List of places in the United States with counterintuitive pronunciations: M–Z

This list is a sublist of List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations.

Place names in the United States of America

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ cf. the obvious final syllable of Miami, Florida
  2. ↑ All derived from Montpellier, France [mɔ̃pɛˈlje]
  3. ↑ equivalent to the British English pronunciation of Moscow, Russia. Other Moscows in America are /ˈmɒskaʊ/, the American English pronunciation of the Russian city.
  4. ↑ The pronunciation /nəˈvɑːdə/, while fairly common (particularly in the eastern United States), is stigmatized locally.
  5. ↑ cf. Newark, New Jersey /ˈnjuːərk/ and cf Newark, Delaware and Newark, New York /ˈnjuːɑːrk/ generally
  6. ↑ Traditionally locally /ˈnwɔːrlɪnz/ with a very light /w/ is used, i.e. between the local and national.
  7. ↑ Identical to the English county of Norfolk, and intuitive given the common word folk. Popular navy wordplay notwithstanding, the vowel in the last syllable is unstressed, very short, and closed, as in foot. Locals born in or after the last half of the 20th Century, who have partly or wholly adopted the American Broadcast Accent, often pronounce it /ˈnɔːrfɪk/ with the r substituted for /ɻ/
  8. ↑ cf. Palestine: /ˈpælɪstaɪn/
  9. ↑ cf. the regular American pronunciation of "Christian", /ˈkrɪstʃən/
  10. ↑ Not intuitive /ˈpiːˈbɒdi/
  11. ↑ cf. common and well-known Spanish approximations elsewhere.
  12. ↑ Or intuitively per Spanish among Hispanics
  13. ↑ Italian ruined city pronounced /pɒmˈpeɪ/)
  14. ↑ cf. Raleigh surname and brands traditionally said like Wall
  15. ↑ Locally.
  16. ↑ Same as examples in England such as London Borough of Waltham Forest. cf. greatly US well-known comparators.
  17. ↑ Woburn, Bedfordshire and Woburn, Toronto are simply /ˈwoʊbərn/
  18. ↑ Mispronounced as /ˈwuːstər/
  19. ↑ As per traditional English town, county and sauce
  20. ↑ Though the pronunciation /ˈjækəmə/ is also heard. The Native American people for whom the river, city, and county are named now prefer the spelling Yakama.

    Further reading

    • G. M. Miller (editor) (1971). BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-431125-2.
    • Ordnance Survey of Ireland (1989). Gazetteer of Ireland. Government Publications Office. ISBN 0-7076-0076-6.
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