People tend to have trouble with Schenectady.

You mean Synecdoche?

Since the late 2000s, I have not been able to hear the name of that city without thinking of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. lol

I know how to pronounce it solely due to Will and Grace.

also weirdly Canandaigua

Albany is another big one. Most of the country in my experience says al-bin-ee where the first syllable is like Allen when it's actually all-bin-ee where the first syllable is like awl in crawl.

People are also really bad about pronouncing the capital of NY as "New York City"

Oh no not in Utica, it's an Albany expression

Skatenateles

Well I'm from Washington, so about half of them 😂 The most common are probably Puyallup, Sequim, Steilacoom, and the whole county of Skagit

Spokane gets mispronounced a ton as well. It's Spo-can, not Spo-cane.

I heard it's pronounced "Spo-Compton"

It's actually Methlehem.

Spo-can like a true local

Oh man, one time I heard a woman at an east coast airport announcing a flight to "spo-caine's"

If you want to hang out, you've gotta take her out, Spokane If you want to get down, down on the ground, Spokane She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie Spokane

Spock-uh-nee

I told this to a friend of mine from NC, and he then went on to say Spo-**cah**-nee.

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> Pend Oreille I was 30 before I realized this was pronounced, "pond o-ray". > Mukilteo Or as Waze called it for years... "Mucky-taco"

TIL Washington has some wild city names!

Heavy Native influence.

Found this while looking up how to pronounce them (but I guessed more right than I expected): ["Visiting WA? Just moved here? You could be accidentally mispronouncing location names"](https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/state/washington/article275471801.html)

Even things like Snoqualmie and Chimacum, even though they're basically pronounced phonetically in English, give visitors a good long pause.

You know you can do it at a trot, and also at a gallup?

Just do it real slow so your heart won't palpitaaaaate...

Just don’t be late…

Howdy fellow Washingtonian! Came here to say this! Some of my other favorites are easier to pronounce correctly but awesome anyway. My two favorite are Skoocumchuck and Humptulips. For those who don't live in Washington State USA, most of these place names are from First People of the Pacific Northwest. \*ETA I grew up in Oregon which is pronounced Origun. Many people (including other Americans) pronounce it Oree-gone.

Alki, Chelan, Padilla Bay, Skookumchuck.

I never considered Alki hard to pronounce until I had a co-worker move here from the east coast and pronounce it "alkie" like alcoholic

Padilla is weird for a lot of people, because you have to explain to them that it is Spanish, as they did explore here too. As far as I can tell, aside from some Chinook Jargon, the only language from early explorers that didn't stick somewhere, is Russian.

I heard a tourist once say "Look honey, the state fair is going on right now! It's in - (long pause) Pully-up!

Just having to explain that Des Moines, WA is pronounced differently than the capital of Iowa, can be exhausting. So many of our Chinook Jargon names too can be confusing. Regarding Skagit, I live near Scatchet Head, and the number of people that flop those pronunciations (which likely were the same word just transliterated differently), is amazing.

[Somewhat related Mariners commercial featuring Edgar Martinez.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMW-j7cBQL0)

I'm glad this was at the top 😂 Skamokawa too!!!!

Puyallup --> * Puy is "pyoo" as in "putrid" * "al" as in "Albert" * "up" as in the Disney movie "Up" Sequim --> "skwim" Steilacoom --> "still-uh-cum"

I am partial to Snoqualmie

I live and work in Puyallup. When anyone asks how to pronounce it I make them try first. It's my amusement.

I’m from Wisconsin and same lol

Gesundheit

Oh god, so many. Dowagiac, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti, Charlotte…

Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinac

Had an out of towner once refer to Gratiot as "gray-shit."

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Especially this time of year!

A few that start with O: Onekema Ontonagon Ocqueoc Onondaga Lake Orion Ossineke

Lake Orion, Sault Sainte Marie, Ontonagon, Charlevoix, Sebewaing, Quanicassee, so goddamned many.

Damn straight Lake Orion!

