Pronunciation

[WingedMonkey]

we have a town with same name and pronounced http://www.embedplus.com/dictionary/...sta-and-use-it

That's the more "Spanish" origin and the way they pronounce it at Disney Word's little town too. But not them Virginian's.

[shelb]

Mama don't allow no sugar in the cornbread round here, but we don't care what mama don't allow, we add some sugar anyhow. Now our sweet tea....well that's just understood.

I used to wonder at what point near the Mason Dixon line sugar was added to the tea (from the southern region); however, McDonalds has changed that...

[rocketsocks]

I used to wonder at what point near the Mason Dixon line sugar was added to the tea (from the southern region); however, McDonalds has changed that...

Good question, I guess when you get up here, when asked if you want sugar, often the response is............."No Bueno".....go figure.

[Tuckahoe64]

Another that seems to come up is the "Shenandoahs", regardless of how it's spelled, they do not exit's it seems, I too was not aware of this, and always ferred to the Mountains down in Virginia as the "Shenandoahs", while less about the spelling and more about there existence, it does seem to come up every now and again.

Shenandoah refers to the valley and is so often simply "The Valley." The Blue Ridge are the mtns on the eastern side of the valley. And if you are heading north you are going "down the vally" and if heading south you are going "up the valley"

[Odd Man Out]

Maryland is pronounced Mary * Land; not Mare * Land

Any other native Marylanders want to chime in here. The easiest way to identify someone who isn't form Maryland is when they say MARY-land!

Here is the correct pronunciation Maryland:
The strong first syllable is the name of a female horse (MARE), rhymes with Bear. In some parts of the state, it may be closer to MUR (rhymes with fur).
The middle syllable (uh or i) is pronounced as the vowel sound of "mud" or "mid". It is very weak and barely audible, even omitted on occasion to make it a two syllable word.
The weak last syllable (lind) rhymes with wind. The terminal "d" is barely audible in most cases and sometimes even omitted.

The first syllable is never MARY (never rhymes with ferry). The last syllable is never LAND (never rhymes with band).

These are all OK:
MARE-i-lind
MARE-uh-lin (as in Marilyn Monroe)
MUR-lin

[WingedMonkey]

Here's some interesting "Virginia Placenames Pronunciation". Not all are along the trail but many are near by.

http://cohp.org/va/notes/placenames_pronunciation.html

[Gray Blazer]

Unaka? In Erwin they say you-nay-kah. I always figured it was you-knack-kah. A lot of nice people in Erwin. Just sayin'.

[atraildreamer]

Wat's da matta wid meyes pranunckiateon?

[BabySue]

Ewe-NEIGH-kuh is correct.

Watauga, a lake in TN, is wuh-TAH-guh. The middle syllable is like the first syllable of toggle.

Ceres, a community in SW VA. I say SE-Russ. First syllable like the beginning of Sarah's. Correct?

Weverton Cliffs, above Harpers Ferry to the north. Pronounced as if there were an "a" in the first syllable, weaverton. Correct?

[Different Socks]

Moosilauke: MOOSE-i-LAUK (I think) - New Hampshire mountain
Berlin: BER-lin - New Hampshire town north of Gorham
Staunton: STAN-ton - Virginia town near Waynesboro
Schaghticoke: SKAT-i-coke - mountain north of Bulls Bridge, CT

Berlin/Moosilauke are correct. Lived in ME for 4 years, and mothers side is from there so i know how it is pronounced.

[Different Socks]

Ewe-NEIGH-kuh is correct.

Watauga, a lake in TN, is wuh-TAH-guh. The middle syllable is like the first syllable of toggle.

Ceres, a community in SW VA. I say SE-Russ. First syllable like the beginning of Sarah's. Correct?

Weverton Cliffs, above Harpers Ferry to the north. Pronounced as if there were an "a" in the first syllable, weaverton. Correct?

You are correct about Weverton and Watauga.

[Different Socks]

Unaka? In Erwin they say you-nay-kah. I always figured it was you-knack-kah. A lot of nice people in Erwin. Just sayin'.

I always thought this was U-knock-a.

[OzJacko]

This is an interesting thread from my point of view but I won't contribute for a number of reasons....

[tiptoe]

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/shibboleth
Interesting reading in this context. A pronunciation that varies from the local one easily marks you as "not from here". I hope we won't start killing each other over Appa-LATCH-in vs. Appa-LACHE-in.

[coach lou]

I always thought this was U-knock-a.

HA- ver, Montana

[moldy]

Pronunciation, like spelling is a joke. It flys in the face of the human behavior. The entire idea of correctness in such a thing will not work. Us humans won't abide.

[Don H]

MARY*land or MARYL*and
And if you live in Baltimore then your from Balmer, and you call everyone hon. Example: "Hey hon I'm from Balmer, Mary land too"

[OzJacko]

For what it's worth (which is zilch - because I believe the local people determine pronunciation of place names) in Australia and I believe most other engish speaking countries we call it the appa-lay-shun mountains.
I'm looking forward to trying to get my tongue around the other pronunciations.

[1azarus]

this thread makes me miss mathewski. that would be MATH YOU ski. he's not posted in a while, but he would be able to answer all of our questions, authoritatively.

[moytoy]

Pronounciation must role off your tongue like serup off a spoon. Marville, Marland! Or if you prefer Murville, Murland.