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strollingalong
06-13-2011, 22:55
I mean the pronunciation... not being from the usa, just curious. I hear both pronunciations, wondering where people who say /æphttp://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngəˈleɪhttp://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngttʃən/ and those who say /æphttp://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngəˈleɪhttp://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngtˈlætʃhttp://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngən/ are generally from? Which is the most common?

Mango
06-13-2011, 23:00
South of PA it's "app-a-LAH-chun".

PA and northward, it's "app-a-LAY-chun".

Ender
06-13-2011, 23:04
South of PA it's "app-a-LAH-chun".

PA and northward, it's "app-a-LAY-chun".

Mango has it right. It's pretty much a north/south thing. I grew up in the north, so I say it "app-a-LAY-shun", but after a bit of reading into it I think the southern way may be more close to the original pronunciation. Still, no wrong way to say it as long as you're out hiking it! :)

STICK
06-13-2011, 23:32
I am from the south and I have always pronounced it "app-a-LAY-shun".

WingedMonkey
06-13-2011, 23:44
I am from the south and I have always pronounced it "app-a-LAY-shun".

True but more on the "app-a-LATE-CHIN"

Beachcomber
06-13-2011, 23:45
I am from the south and I have always pronounced it "app-a-LAY-shun".

True that. There's no single "southern" accent, and each region has its own flavor. In North Carolina, the folks around Boone call their college "app-a-LATCH-un," so I guess that's definitive for western NC, anyway. (But as a native Yankee myself, that took some getting used to.)

skylar24
06-14-2011, 00:25
two different ways of saying it. one way for the south and one way for the north.

TIDE-HSV
06-14-2011, 00:58
Never heard the "lah" pronunciation anywhere in this country. I once ran across an individual, not from the South, who said "NantaHAHLla." I just said "say what?"

Espero
06-14-2011, 01:25
If you were Tommy Smothers it would be Apple Chain.

d.o.c
06-14-2011, 07:37
(appa latch in) south and (appa lay shin) in north ha its silly..

Cookerhiker
06-14-2011, 07:49
South of PA it's "app-a-LAH-chun".

PA and northward, it's "app-a-LAY-chun".


Mango has it right. It's pretty much a north/south thing. I grew up in the north, so I say it "app-a-LAY-shun", but after a bit of reading into it I think the southern way may be more close to the original pronunciation. Still, no wrong way to say it as long as you're out hiking it! :)

This has been my observation also, but I'd move the line further south to around Rockfish Gap or even Roanoke. Living in MD for 35 years, I never heard anyone local say "app-a-LAH-chun".

mister krabs
06-14-2011, 08:59
In the GA/NC mountains, I hear apple-atch-un. I grew up in Ohio saying apple-ay-shun.

vamelungeon
06-14-2011, 09:31
The mountains were named for the Apalachee indians, who actually didn't live in them but in the Florida panhandle. The tribe's name is pronounced "ap-uh-latch-ee" and not "ap-uh-lay-chee" so "app-uh-LAY-shun" is a mispronunciation but it has become accepted. "ap-uh-latch-un" is correct but people who use the incorrect "northern" pronunciation will never admit it.

hikerboy57
06-14-2011, 09:34
The mountains were named for the Apalachee indians, who actually didn't live in them but in the Florida panhandle. The tribe's name is pronounced "ap-uh-latch-ee" and not "ap-uh-lay-chee" so "app-uh-LAY-shun" is a mispronunciation but it has become accepted. "ap-uh-latch-un" is correct but people who use the incorrect "northern" pronunciation will never admit it.
This is correct. interestingly, there is a trailhead north of Mt Madison in NH, Appalachia, which is pronounced appa-latch-ya

scissor
06-14-2011, 09:39
The saying I always heard growing up in the south...

If you pronounce it app-a-LATE-CHIN I'll throw an apple-atcha!

Ron Haven
06-14-2011, 09:45
I think either way you want to pronounce it is ok. :-? Everyone who speeks english understand it. The word appalachian means in appalachee indian language "for ever".

