Heh. You're right Mama Tiger. But oh I know all about the "true" heat and humidity of the mid-Atlantic and the south.
I lived in Miami for 7 years and I grew up in Washington D.C. the nation's capitol of MUGGY.

Seattle's made me kind of a wimp. I'm usually always cold so I'm actually dealing with this "heatwave" better than most of my co-workers and friends.

But which Texas accent?

Any Texas accent. Believe me!

I moved to New Orleans from D.C., where I spent three years commuting to Pennsylvania Avenue. There still is no comparison. I honestly don't know how air here can be so much wetter -- maybe it's thicker because we're closer to the equator or something? -- but, for example, I always kept a perm in my hair in D.C. with no problems, even during the worst of the summer heat, but here my hair turns to instant and total frizz and I've had to give up completely on perms any more.

Although I shouldn't complain -- southern Japan is even worse. During August in Sasebo, on the island of Kyushu, it was routinely 110-115F (43-45C) with humidity at least equal to New Orleans levels. I nearly had heatstroke a couple of times until I persuaded Papa Tiger that, unlike him (who had lived in the tropics for nearly 20 years at that point), I was not used to the heat and when I said I needed a cold liquid NOW, I meant NOW unless he was prepared to rush me to the emergency room!

I always thought the "right" pronunciation was along the lines of "N'Awwlins". Shows what I know.

We have a bunch of French names in my area too. Creve Coeur (Creeve Core) makes me cringe , but I got used to Gravois (Grav-oy) and the St Fracois River (San'Francis) when I was really young, and I can't even bear it when people try to pronounce St. Louis the French way unless they're actually talking about Louis IX, King of France.

We also have some fun names for towns in Missouri. For my niece's 16th birthday I took her on a little weekend road trip where we went to places with interesting names regardless of their other attractions, just for kicks. Among others we went to Rhineland, Knob Lick, Frankenstein, and Mary's Home, all towns in Missouri. Mary's Home is the one that really intrigues me. Did they mean Mary IS home, like a declaration, or is it the home of Mary? I don't know, but there was a nifty little general store type place where we bought sandwiches and a cool pie basket, a baseball diamond where we sat and ate and watched imaginary baseball, a fire station, and some houses. As far as I could tell, that's all there is in Mary's Home.

ETA I just did a web search and apparently there's a cemetery there, too, in which are laid to rest quite a few Marys, a few of which were born in the mid-1800's. It is, apparently, also the home of an annual "Boys as Babes" softball tournament in which local males play softball in dresses to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I unfortunately missed this year's installment, but I'm thinking about planning my vacation around it for next year.

Ever been to Hell, MI? Hot Coffee, MS? Boaz, AL? Buttscratch, AR? Santa Claus, IN? All fine places for a little laugh.

Okay, so I made "Buttscratch" up. But the rest are absolutely real.

I've always wanted to go to Hell, MI. There and Timbuktu. Well, and back again, of course. Unfortunately, I think the people my husband knew in Mali aren't there anymore, and it's not really a hot vacation spot. Well, it's hot, but not in that way.

I love the way so many Midwesterners pronounce their town names. Sometimes it's so damn practical and sometimes you can't figure it out at all. My mom's from Athens, IL. No, not like that. It's AY-thens. Yeah. It took me forever to get the one in Greece right because I knew where my grandparents lived way before I knew about Greece. There's also New Berlin, IL, which you got wrong again. It's New BUR-lin, not New Ber-LIN. Where the hell did that come from? And there's Towanda (tuh-WAN-da, which is so much like Tijuana that I nearly dropped my jaw when my grandpa said he went to college with someome from there back in 1931) and Chenoa (shih-NO-ah, not CHEN-o-ah).

Then there's my favorite central Illinois joke ever. What do Hillary and Petersburg have in common? You have to go around both of them to get to Clinton! This is followed by about 15 minutes of non-stop laughter, which is actually my favorite part. If you can get amusement out of such a hokey joke, you're set for life (but not set for, say, "Arrested Development" which is a very different kind of funny).

Central Illinois joke:

So a guy gets on a train in Mattoon going north. He asks the conductor:

Guy: So what's the next station?
Conductor: Arcola
Guy: And the next station?
Conductor: Tuscola
Guy: So the next station has got to be Coca-Cola, right?
Conductor: No. Champaign.

Thank you, I'll be here all week. Tip your waiters. Try the fish.

Wow, lots of things to comment on



This drives me insane erinjsnakr, I live in Washington state and you'd be surprised how many people jam an r in there....how's it there in worshington? There's no r in the middle people.

