American Place Names - Forgotten Books

AMERHCAN

PLACE NAMES

By

ALFRED H . H OLTAuthor of

“Phra se Orig ins,

“You D on

’

t Say !”

ES ERVEDFO R

NO T/T O B E gmFROM T H E mg ARV

T H OMAS Y . CROWELL COMPANY

PUBLISH ERS NEW YORK

COPYRIGH T, 193 8

BY T H OMAS Y . CROWELL COMPANY

All rights reserved . No p art of th is book m ay be

rep roduced in any form except by a rev iewerwho m ay quote b rief passages in a review to

be printed in a m agazine or newspaper.

Printed in the United Sta te: of flmerica

PREFACE

NOT EVERYBODY on Santa Monica Bouleva rd in LosAngeles knows how the folks on M a in Street inChicka sha , Oklahoma , pronounce

“Chicka sha”— and

Vice versa . Severa l useful purposes can , I believe ,be served by a compila tion which professes to give ,so fa r a s possib le , the current loca l pronuncia tion O fdisputed or difficult pla ce names in every section Ofour country. Radio people , especia lly newsca stersand announcers O f winners in na tion-wide contests ,should never be without such a list , for the standardauthorities cannot possibly provide up-to-the-minuteinforma tion on pla ces like Knippa , Texa s , and Ger

Va is , Oregon , tha t insist on leaping into the headlineswith ma ss murders or specta cula r forest fires ; the unabridgers know perfectly well tha t their exhaustiveresea rch o f ten or fifteen yea rs ago , rela tive to LakeTohopeka liga , Florida , m ay today be O f purely a cademic interest , when the question a rises a s to wha tthe na tives O f the region , in convention a ssembleda round the cra cker b a rrel , ca ll it. Even if therewere enormous and authorita tive lists Of current pronuncia tions , there would still be room for a mildlyenterta ining book in which one could b rowse— and

a lmost nobody will browse in a ga zetteer— unti l hesuddenly b it Off a sprig Of poison ivy, in the shape Of

8 PREFACE

a name he had been blissfully mutila ting ever sincehe could rea d . It isn ’t the names like “Uwchland”

and“Yda lpom tha t a re the most poisonous ; it

’

s theinnocent-looking ones like M ika do ,

” Michigan , and“Pa ss Christian ,

” Mississippi , tha t put strong meninto pa dded cells .In the second pla ce , there a re the serious students

of the evolution O f this American language , who canlea rn much about recessive a ccent , for instance , andabout wha t happens to foreign names over a

,

periodOf yea rs . Aga in the ra ilroad brakemen and tra in announcers could make profitab le use Of this book .

This is just a pious wish . La stly, i f I m ay drape myself in the sta rs-and-stripes just before the curta infa lls , we

’ ll a ll be better Americans i f we go to a littleextra troub le and pay our neighbors in Sa co or Jolietthe

‘

delica te compliment of pronouncing properly thenames Of their home towns .

REFERENCES

The books which I have used a re listed in theBibliography . But in a lmost Every instance I havechecked in one way or another the pronuncia tiongiven by the authorities . I make no pretence Of having persona lly investiga ted , on the spot, every namelisted here , though I have been in a ll forty-eightsta tes . My 7 600-mile Wild Name Hunt , la st yea r ,to the South and Southwest ha s been supplementedby thousands of return-post ca rds sent to libra riansand superintendents o f schools throughout the coun

PREFACE 9

try. Through these Observers , I have endeavoredto lea rn from ea ch community ( 1 ) wha t the

“betterelement,

”a s represented , say, by the President Of the

Woman ’ s Club , ca lls it ; ( 2 ) wha t the average m an

does with it ; and ( 3 ) wha t happens when the brakem an gets hold Of it . The results have been educationa l , upsetting, and not seldom highly amusing .

Other informa tion O f grea t va lue ha s been receivedfrom Mr . Leona rd Thorp O f Superior , Wisconsin ,formerly of Ellensburg, Wa shington , and from Mr .C . K. Bolton O f Shirley, Ma ssa chusetts

Two constant companions , during the preparation Of this ma teria l , have been the gazetteer in theba ck of the unabridged Webs ter , and the UnitedSta tes Oflicia l Posta l Guide . I am a lso indebtedmore than a little to Doan ’ s Liver and Kidney Pills ,for the D irectory of the United Sta tes which its advertising man left on my doorstep .

