for us frequent travelers in the BoardingArea community right? Thanks to the HuffPost for this fun list:

Louisville, Kentucky
You may be saying: Looey-ville
But actually, it’s: Loo-a-vull or Loo-a-ville

Schenectady, New York
You may be saying: Ski-nek-tay-dee
But actually, it’s: Skuh-nek-ta-dee

Mackinac Island, Michigan
You may be saying: Mak-in-ak
But actually, it’s: Mak-uh-naw

Poughkeepsie, New York
You may be saying: Po-keep-see
But actually, it’s: Puh-kip-see

Spokane, Washington
You may be saying: Spoh-cane
But actually, it’s: Spoh-kan

New Orleans, Louisiana
You may be saying: New Oar-leenz
But actually, it’s: New Oar-lee-uh-nz, New Oar-luh-nz OR New Oar-leenz*
The good news is that there are many ways to say NOLA’s name — and none is considered definitively correct, not even in the dictionary.

Toronto
You may be saying: Tuh-ron-toh
But actually, it’s: Traw-no
While most American English speakers will throw in the second “T,” Torontonians tend to drop it in their pronunciation. As one local says, “If someone pronounces that second T, it’s a tipoff that they’re not from here.”

Montreal
You may be saying: Mon-tree-awl
But actually, it’s: Muhn-trawl
Remember that, for many locals, the first part of Montreal is “muhn,” as in “money.” While popular, this may not be the absolute correct way to pronounce it — you can also harken back to the classic French dialect.

Quebec
You may be saying: Kwi-bec
But actually, it’s: Keh-bec or Kay-bec
Whether you use the local pronunciation or the proper French, one thing’s for sure: there isn’t a “W” going on here.

Seychelles
You may be saying: Say-chee-les
But actually, it’s: Sey-shel or Sey-shelz
She sells sea shells by the… Seychelles?

Antigua
You may be saying: An-tee-gwah
But actually, it’s: An-tee-guh
When a place is this beautiful, you’re gonna wanna say it right.

St. Croix
You may be saying: Saint Craw-cks
But actually, it’s: Saint Kroi
If you want to sound refined — or if you want to sound normal, really — ditch the “x.”

Nice
You may be saying: Nahys
But actually, it’s: Nees
You may already know the correct French pronunciation, but it sounds much nicer.

Aix-en-Provence
You may be saying: Aches-on-pro-vanz
But actually, it’s: Ek-sahn-praw-vahns
Between the town’s endless boulangeries and patisseries, you’ll have plenty of time to “chew” on this fact.

Pronunciation Guide

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5 comments

Gwayrav December 3, 2014 - 6:33 pm

Add Dubai: Arabic Doo-bey (rhymes with bay/day/say) and not Doob-eye.

Reply
The Weekly Flyer December 3, 2014 - 8:30 pm

I’ll add Anguilla.

You might say Ang-we-la or Ang-we-ya
But you should say Ang-will-a as in rhymes with vanilla

Reply
SH December 3, 2014 - 8:51 pm

Copenhagen
You may be saying: Cope-an-haw-gen
But actually, it’s: Cope-an-hay-gen

Melbourne
You may be saying: Mel-bourne or Mel-burn
But actually, it’s: Mel-ben

Reply
Chucks December 4, 2014 - 12:20 am

How much of that Louisville pronunciation is just affecting a midwestern accent? “Loo-a-vull” just sounds like a midwestern accent creeping in, especially the corruption of -ville. I’m sure those people would similarly corrupt the names of other cities ending in -ville. Does that mean Louisville residents are pronouncing other cities ending in ville wrong? No, that’s just how they speak. Pronouncing a place differently than the locals doesn’t necessarily make it wrong, especially if that difference is because of an accent.

Reply
Mel Bakersfield December 4, 2014 - 8:01 am

I am from Toronto and the local pronunciation as more like
Tor-awno. The French pronunciation of Montreal is Moh-re-ahl.

Reply

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