On the topic of name issues, my best friend's mom was named Joann, but it was spelled Joan....and she went by Judy (go figure), they always knew when it was a telemarketer because they'd ask for Joan.

Our last name is hard to pronounce unless you've taken German (little lingustics lesson for all y'all, in German when you have 2 vowels together you pronounce the second vowel) and people always butcher it....it helps weed out telemarketing phone calls however because I just say there's no one there by that name (true).

Our daughter is named Samantha and when she was in the 5th grade there were 2 other Samantha's in the class, plus a boy named Sam and two of the girls had the same first initial of their last name....Sam W? Yeah, we've got two....you need to be more specific.

I can't remember who posted upthread (Hildy?) about the middle name Jean, but I feel your pain....my folks gave me a great first name and then had to give me Jean as a middle name....Jean? Really? It doesn't work for me....

I have more to post, but this is going to be gigantic if I don't stop now...

My favorite is the town called Blue Balls that is in, I think, Pennsylvania.

Oh...and Boring, or Drain, Oregon. Sound like pleasant places to live, eh?

As to the BUR-lin thing, I spent a summer in college working in a paper mill in Berlin, NH (a long story in and of itself), and was told by the locals that they didn't want to change the name when WWII came along, so they just changed the pronunciation. It was cheaper that way. I suspect that's the origin of that pronunciation in most locations.

We once knew a guy who'd been stationed as a diplomat in Ougadougou. One of my favorite place names ever. To my surprise, it's actually pronounced WAH-gah-doo-goo. Live and learn.

There was a Berlin, Ontario. They did change the name, because it is now Kitchener (after the WWI British General). My favourite was always Chibougamou, Quebec (Sha Boog A Moo)

Yeah, Mama Tiger, I didn't learn how to pronounce Ouagadougou until I met my husband, who had spent about 10 or so years of his childhood in Togo and Ivory Coast (which he gets mad at me for calling Ivory Coast instead of Cote d'Ivoire). I'm not sure, but I think his friends may have been near Ouagadougou -- or maybe Bamako.

When they would come back to the States, the youngest daughter embarrassed the family whenever they had dinner at someone's house by blowing the dust off her plate right before she ate. Apparently in the Sahara, they had to do that because if something sat for even a minute, sand was all over it.

Africa has lots of oddly pronounced place names, although I guess if you're from there, the names aren't weird at all. If you're in French-speaking Africa, however, you also have to guess what the French people were thinking about the sounds when they first spelled out the names. So Tsevie becomes Chev-ee-ay. (That's with a ch, not a sh.) Or that's as close as my American mouth can get.

There's a town in Iowa not far from Des Moines called "Nevada." And it's neh-VEY-dah, not ney-vah-dah.

Foreigners probably just pronounce it "Stevie." I probably would, just to bug people.

Never mind.

Aside from Worshington, my biggest place name pet peeve is thus: Salem, Oregon and Salem, Massachusetts are not the same place. Nobody hung witches in Salem, Oregon.

Terragram wrote:



Oh, I know it....I was born and raised here. It boggles my mind.

I'm always correcting people on both. It's OR-a-gen, not Or-GAWN.

Going back a few pages, we used to get phone calls for a woman who had the phone number 6 years before us. She was in debt up to her eyeballs and it was always creditors calling. I didn't know her, never met her, but the damn creditors would harass us asking for her new address and phone number. They couldn't seem to grasp the concept that we didn't know her.


We lived in Idaho for a time and the state abbreviation for Idaho is ID. One day I got this phone call (before I started screening):

Me: Hello?
Idiot salesperson: Hi there....can I speak to Mrs (butchered last name)

Me: Uh...that's me
IS: I'm calling from Sears Travel center and would like to talk to you about
our new travel plan. How's the weather today in Indiana?

Me: I....don't.....know....I live in Idaho
IS: No, no I see here you live in Indiana

Me: No...I really live in Idaho....I know where I live...I've never even been to Indiana
IS: Well that can't be right, ID is Indiana

Me: No, ID is Idaho....
IS: Well, anyway....

Me: If I buy your travel plan, how would I be assured that you would be sending me to the right place if you are going to argue with me over where I live? Where are you calling from?
IS: Boise

This is no joke people....she was calling me from BOISE IDAHO! I declined the travel plan

Oh! This reminds me. After a vaction in Quebec City I drove up to Chicatoumi, Quebec just because I liked the name. Surprisingly big town for being in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to go on to Chisasibi but that is way up there.

and


Do these names from Quebec remind anyone of the more recent tribal names from Survivor? (Chapera, Saboga, Mogo-Mogo, Chabogamogo)

Chabogamogo=Chibougamou...well, almost!