DIACRITICAL MARK S

At this point,I should like to be able to report ,

“Ain’t none ,”and move on to the next pa ragraph .

However , it ha s been necessa ry to use a ccent ma rks ,and a number of dotted a ’s ( a ) to represent

“uh”

and even , once or twice , a dotted e in “ the ,”to sug

gest the Simila rly informa l “thuh

”

(note , though ,tha t when I have used “the” without any decora tionover the e , tha t i s a Ma chiavellian eva sion Of the issue , for it means tha t the e ; a s in the word

“delay ,”

is sometimes long and sometimes not so long ) . The

10 PREFACE

rea son for this empha s is on the muteness O f a is thewell-grounded fea r tha t when I say, for example ,tha t “Pra irie du Rocher” ( Illinois ) rhymes with“ma rried a poa cher ,

” some of you m ay sound off

with long a ra ther tha t the informa l “uh .

Ra ther than depend on the ca sua l reader to knowtha t “

ch”can be a ssumed to mean the voiceless a f

frica te and not the “sh

” sound , I have made extensive use Of the somewha t undignified admonition to“sneeze the ch

”a s opposed to “hushing” it. Oc

ca siona lly , I have tried to convey the same idea bythrowing in a t :

“tch .

”

Wherever fea sib le , a ccent is indica ted by ita lics ,a s in my rhyme for “Penelope ,

” “Then shell a pea .

”

It will be noted tha t the mute a is here used to sug

gest the sound o f the mute o ; conversely,“O’

( short for of ) m ay turn up , in these pages , a s a

symbol for the same sound . I have even , to the horror O f some conscientious souls , refused to quibb leover the grea t gaps tha t a re a lleged to exist b etweenMa ry, merry , and m a rry, or between ha iry and

H a rry. For my purposes , if , you wish to rhyme“Ca iro

,

( Illinois ) with“a rrow ,

” you ’ ll be closeenough to the a ctua l pronuncia tion to get by . Thisis no book for purists .

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Were I to list a ll who have been good enough towri te me in deta il about the wild names in their vicinity, this volume would resemb le a telephone dirce

PREFACE 1 1

tory. I should however give pa rticula r mention tothe following, in addition to those O f whose help Ihave spoken above : Miss Myrtie J . Bolton , ofDenton , Texa s , Libra rian Rhoda Ma rsha ll , of LOSAngeles , Miss Mamie Meredith , Of the Universityof Nebra ska , Mr . G. W. Cottrell , Jr. , Of C ambridge ,Ma ssachusetts , Professor Fred A . Dudley , O f IowaSta te College , Professor R . M . Ha rper , Of the University Of Alabama , Editor J. N . Heiskell , of theArkansa s Gazette

,Mr . P . L . G . Smith , O f New Or

leans , and Lib ra rian Cha rles W. Spencer, Of Colga teUniversity. M any thanks !

ALFRED H . HOLT .

Williamstown, Ma ss .

September, 1938

Abb eville . ( In five southern sta tes . ) Soundsa lmost like “Abbey-ville .”

Abeyta s , N . Mex. Just aba te us , i f tha tmakes any sense . Surely there is such a thing a s

a ba ting a nuisance .

Ab ilene .

“Abba-leen . In Texas , accent theleen ,

” in Kansa s the “ab . But the Bible name is

Abba

Ab ingdon , Ill . and Md . The accented a b

rhymes with bla b , cra b , dra b , ga b , na b , sca b , s ta bwill the Abingdon

'

Rota ry Clubs kindly suggest amore plea sant rhyme for it ?

Ab sa rokee, Mont . The residents accent the sasah

”or

“saw

”

) whereas Webster lists an Absaroka Range inWyoming with the main a ccent on thero .

Ab secon, N . J . (Name of the island on whichAtlantic City is located . ) Rhymes with Grab me,

Don !”

Accom ac , Va . Unlike Potoma c , i t a ccents thefirst syllab le . Unlike M a ckina c i t sounds thefina l c in the normal way : “

aek’ o-ma ck .

