It bothers me that professional American journalists and pundits cannot correctly pronounce the name of one of our states correctly, even when reporting from that state.

It's Appalachian, as in "apple at-chah". There is no "lay".

Every time I hear Ap-Uh-Lay-Chan it's like fingermails on a chalkboard to my poor brain.

I never heard "apple at-chah" until I moved to Altoona.

I've only heard the "lay" outside of the mountains.

No lie, I spoke just minutes ago with the president of a company that has "Appalachian" in the name (not the Outfitters).

She distinctly pronounced it "Apple-a-shun."

From Wikipedia: Appalachian mountains

Origin of the name
Detail of Diego Gutiérrez's 1562 map of the Western Hemisphere, showing the first known use of a variation of the place name "Appalachia" ("Apalchen&quot - from the map Americae sive qvartae orbis partis nova et exactissima descriptio

While exploring inland along the northern coast of Florida in 1528, the members of the Narváez expedition, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, found a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida whose name they transcribed as Apalchen or Apalachen [a.paˈla.tʃɛn]. The name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15, 1528, and applied the name. Now spelled "Appalachian," it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US.[10]

After the de Soto expedition in 1540, Spanish cartographers began to apply the name of the tribe to the mountains themselves. The first cartographic appearance of Apalchen is on Diego Gutierrez's map of 1562; the first use for the mountain range is the map of Jacques le Moyne de Morgues in 1565.[11]

The name was not commonly used for the whole mountain range until the late 19th century. A competing and often more popular name was the "Allegheny Mountains", "Alleghenies", and even "Alleghania". In the early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania.[12]

In U.S. dialects in the southern regions of the Appalachians, the word is pronounced /ˌæpəˈlætʃᵻnz/, with the third syllable sounding like "latch". In northern parts of the mountain range, it is pronounced /ˌæpəˈleɪtʃᵻnz/ or /ˌæpəˈleɪʃᵻnz/; the third syllable is like "lay", and the fourth "chins" or "shins".[13] Elsewhere, a commonly accepted pronunciation for the adjective Appalachian is /ˌæpəˈlætʃiən/, with the last two syllables "-ian" pronounced as in the word "Romanian".[14]

Ignorance seems to be the American way.

As R. P. McMurphy noted above, it's annoying to those who live there to hear it pronounced incorrectly. I mean even Appalachian State University in Boone, NC is pronounced with the third syllable as "Latch".

I'm confident that better than 99% of your vocabulary isn't pronounced the "true" way, but that doesn't bother you. Instead, you cherry-pick which words you think are worth pronouncing "correctly," and fuck the rest.

You have no monopoly on the "true" pronunciation of anything, no matter how you try to posture about it. For that matter, you don't get to tell others who've lived in the Apple-ay-shuns that they've got it wrong.

You're just another smug hipster trying to sound smarter than you are.


It's transparent and sad and unsurprising.

The fact that you call it "West Virginia," rather than the designation given to that area by the First Nations people, is sufficient to prove that you're posturing.

You dig in your heels about apple-atcha because, on some level, it simply gratifies your aesthetics to do so. That's fine; that's why most people do most things, in fact. But don't pretend that your motivation is any more lofty or righteous than that.

The Spanish named the mountains after a tribe they encountered in Florida. That pronunciation was the first one used. Your whole hipster bullshit spiel... I don't even live in a city - I'm a deer hunting country living guy.

Have fun Orrex. Many a person has gotten pissed off at the stubborn pride of the people of Appalachia. And no matter how many nasty things they say, we are still Proud.

It's pronounced like "latch" in the third syllable.

Same for the mountains.

I don't know why this is so difficult for some to handle.

I'm not pretending that your favored pronunciation is wrong; I'm (rightly) noting that it's not the only correct one.

That us locals all call it App State anyway, lol!

We used to call it Happy Appy!

I was there when one still had to drive to Blowing Rock for beer!

"I'm hawngree, ya'll rady for dinner?".... this is my cousin

The SE and Northern VA areas used the "Lay", the mountain west and SW used the "Latch".

The mountains to the west were always called the Alleghenies (Blue Ridge to the east).

My 7th grade geography teacher in 1951 said the whole range was the Appalachians.

The Appalachia name for the region seemed to come out of the 1960s.

I grew up in central Maine and regularly hiked in the Appalachian Mountains. I never heard "apple at-chahn" until I left the state in my 20s. For us, it was "apple-ae-shun." Of course, everyone from out-of-state mispronounces "Bangor," Maine, too. (It should be "Bang'-gore" not "Ban-gehr".)

I'm from central Maine too. I guess we have a funny Mainer way of saying things. It seems like there was some decision made long ago to intentionally pronounce the names of Maine places in weird ways so it that out-of-staters would give themselves away when they try to pronounce the names. Another one I heard wrong was Topsham. Mainers say Top-sum. Out-of-staters actually pronounce Top-sham. Yeah, seems like it should be that way, but it's not. Also Range Pond... Mainers say it like Rang, like someone rang a bell. Everyone else thinks it is Range, like the kitchen appliance. That one really doesn't seem right to me, but I say it Rang, because I know that's the way everyone else says it around here. Saco... Mainers say it like Sock-o. I've heard out-of-staters say it like Say-co.