Maybe that's what Chibougamou is reminding me of. I don't think it really is, but I'm not sure. It does remind me of something from TV or a movie, but I just can't think what.

Yes! People who will understand my obsessions with Kettleman's bagels. :)


Same here. I know who I'm voting for, and am really tired of hearing about nothing but politics on the news.


I still love St. Louis du Ha! Ha! (No word of a lie. This is an actual place.) Lake Couchiching is also fun, but it's not in Quebec, so it loses points for me not being able to say it in a bad, fake French accent.

My parents lived in Ville de la Baie - which was on La Baie De Ha! Ha! and was the next town over from Chicoutimi.

You can always tell who's a native of Los Angeles by how they pronounce three of our biggest streets:

1. Sepulveda Blvd. (Seh-PULL-veh-da, not Sepple-VEE-da)

2. Wilshire Blvd. (WILL-sher, not Will-SHIRE)

3. La Cienega Blvd. (La See-EN-eh-ga, not La See-eh-NAY-ga)


Yes, we like Boulevards, why do you ask?

Good God. But... how did she pronounce Boise? Boy-zee or Boy-see? I grew up in Utah, and we pronounced it with an "S" sound. Here in Illinois, everybody pronounces it with a "Z" sound. However, I don't know how an actual resident of Boise would pronounce it.

Edited because mismatched tags don't cut it, mister!

There was a popular local bumper sticker, oh, 15-20 years ago that showed how to pronounce Louisville. It stated, “I LUV LOOAVUL!” I still don't think that's as clear as it could be because the A in the bumper sticker should be pronounced as "uh" - as in Loo-uh-vul.

And just in case someone ever asks you how to pronounce the capitol of Kentucky and gives you choices like Lewisville, Looieville, Looavul; it’s a trick question (this comes up a lot in trivia games). Just say it’s pronounced Frankfort.

See, I always thought it was a two-syllable word: Lul-vul.

New Orleans doesn't advertise its pronunciation to outsiders on bumper stickers; instead it has such goodies as: New Orleans, Proud to Crawl Home.

As a guy (from Missouri) pointed out at a show we went to last night, "Here in New Orleans you have the best drinking. Sure, lots of other places have good drinking, but only here in New Orleans do you have drive-through drinking!!" (Alas, the state legislature is trying to ban it -- not the drive-through part, just the open-container-from-the-drive-through part. For some reason they think a paper cap on the straw of the daiquiri isn't sufficient to make it a "closed container"!)

Moving a couple of steps in a different direction:
About 10 years ago, The Zzard and I were traveling in southern Utah during the spring. Most of the other tourists were foreigners. So we pull into this gas station outside Bryce National Park, and he fills the tank of our rental car. Suddenly, this European tourist (Belgian, we think) came over, shoving money at him and pointing to a pump. TZ shook his head and tried to explain that he did not work there, he was just pumping his own gas. The Belgian pointed to TZ's belt, on which he had clipped the black leather case containing his small binoculars. No, that wasn't a coin purse, TZ explained, he didn't work at the gas station, and if the Belgian wanted help, he should go inside and find someone who really could help him. The Belgian looked skeptical and a bit put out, so TZ got in the car and we drove off. If we'd done that without him twice trying to explain the situation, that would have been rude. But TZ spent a lot of time with this guy, trying to explain what was going on. And the Belgian, who was fluent in English from what we could tell, wouldn't accept what he was being told.

*Sniff, sniff* I just moved to a new apartment and discovered that my (illegal) cable doesn't include CBS. I have to find a friend to let me watch TAR at their house.

Oh, and on the Goethe Street in Chicago discussion: true story. I had just moved to Chicago and was visiting a friend who lived up there. Gave the name GOOr-tah (my best approximation of how Goethe should sound) to the cab driver. He had no idea what I was saying. After about 10 minutes of him calling his friends, asking me if I knew where it was, etc, he said, "Oh, Go-EE-thee!" And then there was a loud noise as each of my 8 German teachers turned over in his grave.

Lots of catching up to do....


I'm pretty sure it's like mayonnaise. When I was six my dad got arrested for speeding there because I had to have a bathroom stop. Well, I got one, at the Bourbonnais police department. To this day many decades later, my mother and I can tell you exactly how scummy that bathroom was.