Beachcomber
06-14-2011, 09:46
The mountains were named for the Apalachee indians, who actually didn't live in them but in the Florida panhandle. The tribe's name is pronounced "ap-uh-latch-ee" and not "ap-uh-lay-chee" so "app-uh-LAY-shun" is a mispronunciation but it has become accepted.

I guess that explains Apalachicola in Florida -- also with the "atcha" pronunciation.

vamelungeon
06-14-2011, 11:10
I guess that explains Apalachicola in Florida -- also with the "atcha" pronunciation.
Yep, same origin.

randyg45
06-14-2011, 12:04
Bus full of yankee tourists got lost near Haysi WV.
They saw the name on a roadsign as they approached the town and a friendly argument developed as to the proper pronunciation of Haysi. One side promoted "hey sigh" while the other switched the emphasis to "hey sigh" Challenges and wagers were offered and accepted. They asked the driver to stop in town so they could ask a local to settle the matter.
The driver was an easygoing sort and pulled into the first fast-food joint he saw.
Both sides had chosen a spokesman, and these worthies went into the eatery as soon as the bus stopped.
Approaching the counter, one of them looked the young man behind the counter squarely in the eye and said: "Young man, please tell us, very slowly and distinctly: Where. Are. We?"
The young man did not blink or smile as he replied: " Bur. Ger. King"

Yukon
06-14-2011, 12:24
This is funny this thread came up. I was down in Virginia last weekend and mentioned the appa-LAY-chian trail to one of my buddies and he looked at me with a odd smirk and said, "you northerners say that funny" LOL

couscous
06-14-2011, 12:42
When taking youth groups to help with the Appalachia Service Project (http://asphome.org/) in the early 80's, the first thing the staff did was extend an apple toward us and say "it's pronounced apple-at-chun". So that's how I've been pronouncing if for the past thirty years.

vamelungeon
06-14-2011, 13:00
When taking youth groups to help with the Appalachia Service Project (http://asphome.org/) in the early 80's, the first thing the staff did was extend an apple toward us and say "it's pronounced apple-at-chun". So that's how I've been pronouncing if for the past thirty years.
Because so many times in the past when we have encountered people who say "appaLAYshun" they've come here to exploit us, make fun of us or are condescending towards us. Or all three. That's why sometimes it does matter HOW you say it. Thank you for your service.

Country Roads
06-15-2011, 20:37
In WV you will hear it both ways, which is about right since we are a little bit North and a little bit south. I say appaLayshun my hiking buddy says AppaLatchin
I agree that as long as you are hiking it, it doesn't matter!

On the video Appalachian Impressions, the narrator says it one way and Mark Flagler says it the other way.

virgil
06-15-2011, 21:42
Dictionaries usually have it both ways. So it comes down to "Appa-LAY- chian" or "Appa-LATCH-ian", either way, don't pronounce the I in the IAN part at all. I personally consider LATCH most correct, the most pure colloquial pronunciation, but that's just me. The LATCH version is most commonly used in the Southern mountains, South of the Mason-Dixon Line, the LAY version is most common up North. It's really six of one and a half-dozen of the other. I never really observed how people West of the Mississippi pronounce it.

Tinker
06-15-2011, 21:55
The mountains were named for the Apalachee indians, who actually didn't live in them but in the Florida panhandle. The tribe's name is pronounced "ap-uh-latch-ee" and not "ap-uh-lay-chee" so "app-uh-LAY-shun" is a mispronunciation but it has become accepted. "ap-uh-latch-un" is correct but people who use the incorrect "northern" pronunciation will never admit it.

I'll admit it :).

But just to keep my ignorant fellow Yankee friends happy I'll mispronounce it for them ;). When I hiked the Ga section I said "Appalatchun" just to keep the Southerners happy. :D

Other things in the English language here in the USA have me flustered, however.
How did the general pronounciation of words beginning with the dipthong "str" end up being pronounced "shtr" just within my generation :confused:.
Examples:
Strong is now shtrong,
Storm (even though it has an o between the t and r) is now shtorm,
Straight is now shtraight, and so on. :confused:
Must have been some influential person with a speech impediment somewhere that I hadn't noticed. :-?