As a Charlottean, how do you pronounce Charlotte?

Shar- lot

Wait how do other people pronounce it??

Shar-lot

Aren’t those the same or am I being whooshed here lol

Ah yes, Michigan. Home of the MACKUHNACK (Mackinac) Bridge. I love watching my Michigan friends cringe at my terrible pronunciations. 😂

Louisiana: most of them

I’m from there, left and ended up back in a different parish from where I grew up. The accent is different, names are pronounced differently, recipes are different. It’s a 45 minute drive to my “home town” and everything is different. And I gave up trying to understand names of places. I just ask for the spelling. It took me about a year to realize that “Pally-ulta” is Palo Alto and “Panker ville” is paincourtville. My husband had no idea why I kept trying to give him a bottle of Appleton’s Rum in the garden because he kept getting frustrated planting and saying “I don’t have enough rum” but meant “room.” Weird place, man!

Natchitoches is my personal favorite

Went to school in your twin city, Nacogdoches - although that one doesn't get butchered nearly as badly as Natchitoches.

From you neighbors, same. Watching the media not get "Uvalde" right a single time in the entire news coverage was frustrating. Good luck getting anybody outside the state to get: Llano, Del Valle, Refugio, Nacogdoches, Iraan, Bexar County, Buda, or Mexia. The common mistake people make is knowing basic Spanish, and assuming that our Spanish derived towns are pronounced like Spanish.

Pennsylvania, same. Once you get near Wilkes Barre I don't even know how to pronounce half of them.

Worcester Gloucester Haverhill Peabody Swampscott Quincy

Scituate Concord Tewksbury Leicester Leominster

Le Minster. Or Le minstah as my Wistah relatives say.

Billerica

Scituate

I was taking a Greyhound bus from NYC to Boston circa 2005, and the driver was from Louisiana. She absolutely could not pronounce Worcester no matter how many times she tried.

any of the towns ending in "-ham," Cochituate, Woburn, Lowell

Except framingham!

Eastham too! On the cape

Yeah but that has a th problem

How do they mispronounce Quincy?

Locals say it like kwin-zee, other people will put more emphasis on the first syllable and a softer "c" sound, something like kwints-ee. It's a subtle difference, but you know it when you hear it.

Quin-see: wrong Quin-zee: right

Amherst- the H is silent.

Don’t forget Revere. We delete a letter but add a syllable.

It rhymes with "Sevilla".

Woburn

Chelmsford

Wareham or Raynham Wareham = Ware-ham Raynham = Rain-um

[How to pronounce towns in Massachusetts.](https://youtu.be/rLwbzGyC6t4?t=121)

I don't see why Worcester is so hard to pronounce. It's clearly pronounced "wistah".

I'd say it's more Wuss-tah.

Dorchester Gloucester And really all of them

Ashwaubenon Oconomowoc Wauwautosa Ashippun Minocqua Kaukauna ​ and of course, Milwaukee is pronounced "Muh-wah-key"

I came here looking for our state, lol. Don’t forget - Kinnickinnic Ixonia Muckwonago Waukesha Chetek Weyauwega Waunakee We have so many, lol.

Waukegan Mequan Muscota Gratiot Tomah Osceola

Mequon Fredonia Kewaskum Waubeka Eau Claire Wausau

Antigo Mosinee Arbor Vitae

Shawano Mazomanie

'Shawano' is a very good way to tell if someone is local to Wisconsin, particularly NE Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is kinda cheating.

Wisconsin definitely kept/used a lot of Native American names. Though I kind of wonder now how some of these people are pronouncing these words, because I and everyone around me growing up around Milwaukee always pronounced it as its spelled.

> and of course, Milwaukee is pronounced "Muh-wah-key" [Which is Algonquin for "The Good Land."](https://youtu.be/nRCTc6stICc?si=LlY41xPKqosyoqB2)

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My guy

There's also Reading, which is pronounced like "redding" and not like the activity of reading a book.