”

AMERICAN PLACE NAMES

Acequia . In Texa s , this is ah sake you . ButIdaho follows the spelling more closely, getting

“ah

seek’we-a”

( the vowel sounds O f obsequious ) . Itmeans ca na l in Spanish .

Ach ille, Okla . Turning its back on its Frenchancestry, this now rhymes with a dia lect pronunciation O f na tura lly :

“na tchily .

”

Acomita , N . Mex . Mexican influence still stronghere : approxima tely, a cka

Agawam , Ma ss . The ag ( a ccented ) should bea s in hag, and the third syllab le is

“wawm

Agua Ca liente .

“Ah'wa kahl-yen’

tay rep t esents the Ca l i fornia and Arizona version , and

approa ches the Mexican . The g doesn’ t ra te much .

Aguilar, Colo . Rhymes with soggy ta r, ap

pa rently. But this is still suspiciously close to theSpanish ; the Colorado town is due for further americaniza tion .

Ah tanum . (Ridge , in the sta te o fWa shington . )As the indignant da rky rema rked when his sonplayed truant,

“Ah ta n ’um

Ajlune, Wa sh . Two syllables . Rhymes withMa dge Boone .

”

Ajo , Ariz . Not being fa r from Mexico , thepla ce

‘i s pronounced “

ah’ho . In Spa in , the j wouldbe guttura l . It ha s

,a ccording to my little Spanish

dictiona ry, three widely separa ted meanings , none

AMERICAN PLACE NAMES 15

of them highly complimenta ry : ga rlic ; pa int forwomen ; a discreditab le transa ction .

Akron,Ohio . Why it is pronounced a ck’ ron

is a mystery to me ; but Since they will have it tha tway, don

’ t a rgue with them about it . Not even thelong a O f the Akron’s successor , the Ma con, shookthe tradition .

Ala bam a . The a ccented a l and bam a re fla t, a s

in “Al Smith ah-la b ah-m a”is abomina tion to

the na tives , a ccording to Director W . L . Spencer ofthe Sta te Depa rtment O f Educa tion .

Ala chua , Fla . Illustra ting the widespread tendency to make the fina l a Of an Indian name long,this i s “

a rhyming with “thé Scotch

pay,” for goodness ’ sake .

Alam eda , Ca lif . The best usage , supported bythe dictiona ry people , leans towa rd the Spanish ,especia lly insisting on the “

m ay” of the a ccented

syllable . The other ha lf Of the popula tion ( andthe wa itress in Boulder City, Nev . , a s I happen toknow) anglicize to a lla -meeda .

”

Alam o . A recent popula r song had somethingabout

When the moon sinks lowOn the Alamo

which indica tes the first-syllable a ccent . The firstsyllable is either “

ah”or

“a l”

; the la tter (makingthe name sound like the first three syllables of a li

16 AMERICAN PLACE NAMES

m a ny ) i s the usua l pronuncia tion in both Texa sand North Dakota .

Alam ogordo, N . Mex. Even more than inAlamo , the second a i s slighted . Just “

a l’mogor’do .

Alb ia, Io‘

wa . Sta rts with Al ( flat ) , a s ina lbum and Albion.

Alb ion , N . Y . The a ccented Al i s a s in AlSmith .

” Why Albany, N . Y . , and Alburg, Vt. ,

should be “awl i s not a t the moment clear . (See

ALTON . )Albuquerque, N . Mex. Al’ba kur’kee , rhym

ing with “Have a turkey,” i s preferred . However ,

with ca re , the“bu

”b ecomes “

biu”or boo .

” Andthe other extreme , a common one , i s j ust a lbakurk .

”

Algonquin , Ill . Authorities say the Indian tribe ,though spelled this way, should be pronounced kin

”

ra ther than “kwin .

” But the residents of the Illinoistown sound the n, which seems logica l .

Alief, Tex. The accent is still properly on thelief” but the first step in recessive a ccent

( sounding the first vowel long ) , ha s a lrea dy b eentaken . Simila r development is under way in D etroit

and Ra cine .

Allegan , Mich . The first syllable is a ccented andthe a i s fla t. Rhymes with the Irish name , Ca lligan .