I cannot get used to DEV-ohn in place of Di-VAHN. I lived the first thirteen years of my life not far from Devon Ave. My father would always deliberately mis-pronounce Diversey "Diversity" and to this day I cannot pronounce that street correctly.


I was astounded to discover Empire Carpet has moved East. It's a great touch of home, though, to hear the Empire man and the phone jingle, even if they do sing "eight hundred" before the number.

Chicagoans current and former might want to check out this website You Know You're From Chicago When..., but be warned it has very loud music that apparently can't be turned off.

And on the name thing, my sister was named Peggy, not Margaret. When she wanted to really confuse people, she'd tell them she was named for my Aunt Ruth. (She was, really.)

Another easy way to spot people who weren't born in Southern California is how they refer to the freeways. If you are a Southern California native -- especially third generation or more -- you are likely refer to them by names. Santa Monica freeway, San Bernardino freeway, Pomona freeway, Golden State freeway, Hollywood freeway, Ventura freeway, etc. People who moved to Southern California will say the 10, the 60, the 5, the 101, and so on, as will the few native Californians who refer to freeways by number rather than name. And tourists will give themselves away by saying 10, 60, 5, 101 without the all important "the" in front of each number. I didn't realize until I was in my 30's that it was usual in other places for people to refer to a freeway just by a number, or by I-whatever (I40, I10, I75).

This is NOT suitable for the office, for children, for people with heart conditions, or people who've just taken a sip of something.

Red Targetter said:



She said Boy-zee, which is wrong, wrong, wrong. It's Boy-see. But then again I hear people say Spokane WA, spo-cane instead of spo-can.

Thank you. Thank you. A cow-orker of mine ALWAYS says Boy-zee and it drives me nuts, but I wasn't 100% sure it was right. And that means one more thing about your travel telemarketing call that was just so wrong and bad and dumb (and I'm in travel, so trust me on that one).

There's another thing that bugs me, and this is odd. Radio announcers that say things in odd ways, possibly so they can articulate more clearly. In the Chicago area, one of the local NPR announcers apparently can't say "W" clearly enough, so he says "double-hue."

Imagine when he has to give a URL or mention all the translator stations' call signs (we're east of the Mississippi) and it's all "double-hue" "double-hue" "double-hue" this and that. However, that's nothing compared to the traffic lady that thinks President Ike's last name is pronounced "ICE-nower."

One of my pet peeves is when journalists can't be bothered to check the pronunciation of names. A few years ago, one of the local tv stations had a short blurb about something Coffee An-uhn had done that day ... I actually called their feedback line to suggest that the Secretary General of the UN was a rather well-known individual and that they really had no excuse for butchering his name.

And this is why most people in this country outside of western Oklahoma (and possible southwestern Kansas, southeastern Colorado and the Texas Panhandle) can't pronounce Boise City, OK, properly. It's neither Boy-zee nor Boy-see City. It's Boyz City. Don't ask me why. Of course, my French-speaking husband tells me periodically that all of those pronunciations are wrong anyway.

It always amazed me how bad the anchors on CNN would butcher the pronunciation of Jean Chretien. It's not the easiest name to pronounce, but he was the Prime Minister of Canada for 10 years!

We also have a New Berlin in SE Wisconsin, also pronounced New BUR-lin. An hour or so north of there is a town simply called Berlin--although the pronunciation of that particular town is a little more up in the air. I've heard both BUR-lin and Bur-LIN, so I'm not sure which is the generally accepted way for the Berlinians, or whatever they're called.

And then there's Green Bay--I grew up very close to the home of the Packers, so this one is near and dear to my heart. It's Green BAY, not GREEN Bay--it makes me shudder to hear it bludgeoned with the accent on the Green. It's just not right.

One of my pet peeves is the way a lot of people pronounce Detroit. It's not DEE-troit, it's De-TROIT. I live in an area of Pennsylvania now where nobody says it right. I try to correct them nicely, but it just hurts my ears.

So, since we're on regionalisms, kinda, here's a question that came up among another group of my friends: is a serving of cake a piece or a slice? how about a serving of pie? and where-ish are you, please, so I can chart this out.

Piece of cake, slice (or slab depending who's doing the cutting and the eating) of pie. Eastern Ont, Canada. Mmmm, pie and cake, the vending machine is a-callin'
Evil Rabrab.

Macaddict HA! Especially for "Put the Fucking Lotion in the Basket."

To be fair to the Americans, I think Rick Mercer has convinced them his name is Jean Poutine! Not that poutine is any easier to pronounce.