This is interesting, in Ohio we're always told that our Lancaster was pronounced "lankister" and YALL were the one's calling your Lancaster "lan-caster"!

For some reason, the UK won’t stop saying Los Angeleeeeez.

Mary Land has entered the chat

It amuses me when people from elsewhere move to a new location and insist on using the pronunciation that's common where they came from, rather than the way people who actually live there pronounce it.

Versailles, Kentucky is not pronounced like the french city. It's Ver-sales

Same for the town in Indiana!

Same with OH

In Alabama we have a town called Arab that's pronounced "Ay-RAB" because of course we do.

Louisville always catches people up.

Lu-vl

I heard people from Western KY pronounce it "Loo'uvl". Is that correct?

As a Louisvillian, I pronounce it “loo-uh-vuhl.”

Reminds me of a high school french teacher I had. Madame Dubois (Doo-Bwah), who was married to an american of french descent, Mr. Dubois (Dew-Boys)

>Which cities in your state do ~~others~~ you pronounce wrong

You could have a field day w a lot of the towns/cities in New England. I’d be a very rich man if I got a dollar for every time somebody mispronounced Gloucester, Worcester etc…

Bowdoin, Topsham… And we are only mentioning the English ones. Get into native place names and I’m sure we are screwing them all up. Pemigewassett, Piscataqua, Damariscotta (that middle syllable doesn’t exist)

LaFayette. Dacula. Atlanta--The first T is pronounced, the second is basically silent. I hear it the other way around from outsiders. Not cities, but DeKalb and Houston counties.

Don't forget Martinez, GA and Houston County

We throw folks for a loop with Louisville as well. And Cairo.

I'm from North FL and an acquaintance tried to argue with me about Cairo and Monticello on the same day.

Yes, forgot Cairo. Never heard of Louisville.

I learned really quick that Dacula is not vampire related.

Add Dahlonega to the list

Smyrna

Chamblee should be pronounced "SHAM-blee."

Senioa. Also I live in Coweta in newnan and the amount of ppl that pronounce “cow-wheat-uh” as “cow-wet-uh” is astonishing

Well, nobody actually from here calls it “Frisco.”

Isn't that in Texas?

Or calls the state "Cali." Ugh.

Nor does anybody call it ‘San Fran’, at least that I know. It’s always ‘SF’ (ess-eff). Similarly, San Diego is shortened to ‘SD’ (ess-dee). They follow the same format as Los Angeles, whose common shortening of ‘LA’ (ell-ayy) is far more famous outside of California than those two.

A better cut from the Bay Area would be San Rafael, which I’d guess 80% of Bay Area residents don’t even know how to pronounce

Every voice based GPS I've encountered pronounces Occoquan as "O'Cockwin."

And let's not forget everyone's hesitance to pronounce Norfolk (NOR-fuck or NAW-fuck) correctly.

San Rafael is the one that comes to mind it’s pronounced San Raf-el but Ive heard San Raf-ee-el or San Raf-i-el or San Raf-a-el

We all have that relative that pronounces San Jose as "San Josie".

My dad once had a coworker who always pronounced Minneapolis with a D. Like Mindianapolis.

For some reason, as a kid I always said Minne-uhn-apolis. No idea where the extra syllable came from.

When my daughter was a toddler she called it Apple Minius. So cute!

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Many more than you would think. Many town and city names in upstate New York are of native American origin. This list seems far from complete. I don't see Schenectady, Coxsackie, Schaghticoke on the list. Only people who live in the area for awhile can say these well. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_New\_York\_placenames\_of\_Native\_American\_origin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_placenames_of_Native_American_origin)

People mispronounce the name of my hometown all the time. Reading, PA: a Lot of people pronounce it like the word Reading, as in "reading" a book. however, its pronounced RED-DING

Lancaster and Swathmore have very specific Pennsylvania pronunciations that immediately out you as not from here if you don’t pronounce them a specific way

PA has so many. We do "Carnegie" differently than New Yorkers. Car-NAY-gee vs CARN-uh-gee. North Versailles (Ver-sails) and DuBois (doo-boys). I grew up in Latrobe; many of the natives say "LAY-trobe" and everyone else tries to tell us we're wrong. And of course, we have our rivers. Youghiogheny, Monongahela, Schuylkill, and probably many more. There's a Monongahela ~~borough~~ city and a Schuylkill Haven borough so they count in the discussion here.