Allegany (N . Y . and Oreg. )


Allegh any (Ca lif. and Va . )

Allegheny (mounta ins in Pa . , Md . , etc . )

NO ma tter how you spell them , they rhymepretty well with “

Sa lly Blaney .

” Accent first andthird .

Alluwe, Okla . This is sa id to be Delaware Indian for “ something better ,

”and to be pronounced

Al’oo-we .

”

Alpena, Mich . The a l is fla t, the a ccented syllable is “pee .

Altam aha ( river , Georgia ) . Rhymes with Ca lla ma caw.

”

( I discussed it with the O ld b ridge-tender,where U . S. 17 crosses it. ) Tha t the a ccented la stsyllab le is “

haw,

”a s in Oma ha , is substantia ted by

the fa ct tha t there is an Altama haw in North Ca rolina .

Alton , Ill . As in Alba ny, Alden, and Ga ls

worthy, the a l is sounded like a ll . Yet a s a givenname Alton Often sta rts out like Alfred . Now wha tto do about Alba ny and Albion ?

Alva ra do , Minn . Fa r enough from Mexico totransform “

rah”into “

ray”

( a ccented ) .

Am ador ( county, Ca lif . ) Rhymes with slam

a door.” Curiously enough , the approved pronunela tion O f Am a , in Louisiana , 18 with the long a .

Am b oy . Web ster used to a llow a second-syllab le accent , and Century to insist on it . But the


residents Of both Perth Amboy,N . J . , and Amboy,

Ill . , a ccent the first .

Amhers t . All agree tha t the h is silent ; and thefa ct tha t the la st syllable is given no empha sis protects i t from the b a rba rians who s ay

“

Jo isey City.

”

Amidon , N . Dak . Rhymes well enough withAma zon.

Amigo , W . Va . The Spanish ( a ccent on meeha s b een kept , possibly through the influence Of theWild West seria l .

Amite, La . Would we could say tha t this is justa mite o f a town .

” However , its French origin ,and its loca tion in the Creole country have preservedthe pronuncia tion Of “ ah

Am orita, Okla . Like most other names endingin i ta , wherever loca ted , this i s

“eeta .

” But seeOUACH ITA .

Amory . (Family name . ) Given a long a byWeb ster , this i s nevertheless hea rd a s emery

” inBoston and , I am told , a s

“amm ery

” in Ma ryland.

Mississippi sticks to the long a , however .

Amoskeag . (Pa rt O f Manchester , N . H . ) Thea ccented la st syllable is “keg.

” Rhymes with Slamus

,M eg l

”.

Ana cortes , Wa sh . Thorp reports tha t the residents would rhyme it , just about , with m an escortus , wherea s Web ster

’ s “tes

” rhymes with “fez

”

Anyway, a ccent the“cor.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join


Appa lach ian . See APALACHEE .

Aquidneck ( island— now Rhode Island ) . Em

pha size the“quid ,

”a s in toba cco chewing . The a '

i s mute .

Arab i, Ga . Still like Milton’ s word for Arabia ,Ara by. Approxima te rhyme : “scare a bee .”

Aransas Pa ss , Tex. Kansa s” i s an approxi

ma te rhyme , though the first s Of “Aransa s” i s p erhaps more O f a hiss .

Ara pah oe , Nehr. Rhymes with “a nap ago ( Iunderstand that Joe Louis , invetera te nap-taker,keeps tra ck of the time this way )Arcata, Ca li f. Americanized , to rhyme with the

approved pronuncia tion O f “da ta ( the accented a

long ) .

Arkansa s . The sta te i s , Of course , a r’kan

saw.

” At a ga s sta tion nea r Fort Smith , where U . S.

64 crosses the Arkansa s River, a m an With one a rm

( cotton-gin a ccident ) a ssured me tha t the l‘lVCl

‘waspronounced both ways ; i.e. ,

“a r Kan

’

za s” in Kansa s .

Tha t ought to settle tha t a rgument once and for a ll ,

especia lly when you reflect tha t he was a very seriousminded individua l with only one a rm . In ca se youa re interested , Web ster confirms his a ssertion tha tboth versions a re a ccepted .