Entropy2012
06-19-2011, 18:01
Never heard the "lah" pronunciation anywhere in this country. I once ran across an individual, not from the South, who said "NantaHAHLla." I just said "say what?"

Wait, so how are you supposed to pronounce it? :o

Jeeez, my accent needs an overhaul. You wouldn't believe how I used to say "Appalachian". :p

kayak karl
06-19-2011, 18:48
I think either way you want to pronounce it is ok. :-? Everyone who speeks english understand it. The word appalachian means in appalachee indian language "for ever".
thanks ron, i never knew that.

Red Hat
06-19-2011, 19:06
when I first heard of it, I lived in NJ, so I said "applaychin". When I was hiking in 05 in NC a man asked me what I was hiking. I said "the applaychin trail". He told me I need to learn how to say it if I was gonna hike it. I've said "applatchin" ever since.

strollingalong
06-19-2011, 20:40
ima say it with a british accent so i'll be sayin it wrong

delaford321
06-20-2011, 17:15
Another vote for the "southern" pronunciation.

sbhikes
06-24-2011, 10:06
I live out west and we used to say LATCH and then I started hearing more people say LAY so I started saying it that way. Guess I'll go back to AppaLATCHun.

Lately I've heard a lot of people start saying Him-MALL-ya instead of Him-ma-LAY-a. That's really starting to bug me.

Oh and watch out for the Sierra nazis who insist it's not the Sierras, it's just the Sierra, singular. :rolleyes:

nufsaid
06-24-2011, 10:16
The mountains were named for the Apalachee indians, who actually didn't live in them but in the Florida panhandle. The tribe's name is pronounced "ap-uh-latch-ee" and not "ap-uh-lay-chee" so "app-uh-LAY-shun" is a mispronunciation but it has become accepted. "ap-uh-latch-un" is correct but people who use the incorrect "northern" pronunciation will never admit it.

The incorrect Northern pronunciation has never been accepted by real Southerners. And Cookerhiker, Maryland has never been a true Southern state.

Ender
06-24-2011, 10:28
The incorrect Northern pronunciation has never been accepted by real Southerners. And Cookerhiker, Maryland has never been a true Southern state.
Hey, if you don't want Maryland, us northerners will be happy to take them. They make some rippin' good crab cakes. :sun

I'm going to keep pronouncing it the northern way, because we now have crab cakes.

Really though, pronounce it however you want. Either way works, especially if you're out in the woods enjoying the trail. Maybe I'll come up with a third way to pronounce it, just because... App-a-Loo-shun anyone?

nufsaid
06-24-2011, 10:55
Hey, if you don't want Maryland, us northerners will be happy to take them. They make some rippin' good crab cakes. :sun

I'm going to keep pronouncing it the northern way, because we now have crab cakes.

Really though, pronounce it however you want. Either way works, especially if you're out in the woods enjoying the trail. Maybe I'll come up with a third way to pronounce it, just because... App-a-Loo-shun anyone?

We actually catch and enjoy blue crabs in North Carolina. Real Southerners don't really care how northerners choose to do or pronounce things as long as you stay in the north. When you migrate to the South and try to tell us how to speak and how much better things are in the north you become obnoxious. We do wonder why so many of you choose to move here when everything was better where you came from.

nufsaid
06-24-2011, 11:19
Because so many times in the past when we have encountered people who say "appaLAYshun" they've come here to exploit us, make fun of us or are condescending towards us. Or all three. That's why sometimes it does matter HOW you say it. Thank you for your service.

I agree vamelungeon. Interesting how northerners like to bash Southern tradition.

Ender
06-24-2011, 12:20
We do wonder why so many of you choose to move here when everything was better where you came from.

I've always wondered the same thing about people who move up here. But heck, all places have good stuff, and it's finding the good local things that are fun. Like pizza or bagels here in NYC, lobsters up in Maine, NC BBQ down by you (Hmmmmm.... everything I've mentioned so far is about food. Maybe I should go grab lunch). In other words, no one area is better than the other, just different, and with it's own good stuff to partake in.