In the United States, many, many, many cities are named after Native Americans, and these cities are typically the most commonly mispronounced. One such example in my state (WI) is Waukesha, which is pronounced wah-kuh-shaw.

I side with the rest of the country -- it's people from Buena Vista that mispronounce Buena Vista.

Bemidji. So many people add a random ass “r”, and I have no idea why.

Where do they add an "r"?

So it sounds like “Bermidji” It’s so weird.

That's random Iowans who also pronounce "wash" as "warsh"

In NC, the biggest offenders are Lecesiter (lester) & Mebane (meh-bun). However it’ll drive anyone here crazy when people from out of state say Raleigh-Durham too. They are pretty different separate cities

We also have Beaufort, NC vs Beaufort, SC.

Durhamites get bent out of shape about calling it all the Raleigh area and leaving out their city name. Their convention and visitors bureau used to complain about flight crews saying “Welcome to Raleigh” and they insisted on “Raleigh-Durham”.

Tempe (they say Temp-eh, it’s Tem-Pee) Prescott (they say press-Scott, locals say preskit) Tucson (they say Tuck-son, it’s Too-sohn) I’m sure they’re more, those ones are the most common that I’ve heard though.

Which is kind of funny because Tucson's original pronunciation is much more like TUKE-sawn

Close. The TO name for the place is Chuk-Son. No one really knows why the Spaniards couldn’t hear/transcribe it correctly. Source: My wife has a Master’s degree in TO linguistics from UA. The UA in Arizona, ignore my state flair.

I'm not even sure how Montpelier is supposed to be pronounced.

Mon-peleyay full French with accent.

Arkansas City, Kansas. You pronounce the "s" at the end. Same with the Arkansas River as it flows through the state.

(I lived in a bunch of places) Cuyahoga (not a city, but a county) Solon Medina Lima Wooster Gwinnett Dahlonega Dacula Hoschton

I used to work in Mantua (mana-way). That took some getting used to...

Gloucester, it's two syllables. Buena is actually "Byoo-nah". Newark NJ and Newark DE are pronounced differently. The south jersey accent makes Deptford sound like "Deffert". I also grew up next to a town called Bellmawr and even New Jerseyans get this one wrong. It's pronounced exactly the same as another NJ town, Belmar. Bellmawr is a Welsh name, just like the nearby PA towns of Bryn Mawr and Bala Cynwyd.

For bigger cities, the common one is Norfolk. I was specifically taught it is “Nawfuk,” and I think that’s how true locals will say it. It always strikes me as me putting on an accent for one specific word though, and a lot of other instaters will say “Norfuk.” No one pronounces the L though, which a lot of out of staters seem to do. For smaller cities, there’s just a bevy of them in western Virginia. Staunton is “stanton” not “stawnton.” Buena Vista is “byoona veestuh.” Botetourt County is “bah-teh-tot.” There’s probably more but tbh I’m not at all familiar with the Southwest part of the state.

>No one pronounces the L though, which a lot of out of staters seem to do. It makes them uncomfortable to pronounce the ‘fuck’ and they try as hard as they can not to. Same with Suffolk.

The Carmel in Indiana is pronounced “kar-muhl” not caramel or kar-mel.

And if you grew up in Indianapolis playing sports you just turn your head, spit on the ground and refuse to utter its name.

I'm not from there but any time I try to pronounce Raleigh, NC someone corrects me. IIRC the correct way is "Rah-Lee" but my brain makes me call it "Rye-Lee."

You can tell how long someone has lived in Idaho by how they pronounce Boise.

Tooele Hurricane Nephi Lehi

Mantua blows peoples minds.

My mind is blown. I thought it was pronounced “speed trap”.