Arkansa s City, Kansa s . In tribute to their ownsta te , and in mild defiance of their neighbors , thepeople here call it “ar-Kan’

za s” City .

AMERICAN PLACE NAMES 2 1

Am heim , Mich . Keeps the German ci ; i.e . ,

rhymes with “ rhyme .

Aroos took (M a ine ) . A ruse took (me by surHiss the s .

Arriba, Colo . Having turned its ba ck on i tsSpanish origina l (which means

“upsta irs it is nowlike “

a rab le” without the I sound .

Arthyde , Minn . Founded by two brothers , Arthur and Clyde H utchins , . the town is pronouncedlike the first pa rt ofArthur ,

“a rth ,

”and the la st pa rt

o f Clyde ,“yde” —I am informed by Mr. Clyde him

self . Accent “ a rth .

”

Ashokan , N . Y . Rhymes wi th “a token . Ac

cent ou the “ Show .

”

Ash tabula, Ohio . Accent the bu , rhyming itwith “ few.

”

Ashuelot , N . H . Ash'we-lot,” rhyming with

ma shie-shot ,”a ccording toWebster . But the Bishop

Of New Hampshire told me the other day to stressthe “wee ,

” just like the little pig on his way homefrom ma rket . Both a re common .

Asotin , Wash . Rhymes with “a -floa tin Note

tha t the a ccent corresponds Wl th tha t Of Ashoka n,N . Y . , another Indian name .

Atascosa, Tex. Rhymes with Pa t a crow,suh .

Atcha falaya Bayou (La . ) The ma in a ccent ison the next-to-the-la st syllable , but there i s an un

expected seconda ry a ccent on “cha ff.” The thing


rhymes with a sta ff , Ma ria ( long i ) . And“B ayou is just “By you .

Athens . In New York : The older genera tioninva riab ly pronounces the a long.

” Or you can

put it this way, a ccording to one correspondent :“ If

you have money in the bank , the a is fla t, a s inGreece ; if you a re down and out, the a i s long.

”

(Appa rently in Athens , N . Y . , only the younger gencra tion have money in the bank , m ira bile dictu. )The candy-Shop m an by the Hudson ferry, on b einginterviewed by Mr . Bolton , sa id it wa s long a untilthe schools changed it .

NewAthens , Ohio , uses the long a , thus pointingthe difference between it and pla in Athens in thesame sta te , which is short . In Ma ine and Illinois ,the residents , for rea sons Sa tisfa ctory to themselves ,keep the long a . But in other sta tes the fla t a isregula r .

Athol . In M a ssa chusetts , Pennsylvania , and

South Dakota , the“a th

” is a ccented and the o un

stressed ; the genera l eflect ‘much like TheScotch have an “Athole” and an

“Atholl ,”a ll pro

nounced a s above .

Ausa b le . The r1ver m upsta te New York is usua lly spelled this way ; the Michigan river , Au Sa ble .

Both, rhyme with “aw Mabel ! ”

Auxvasse, MO . The most common loca l pronunciation i s “aw Which is neither French norEnglish .


Ava, Ill . and N . Y. Rhymes with wave a , a s inwave a flag .

”

Avon . ( Shakespea re’ s river . ) In England , usu

a lly long a . Towns named a fter it in Idaho , Ma s

sachusetts , Minnesota , North Ca rolina , and NewYork a re correctly long a a lso , but the fla t a ( a s in“avenue” ) is more common in Montana , while a t

Avonda le (CO lO . , Pa . , andW . Va . ) and Avonmore ,Pa . , the fla t a is correct ;

Baca (Colo . ) AS in Bake a ( cake ) .

Baden . The - Only American one tha t Websterlists is in Pennsylvania , and is given the Germanpronuncia tion ( rhyming with

“ Sodden” ) though iti s hundreds Of miles from “Dutch spheres of influence . In Illinois and Texa s , we have two pla cesca lled New Baden ,

” both of which rhyme with“ laden .

Ba la -Cynwyd , Pa . B a lla ( a s in ba llot kin’

wid . Welsh , Of course .

Ba la ton , Minn . The ba la i s the same a s inthe previous name ; the whole is , approxima tely,“ba llot on” When sha ll we ba llot on this issue ?”

