On Pronouncing Place Names

[WLJ]

Fistful it is pronounced misery.

Fistful or the state?

[Doggy Daddy]

Drive through a small city going to and from work every day.  Pataskala.  Most say "puh TAS kuh luh".  Some say "PAY task ala"

Taking a chance at a question here... Do you know of or have you heard of Massey's Pizza?  Does it still exist?

[230RN]

Hah.  Yooz gyz should look up the names of places in Michigan (Mishgun)  There are too many to list. I'll give you one or two or three...Mackinac...Ypsilanti...Charlotte.  Oh heck...Onekama, Tahquamenon, Muskallonge, and an easy one Pine Stump Junction.

I hadn't heard of the Pine Stump tribe.

[RocketMan]

Try Puyallup, Sequim or Issaquah, all in WA.  In USMC NCO school many years ago I had to give a speech to graduate.  I gave it on place names in Washington State.

[lee n. field]

Sometimes the locals just mispronounce things. There's no need to go along with them. And, no, not everyone in Missour-ee calls it Missour-uh. That would be dumb. 

Misery.

[Larry Ashcraft]

Pueblo CO.   About half of the residents pronounce it "Pee-eblow" and the lazier ones say "Peblo".  It's actually Pweh-blow.

We have about 50% Hispanic residents.  It's hilarious when someone is trying to say, hand out diplomas if they're not used to Spanish pronunciation.  It's not "Vigil", it's "Vee-hill".  It's not "Martin-ezz", it's "Martee-nez".

[RoadKingLarry]

Fistful it is pronounced misery.

FTFY

[Perd Hapley]

Fistful it is pronounced misery.

Not this week, though. We've been having highs in the 70s or low 80s, and no more of those monsoon rains of the past few weeks.

[Perd Hapley]

Pueblo CO.   About half of the residents pronounce it "Pee-eblow" and the lazier ones say "Peblo". 

Pee-eblow? How does anyone get "pee" out of "Pue-"?   

[zxcvbob]

And don't they remember the Consumer Information Catalog ads from the 70's or maybe it was 80's?  Pueblo, Colorado 81009

[Perd Hapley]

And don't they remember the Consumer Information Catalog ads from the 70's or maybe it was 80's?  Pueblo, Colorado, 81009

   I remember watching some kids show from Canada, and wondering why they pronounced the letter Z as "zed."

[WLJ]

And don't they remember the Consumer Information Catalog ads from the 70's or maybe it was 80's?  Pueblo, Colorado 81009

That is burnt into my memory.

Still around too in both on-line and printed formats https://pueblo.gpo.gov/Publications/PuebloPubs.php

[zahc]

  I remember watching some kids show from Canada, and wondering why they pronounced the letter Z as "zed."

I hang out with so many furriners my brain thinks zed is the correct pronunciation. The other day on the phone I was dictating some account number to a robo-customer service agent, and I accidentally said zed. It worked fine. So they must program it to work either way  Next time I'm going to try the NATO spelling alphabet.