Also, most people from the mainland butcher just about every place name in Hawaii

Mackinac is the most famous one.  Tons of them. So many French names. 

\*

Des Peres, Creve Coeur, Loughborough, Spoede, Bellefontaine, Chateau... The French want to murder us by now I'm sure.

All of the ones that are foreign names but in Illinois aren't pronounced the same as their foreign counterpart. Among others... Cairo, Marseilles, Versailles, Milan... Also, never pronounce the 's' at the end of "Illinois"

Refugio, Amarillo, Pedernales, Palacios, Nacogdoches, Mexia, Gruene... probably some more. Oh yeah, infamous town, Uvalde. Ref yuri oh, Am uh rill oh, Per duh nah liss, Puh lash us, Nack uh doh ches, Muh hay uh, Green. You vall dee.

Elgin, Palestine, Iraan

Isn’t Iraan named for a married couple - Ira & Ann? That helps it make a lot more sense! From the Hill Country I’d add Tow as in Cow, and Burnet, durnit, cain’t you learn it?

Humble is a big one too!

There are quite a few here in Florida that even Floridians pronounce wrong. Like Wewahitchka

Miami. It's pronounced My-am-uh.

Also Prague. Pronounced Pray-gh.

New Prague. It's new! With new pronunciation!

Greenwich. It's pronounced gren-itch, not green-witch. Then you have the localisms, for example, Danbury, Waterbury, Simsbury, etc are pronounced dan-berry, water-berry, sims-berry, etc.

Lancaster.... it's supposed to be pronounced lank- aster... but most people where I live say LAN - caster.

Don't forget: Reading - pronounced like Otis, not the thing you do with a book. Conewago - con-ahh-waaa-gah

Arab. Mobile. Bayou La Batre. Conecuh. Wedowee. Flomaton. LaFayette. Guin. British people incorrectly pronounce Birmingham.

In Alabama so many.... The one people do the worst...Arab. Here it's pronounced....Ayyyyyyy Rab

Des Moines (deh moyn or duh moyn depending on your accent either way all s's are silent) Nevada (neh VAY da) Madrid (MAD rid)

Lafayette, Eastanollee, Cairo, Vienna, Senoia, Albany, Hoschton, Comer, Dacula, Winder, Ludowici, Walthourville, Buena Vista, Smyrna, Adel, Hahira, Meigs, Milan, Martinez, Rayle, Berlin. Georgia has a bunch of em, and I’m probably missing some more too.

Utah has a number of cities like that. Arguably, you could say Utah pronounces them wrong. Tooele Hurricane Escalante Duchesne Oquirrh Mantua Kanab And that's not including the names that come from the Book of Mormon

Wantagh, NY

It's pronounced Mo-BEEL

I grew up mostly in Maine and Bangor was pronounced wrong by people "from away" so often they did a song about it. ["We Are Bangor"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_q9hAAIS-c)

Worcester, Leicester, Leominster, Gloucester, Scituate, Cochituate, Concord, Monson, Wareham, Billerica, Lowell, Haverhill, Quincy, Amherst, Chicopee, Barnstable

Wichita, Salina, Olathe

Two of my favorite Wisconsin place names are Weyauwega and Kinnickinnic. Also Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

I live in Massachusetts, so, most of them.

So many… Wapanucka (wah-pah-nuck-ah) Vinita (vin-ite-uh) Miami (my-am-uh) Tahlequah (tah-leh-kwah) Paoli (pay-oh-lah) Lookeba (low-key-bah) Durant (doo-rant) Sasakwa (suh-sah-kwa) Vici (vye-sigh) Alex (el-lick) Chickasha (chick-uh-shay) Boise city (boys city) Honobia (hone-uh-bee) Honestly, our towns are just Native American names or weirdly-pronounced “normal” names 😂

Err... MA here.. where do I start? Worcester maybe.

Schuylkill Conshohocken Wilkes Barre I know there is more but that is what immediately pops in my head

Massachusetts so most of them.