Ballagh , Nebr . Knocks O ff the “gh” in approved

Irish style : rhymes with “Allah” ( first a fla t and

a ccented ) .

B ahn orhea , Tex . This rhymes with Pa l , morehay !

” only don’ t pronounce the h .

Bamberg, S. C . NO German left. Rhymes withhamburg” ( a lso am er1can1zed )

Bandera, Tex. In process Of am erl canl za tion .

24


Webster says ban-day’

ra , Bolton ban-dee’ra .

The la tter is ga in ing.

Bangor . In Wa les and Pennsylvania , this rhymeswith “

anger but in Ma ine , a ccording to M awson ,they ba n gore” prohib it bloodshed ) .

Banida , Idaho . The pronuncia tion indica tes tha tthe name derived from “ Idaho” ; in rea lity , however ,it is a collision-form O f Bannock” and

“Oneida ,” as

a t the time it wa s named it wa s on the bounda ry between those two counties . Accent the long i .

Banock , Ky . The same fla t a ( a ccented ) a s inBannock , Idaho , despite the difference in the numberOf n’

s .

Ba nquete, Tex. Ban-ketty , rhyming withCan Hetty .

” Accent in the middle , a s in the origina l Spanish .

Ba ra ga , Mich . Rhymes , about , with Ha rrigan ,if you cancel the n.

Barns tab le, Ma ss . This is pronounced much likeits ancestor in England ,

“Ba rnstaple ,” both being

strongly a ccented on the first syllab le . On Cape Codit rhymes pretty well with “constable ( and I don

’ tmean

Ba rre, Ma ss . , Vt . Rhymes with Ha rry (whichpurists will tell you is different from “ha iry

Ba sa lt , Idaho . Neither pronuncia tion given inWebster for this kind Of ma rble checks with the loca lversion in Idaho . There i t is which has

2 6 AMERICAN P LACE NAMES

an incongruous sea shore ring about it. The mounta in in Colorado is given by Web ster a s either“ba-sawlt

’” or “ba ss’ awlt” (fla t a , like the fish ) . In

cidenta lly, why don’ t the experts list “

ba ss” a s a

rhyme for “pa ss and“bra ss” ?

B’

a sehor, Kans . Unplea sant predicament hereone must choose between the compa ra tive O f ba se”

and the two words “ba se hore The

la tter is more common . Even the German wordfrom which it m ay ultima tely have derived , bo

'

ser ,

means “worse .”

Baton Rouge,La . Ba ton rhymes pretty well

with “ sa tin” ; and“ rouge” i s just wha t you would

expect .

Baugh , Tenn . A worth-While exh ib it in the studyO f English inconsistencies . This is “

Baw.

”

Bayonne , N . J .

“Bay-own .

” Long a , long a ;

slightly more a ccent on the “own .

Bazile Mills , Nebr . Rhymes with Bra z il ( a ccent on the

Bea llsville, Ohio . Bolton says the a is silent ;first syllab le just Bells .

Bea trice . In Alabama and Nebra ska , the a t

is empha sized , making the name rhyme with freema ttress .”

Beaufort . In North Ca rolina , more people keepthe French bO

”

; in South Ca rolina , influenced by“beauty,

” they ca ll it biu .

2 8 AMERICAN PLACE NAMES

Rhymes with Well I ’ ll , a s in the cla ssic phrase,“Well , I

’ll be

Belo , W . Va . Not liking the connota tion of be

low,

” the residents a ccent the “bee .”

Beloit, Kans . and Wis . Almost rhymes withadm it” ; the e is not a t a ll noticeab le .

Belpre, Ohio . Could be rhymed with belfrywithout undue a crob a tics .

Beltram i, Minn . Accent in the middle . Rhymeswith “Well , Sammy !

Bemidji, Minn . Accent in the middle : beMidgy.

”

Benewah ( county, Idaho ) . Rhymes with (Giveme a ) penny, Ma !

”

Benicia, Ca li f . Rhymes with We wish ya (good

Benzien , Mont . Ben zeen —just a s i f spelledthe regula r way . Then there is a “Benz ie in Michigan tha t rhymes with “

frenzy.