I spent a lot of time in SW VA and West Virginia where it was always an a like "latch".

I would feel weird saying it the other way. So if you are talking about the part of the Appalachian mountain range that is in Maine, that's
apple-ae-shun. Mtn Katahdin is the northern-most point in the apple-ae-shun trail.

One of the things that gets me is the word aunt. Seems like other places say this as "ant". Mainers say it so it rhymes with flaunt, taunt, gaunt (do other people say those words like fl-ant, t-ant, g-ant?). Anyhow, I've read many books to my son that rhyme aunt with something like chant. That just doesn't work for me the way I say it.

Coloraw do , you are not back east anymore so quit talking like it

Missour "ee". Well, at least that's how I pronounced it when I lived there. Some people do say "ah" though. Dems tend to say "ee", although Harry Truman said "ah".

He said that it is regional within the state, and that he grew up pronouncing it one way and his wife, who was from a different area of Missouri, pronounced it the other way!

This is true. Fortunately I learned it as Missour "ee" and that's how it was pronounced in the area where I lived (St. Louis).

"Misery"

There's also no R in WASH (see? NO FUCKING R.)

Just because I live here, is not an excuse for me to be an illiterate fuckwad.

I hear Warshington time to time here in Murland. (Maryland).

Half the state population thinks laundry day is warshing day. Makes me just want to slap motherf▪▪▪▪▪s grrr...

Or is it Arkansaw?

And don't get started on Havaii.

My home town El Doh Ray Doh El Dorado

They say "Shi-caaaah-go" when it is supposed to be "Shi-cawww-go." (Difference between "ah" and "aw&quot

Who cares? Just not important.

This is something I would expect on a right-wing site. Is it not important to people that our journalists and reporters speak correct English in all its particulars? I hear people on the air say "ec cetera" instead of "et cetera" fairly often. I am guessing that this doesn't bother anyone either.

Language declines when nobody cares.

Nobody from here pronounces Washington with an "R" either, but it's not really wrong - it's just a regional variation.

"Language declines when nobody cares..."

Language also declines when one does not allow for the colloquial and maintains the pretense of cleverness. Not too many people engage in the original Spanish pronunciations of Puerto Rico or the Ojibwa pronunciation of Chengwatana-- something I too, would expect from a right wing website...

And it evolves partly through the embrace of regionalisms.

Unless you're speaking Old English like Cædmon himself, you might want to be careful where you throw those stones.

It's conservative and authoritarian. I never would have thought to say that until you suddenly accused people who don't have the same concerns as you as seeming like they're from a right wing site.

We used to call people who are obsessed with one 'correct' pronunciation "good students"! What is "liberal" about saying words incorrectly? I thought we were the smart ones.

It's liberal to not worry about how someone pronounces something; it's authoritarian to tell them they must pronounce it the way you have decreed (as opposed to the Spanish way(s), or with Spanish vowels at least, or the way you'd pronounce it if you saw it written down).

I love this idea that insisting on getting facts right, pronouncing words correctly, and using the English language properly is "authoritarian" and thus bad. We are taught not to say "he had went to the store" in English class. Should this usage be allowed after all to avoid "authoritarian indoctrination"? I don't get this anti-intellectual attitude at all.

It's just how the locals, for no particular reason, have decide to pronounce it.

In England, southern people pronounce 'castle' and 'bath' with a long A, and northern people with a short one. But they don't insist that Bath, in the south, and Newcastle, in the north, must be pronounced by everyone exactly as the locals say.

What you should remember is that you were the one who claimed others here were behaving as if on a right wing site.

Mispronunciation or regional accent....

it doesn't matter.

If you don't care, you must be a right winger!

I've seen the right wing thing thrown around for many a argument, but this may be the absolute funniest one I've seen! You win!

when contemplating a Republican winning in November, as in "Awww, FUCK!"

I recall Bill Kurtis used to really lean on that 'aww' sound, to the point where it sounded over-the-top.

In my regional dialect (which must be Pittsburghese) those words sound the same. But what do we know? We pronounce Appalachian with and "aye" sound.

HOLD AHN! HOLD AHN!

It's a Spanish word, and the Spanish-speaking world pronounces it "nev-ah-da". As per usual, Americans such as yourself insisting that the conventional mispronunciation is gospel are flat out wrong. Not too different from the Texans that insist on pronouncing the their town Amarillo with l's as heard in the word "lollipop". The Texans are wrong and so are Nev-ah-dans.

and welcome to DU.

I have idiots who pronounce "Buena Vista" as "Byoonah Vihstah".

'Murica, nuff said.

There's a town of around 12,000 (part of a three city group of around 60k) called Bourbonnais.

It's clearly a French name, but there are plenty around these parts who pronounce it bur-boh-nis.

Grates on my ear.

Is pronounced "Bew-furt" by the locals.

