Y’all come to New Orleans and try to pronounce a single street name “right.”
Bourbon Street
It’s pronounced “urinal.”
Here’s the really crazy thing.
Ark City, KS is located on the Ar-KAN-sas River. But this is the same river that flows through Little Rock under the name AR-kan-saw.
We come through and destroy an entire native civilization, and as a final “fuck you” we butcher their dead languages and name military equipment after them.
Oh, don’t forget putting towns named after some of the military officials that subjugated them on their reservation land.
The Mackinac Bridge connects the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan. It is in Mackinaw City. There is a nearby island, Mackinac.
The bridge is mackin-awwh.
The city is mackin-awwh.
The island is mackin-awwh.
I, an east coaster, once bought a car from Texarkana. When I learned it was literally on the border of Texas and Arkansas, I think my brain broke. Great share, thanks!
Well, which Texarkana did you buy it from?
Arkansas side. Drunken ebay purchase out in the sticks that amazingly worked out. '72 olds 98 that sounded like a c47 on approach. Thanks for listening to my lame nonsense.
There’s a Newark NJ and a Newark DE.
The Jersey one is pronounced Newurk and the Delaware one is pronounced New Ark. It’s mildly inconvenient.
The little town in Texas is also “New Ark”.
Some of my other favorites:
Texas
- Montague = mon-TAYG (hard ‘g’)
- Italy = IT-lee (2 syllables)
- Buda = BUD-duh (EDIT: or is it BYOO-duh ?)
Georgia
- Vienna = VYE-eena
- Cairo = KAY-roe
Canada (less experience here, tbf)
- Newfoundland = NEW-fin-LAND (do NOT slur the “land” part. Enunciate!)
Texas has so many. Bogota pronounced buh-GO-duh
Arkansas has a Lafayette county pronounced luh-FAY-it even though that county literally borders Louisiana.
Don’t even get me started on Bowie, DeKalb, or Houston.
I’m gonna add one I love trotting out from Oklahoma.
There’s a Miami, Oklahoma. It’s pronounced My-am-uh.
I’ve got about a billion from Oklahoma specifically.
Ah yes. “Hoo-ston” and “How-ston” are definitely both things.
“De-kab” and “De-kalb”
Haven’t run into the Bowie one.
In Texas it’s Boo-wee. That was the man’s name as is the knife that bears it. Outside of Texas people mispronounce it as Bow-ee like Ziggy Stardust.
If you’re talking about David (rest in power) Bowie, then it’s Bow-ee. But the knife is Boo-wee.
Arab, Alabama. (Ay-rab)
See also: Lafayette (Le-FAY-it)
Arkansas is pronounced Arr-Kansas already though. ;)