”

Berea, Ky . and Ohio . Rhymes with we see

ya ,” only soft-peda l the first e .

Bergen . In New Jersey this rhymes meekly withJurgen ( first syllab le a ccent , ha rd but get upinto Genesee County, N . Y .

,and you find the la st

syllab le “ j en , and even a ccented ! Perhaps by a ssocia tion with the soft 9 O f Genesee .

Berlin . The German a ccentua tion (on the lastsyllable ) ha s been hopelessly lost in a lmost all sec


tions of this country— a t lea st as applied to townsnamed a fter the German capita l ; in Ma ryland,

“burlin

’” i s hea rd but not approved ; only among thePennsylvania Dutch does it flourish .

Berthoud , Colo . Abandon French when you enter here . Just ta ck a d on the end of “Bertha .

”

Bethune, S. C . Usua lly “beth rhymingwith “ tune .” It ha s French and Scotch connections .

Bexar, Texa s . To account for the Silencing of

the x in B exa r,the story is told that an ill itera te In

dian named “Bea r” used to Sign his name with an ! ,

a cross which one of the loca l intelligentsia wouldwrite “Bea r to identify the Signa ture ; and tha t thus

“

the county came to be spelled Bexa r and pronounced“Bea r .” The correct explana tion is , of course , tha tthe Mexican version of x or j ( i t wa s origina llyBeja r ) is simply an h sound , making B exa r rhyme ,to a ll intents and purposes , with

“fa re I prophesy

tha t , eventua lly, through ana logy with Texa s if forno other rea son , i t will rhyme with

“vex ’er.

”

Bieber, Ca li f. A contribution to our study Of theGerman ie in America . ( It will be remembered thatHank Leiber

,ba seb a ll player , is genera lly pro

nounced The litera ti of Bieber ca ll it “bee

”

ber,”but the popula rity of “by

’ber

”is increa sing.

Billerica , Ma ss . Its ancestor in England isspelled B illericay and pronounced “Bill Ricky .

”

Ha rriet Beecher Stowe sa id in one of her storiestha t tha t wa s the way New England did i t, too . But


today b ill’ rick-a represents better the most common usage .

Biloxi, Miss . Tourists say bill lock’ see , torhyme with “

foxy, but the na tives of this p icturesque resort on the Gulf shorten the middle syllableto “ lux.

”

Binghamton , N . Y . Perhaps the p in Northampton” makes a ll the difference . But the hampcerta inly gets the a ccent in the la tter, while in theformer the “

ham”is but a murmur ( the a ccent be;

ing on the bing” )

Birm ingham . See BUCKINGHAM .

Birome, Tex . Not Spanish ; not any longer, anyway. Just “

By Rome.

Bla b on , N . Dak. Rhymes perfectly with Ja ckBenny’ s old cue for the orchestra : “

Play, Don .

Blenheim . The British corrupted B lindheim intoB lenheim

,and then rhymed it with “pen ’em .

” InNew York and South .Ca rolina the British spellingand pronuncia tion a re standa rd , though both of myObservers comment tha t it ought to be “hime” ( longi ) . Which is not strictly true , ina smuch a s the namein its present form is English , not German .

Blevins , Ky . Rhymes with the dia lect exclama ,

tion ,“H evinS !

”

Blough , Pa . Exhib i t A in our collection of

ough” oddities . This rhymes with “plow .

”


Blount (Ala . ) According to Webster , this i sblunt ,

” like the English surname .

Boca Ra ton , Fla . See RATON .

Boelus , Neb r . Like a la rge pill for a horse : bo’

Boerne, Tex. This oe is different . Just Burney, like Fanny and Ben .

Bogota. While “Boga ta , Tex . , wa s named forBogota ,

” — somebody Slipped on the spelling, and

fell headlong on the pronuncia tion ; in South Americait is

“bo-

gO-tah

’ ”but in Texa s it is “

bO go’ ta .

” InIllinois and New Jersey this same “go” a ccent isused , though the spelling b lunder ha s b een corrected .

Bois D ’

Arc , MO . Usua lly Bo’ da rk .

” Butocca siona lly gets itself mixed up with Noah ’s boa tand becomes “Boa rd Ark .