Is the road named "Gratiot" (a French word).

The locals have always pronounced it "grass shit." Go figure.

but of course not DEE-troit either. I told a woman I know in Winchester, Virginia, just the other day that if she pronounced the city name wrong she didn't know anything about it.

(I lived in Wayne County, Michigan for 30 years and in De-TROIT for 6 years)

Buena Vista - "Beyoona Vista" and this is hard for me due to my knowledge of Spanish.

Buchanan - "Buckannon"

Botetourt - "Bot-a-tot"

Staunton - "Stanten"

And for the record, I also say "Navahda."

Staunton, in Waynesboro, so I am familiar with that mispronunciation. Went to Fishburne Military who inherited all the SMA cadets when that august institution closed in 1976.

It's such a pretty location. The people in the area are actively working to stop a pipeline from going through.

(and some still are). Back in my day there was Bender Labs (Dupont), Stanley Furniture, GE, Morton-Thiokol, and a Vinegar plant. Most are gone now. They also had a rock quarry that strip-mined the side of the mountain and left this ugly gash visible for miles, but later leveled the whole mountain to a hill and covered it with grass.

Nice place, but VERY conservative.

always heard it as "farm-wull"

Norfolk = Naw-fuk

is pronounced bew-na vihs-ta

Livernois Avenue in Detroit is pronounced lih-ver-noy rather than the French lee-fer-nhwa (you need a defective palate to speak French).

The surname Taliaferro in Virginia is pronounced Tolliver (and some families have legally corrected the spelling).

I had a slightly different phonetic spelling elsewhere, but it is still incorrect, since it is a Spanish name and that's not how it is pronounced in Spanish.

Now how they get "Tolliver" from the Italian name Taliaferro is beyond me.

Her name was Taliaferro and she got mortally offended if you didn't say "tolliver" as Taliaferro (tolliver) was one of the FFV (first families of Virginia. Apparently Taliaferro was an Italian merchant who settled in London and his later generations were some of the early settlers in Virginia.

when he came to Virginia. I am guessing it was changed when "foreign sounding" names started to seem "disreputable".

To their credit, the FFV did pronounce "Staunton" correctly.

Check out these Google search results before you reply.

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=mispronounce+nevada&oq=mispronounce+nevada&gs_l=hp.3..35i39j0i22i30.910.4798.0.6338.20.19.0.0.0.0.289.2183.3j10j3.16.0....0...1c.1.64.hp..4.15.2112.0.EvVKA8lozUM

On my side, they're Jewish, they pronounce it the conventional way. On my wife's side, they're Mexican. Guess how they pronounce it? The exact same way as their ancestors who created the damn state!

There are historians who will argue that the Escalante party may have traveled over the southern corner of the state (I think the evidence for this is poor); the Spanish/Mexican trail goes through the southern tip but again, trail, as in a road from point A to point B.

Even though the was claimed by the Spanish for a few centuries and the Mexicans for about thirty years, there were no Spanish or Mexican settlements in the state, period.

Nevada history, it's a good thing to learn.

It's LAS Vegas, friend, and that's not even REAL Nevada. You want to talk to people from NEVADA? Go to Hawthorne. Go to Fallon. Go to Winnemucca. To to Tonopah, or Lovelock, Mina or Luning. I bet you call San Francisco "Frisco" don'tcha.

You say "Vegas" while chiding someone over the way they pronounce NevADDa. LOL!

That's some comedy gold right there.

And don't take this out of context: I was chiding someone who was ridiculously attempting to chide others for rightfully pronouncing it in accordance to its Spanish origins. I'm familiar with other towna in Nevada aside from Vegas, and didn't know that there was this bullshit idea of what constitutes "real" Nevada. Sounds sort of like an NYC vs extra-NYC conflict in NY state. I'm quite sure my cousins would think you're an asshole for considering them fake Nevadans because of their residence in Vegas. As for me personally, I've stayed in Winnemucca and Reno aside from my time in Vegas. There, now that that's out of the way, I just want to say "Vegas" one more time since it annoys you.

Peace.

Idiots. As if locality confers authority.

And well said!

And it's C-ah-lee-foor-nia. Sick of idiots calling it "Caaaaaleeee", like they're so fucking hip and laid back. Morons.

. . . a single 'd', occuring between vowels, is typically pronounced closer to a lightly-voice 'th' sound than it is to a 'd' (let alone two 'd's!).

and you're angry at people for not adding a second? That's very strange.

and use the archaic "one..." Happy Monday.

"Is it still called a 'lift' if you're going down?" An eye blink and a smile was her reply.

One too many i's, one too many syllables, stress all wrong...

I adore that pronunciation and wish we said it that way here.

announcers saying "Maaz-da" instead of "Mahz-da."

and some Australian shows so it isn't as odd, but there are still words - as someone said, aluminum, and schedule and lieutenant that catch my attention. And Barrack.

but I'll trade you a Kirkcudbright for a Bryn Mawr.

Why is it pronounced 'Tems' instead of 'Thayms', by the way?