US Cities You're Pronouncing Completely Wrong
Americans are quite adept at butchering the names of foreign places, but alas, these offenses are also committed everyday on American soil. Here are 20 cities in our OWN DAMN COUNTRY that you're probably mispronouncing. Please, for the good of the nation, get your shit together.
NOT: Lah-FEY-et
We bought Louisiana from the French, and of course proceeded to totally butcher the French pronunciation of this city. That's so us!
NOT: BOY-zee
Just to mess with you a little more, its racetrack -- Les Bois -- is pronounced "Lay Bwah." Even weirder, Boise is a legit cool place to spend a weekend. A lot to mull over on this one.
NOT: Hel-AY-na
There are a hell of a lot worse places in Montana, but none that are this easy to mispronounce.
NOT: Wilks-BAR
Behold, a town in Pennsylvania named after the Golden State Warriors' two best players from 1975-1977: Jamaal Wilkes and Rick Barry.
NOT: La HOLLA
Yeah, and la-holla at us if you've ever heard someone call it "La JOL-LA." Same.
NOT: KISS-a-mee
Good move with this one -- otherwise their town name would sound like Super Mario trying to get to first base.
NOT: Nor-FOKE
But if you ask folks from Norfolk a question, do they answer "yea" or "naw"?
NOT: Spo-KANE
C'mon people, you spo-can get this right!
NOT: WOR-ches-ter and WOR-sess-ter
This IS New England, however, so you'll probably hear it called WUSS-tah. Or even WISS-tah.
NOT: LOUEY-vill
And it is definitely not LOU-iss-vill.
NOT: SEE-kwim
Yes, it has a funny name, but they make up for it by being one of the best dang beach towns on the West Coast.
NOT: See-NEK-ta-dee
The Mohawk tribe of the Iroquois Nation originally called this area "Schau-naugh-ta-da," which means "over the pine plains." Not any easier to pronounce, however.
NOT: Wah-KESH-a
... or Wah-KE$HA for that matter, even though when you ask people why they pronounce the name of the town like that, they're all, "We R Who We R."
NOT: SALT-saynt MA-ree
Soooooo, it doesn't sound anything like it looks? Got it.
NOT: DES Moyns
... or DES-money, for that matter. Although, with a poppin' job market and low cost of living, you'd be forgiven if you move there and call it that, privately.
NOT: Scan-EAT-ells
If you said you knew how to pronounce this place, it's probably time to eat your words. Sorry, I got nothin.'
NOT: Pat-cha-goo
Proper pronunciation of this place: yet another thing you only know if you're from Long Island.
NOT: Poo-ya-lup or Pooh-Y'all-up
The second one sounds like what Christopher Robin probably said whenever he went into the Hundred Acre Wood.
NOT: Beth... um, followed by something else, presumably.
NOT: CALL-uh-ROD-o
OK, not a city, but for the good of America, it'd be cool if you stopped screwing this up. Colorado is pronounced Col-uh-RAD-o. Rad.
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