Way to bring cake and pie into it, Rabrab. Nothing makes a pregnant lady salivate like thinking about luscious cake and pies. Mmmm....

Cake depends on the type of cake. If it's a round layer or bundt cake, being cut by radii from the center, then it is a slice of cake. See "I've sold 17 slices of pound cake so far at the bake sale" and "Why, yes, I would love another slice of your delicious carrot cake with creamy, creamy cream cheese frosting and homegrown pecan halves delicately dotting the top".

Sheet cakes and oddly shaped cakes are pieces. You have a piece of wedding cake, usually, and a piece of yummy Ukrop's bakery cakes.

Pies are, almost without exception, slices. Maybe that's because they are almost without exception circular with individual servings being cut as radii from the center. I could go for a slice of pecan pie right now, or a light, airy, citrusy slice of Key Lime Pie. That being said, "non-standard" shaped pies can have pieces. I make a Chocolate Éclair Pie that is in a regular 9x13 pan, and that is a piece of pie. Then there are just pies, which are really more like a turnover, including the Sweet Potato Pies at Bojangles or Apple Pies at McDonalds.

Hmmm... I never thought about it today, but I guess the determining factor is the way the cake or pie is cut. How about that?

And in the for what it's worth department, I am a mid-twenties North Carolinian, now living in the greater Richmond, VA area.

Now off to find some pie. Or cake. Or cupcake. Yessss.... cupcake!

I'll go with karatekate on the piece/slice thing because it's logical. That's how it should be. On further reflection, however, I realized that I don't talk that way. Everything is a piece. Unless it's a fried pie (turnover-type thing -- my grandfather used to make really good ones -- that and roasted goobers is all he cooked, but they were worth it). Then it's just a fried pie.

Wait a minute, did I miss the original karatekate announcement? Congratulations! How very exciting!
And I have to say that I'm generally in the camp that calls for a slice of pie if it's a dessert pie and a piece of cake, no matter what the shape of the cake. If it's a meat pie or some other savoury pie, I think I might deviate from the 'slice' rule and call it a hunk, or a serving, or something like that.
I'm from the Boston area.

No kidding, Hildy. I like how she just snuck that pregnancy comment in there. Congrats, karatekate!!

I have a little good news, myself. Today I was officially offered the pharmaceutical sales job for which I've been interviewing for about three months now. My current job won't know what him 'em when I quit tomorrow (out of town...I'll bring my computer and office "stuff" so I can just be done with it) and give a 3-day notice. Training for my new position starts a week from today. Two weeks notice? We don't need no two weeks notice!

I know pharm sales reps have a bad reputation, but I'm really psyched about this. I mean seriously - $20k raise, car, palm pilot, laptop, cell phone, 3 weeks vaca...I'll take it! thankyouverymuch

This means that in the last month I bought my first house (with very little help from hubby's credit), we moved to Nashville, he got the job he wanted, and now I have the job I wanted. Talk about disbelief! We are extremely blessed right now! (Praise the Lord!)

I agree with Kate's description. If it's round, it's a slice (regardless of whether cake or pie). Any other shape calls for a piece. -- Mid-twenties female in Nashville, TN

I guess I did kind of just slip that in, but I'm already three months and it's been so ubiquitous in my other conversations that it naturally slipped in. You aren't missing things, Hildy. I wasn't trying to hide it on TWoP, I just had mainly been mentioning being pregnant IRL so that people wouldn't think I'm just getting fat. When is it I start to look pregnant and not just pudgy? I want to wear cute maternity clothes that say for me "It's a baby, not a sudden change in eating patterns".

Thanks for all of the good wishes! My husband and I are tickled pink, but have already come to a stalemate on names that I fear may not pass in the next 6 months. How on earth did I marry a man that seriously thinks Kermit is a good name for a baby? If we were expecting a green, felt frog? Sure.

And major congratulations to erinjsnark! This has been quite an exciting past year and a half~ish for you... married, move, new house, and now a fabulous new job! I didn't know that pharmaceutical reps had any sort of bad reputation, except my best friend's dad, but maybe that was just because I told people that he sold drugs out of the back of his van (technically true).

Erinjsnark, congrats on all that's good! And (speaking of slices) if Beck's Bakery is still operational in Nashville, best cake/pie/rolls in town. I grew up in Nashville. Can't even count how often I'd run into Johnny Cash or Minnie Pearl picking up a pecan pie or some other little treat. Hope that place is still in business. Super down to earth sort of place, run by ladies who would remind you of your mom. No fuss, just good baked items. Carbs be damned.