”

Boise, Idaho . Though commonly rhymed withnoisy,

”it should be “

boy say ,”

a ccording to theSuperintendent of Schools . Web ster ha s recentlychanged his second syllable from a sort o f una ccented“zay

” to a “see .

”

Bolckow, Mo . Something like ba ll’ co . MyObserver reports “

a sort o f Missouri drawl” ; a t anyra te , the

“kow

”is not bovine ( see MOSCOW ) .

Boliva r . South of Panama , this i s“bo lee’ va r.

But in Mississippi, M issouri, New York , Pennsylvania , and Tennessee , it just about rhymes with“Oliver .”


Bolling . (Field in Wa shington . ) Rhymes withrolling.

”

Bondura nt, Iowa . The da used to be diu,_

a ccented . But the a ccent ha s receded to the bon .

Bonneville Dam , Oreg . Though Web ster saysbon’ vil ,

” F. D . R . made it three syllab les , in hisspeech there : “bon’ a-vil .

” And Bonneville,Wyo . ,

makes it “Bonny-ville.

”

Borger, Tex. The g is ha rd a s in Gertrudea ccent on the “bor .

Borgne (Louisiana ) . Omit the g and the e

born .

” I t means “one-eyed .

”

Bos cawen . In New Hampshire , the approvedversion is a lmost “

bah’

skwen ,

” though an ea rlierrendering concludes , a ccording to different authorities , with

“woiu” or “wine .” The British admira lfor whom it wa s named seems to have a ccented themiddle , making it

“ Sko” or “ Skaw .

” An island inthe South Sea s wa s named a fter him , but i t provedto be too ha rd to pronounce , and was changed toNiua tobuta bu.

Boscob el . One in England, one in Wisconsin ,one in New York City ( street in the Bronx )— a ll

a re pronounced “bah

’

sko-bell .

Bosque , Tex . Best usage reta ins the Spanish e

( a s long a ) but skee”is ga ining. Stick to “

bah’

skay” for a while . But Bolton says B osqueville, inthe same sta te , ha s an a ccented “ skee .”


Boston . (A collapsed form ,origina lly B otolphs

town. ) Even to a New Englander “bahss

’ tun”

i s likely to sound a ffected ; the fa rther west you go ,

the broader the aw.

”

Botetourt . (County in Virginia . ) Accent onfirst syllable . Rhymes pretty well with “ spottyShirt .”

Bouse , Ariz . Though the brakeman tends tosay

“Booze ,” na tives tell me the “

on” i s a s in

‘ouch .

” The rhyme is “a rouse .

Bovina . In New York and M ississippi , the i islong , a s in Dinah .

” But in Texa s it i s “vee .” Irememb er because I had a fla t tire between there and“Friona ”— and both the i’s were “

cc .

”

Bowden , W . Va . Lippincott gives Cape Bowden ,in the Arctic , a long 0 ; but West Virginia rhymes“bow

” with “cow.

”

Bowdoin , Ma ine . BO And the correctpronuncia tion o f B owdoinham , in the same sta te , i sjust “BO-d

’

n-ham , but I am told tha t“Bordingham

”

is common loca lly .

Bowie . In Arizona , one finds the expected boo’

ee ( tra ditiona l in Texa s , though Mawson a ssertstha t the colonel himself , defender o f the Alamo ,rhymed it with but one is surprised tofind tha t the same “

0 0” i s correct a s fa r north a s

Ma ryland .

Brazos , Tex . Still close to the Mexican : brah’

zose ,” rhyming with dose .”


Brea, Ca lif . ( Spanish for UnlikeRea andM cCrea , this breaks its

“ea

” in two : bree’

Breakab een , N . Y . Just break a b ean , like"

a novel substitute for “ take pot luck” “Just drop in

and brea k a bea n with us .”

Brea th itt ( county, Ky . ) According to Web ster ,the brea th ( a ccented ) rhymes with dea th , a s of

course it should ; a nd the“ itt” is “ it .”

Bremen . Don ’t go Teutonic on this one in Indiana

,nor in New Bremen , Ohio . Both a re

“bree’

men

Brielle, N . J . Named a fter a Dutch ci ty , and

still pronounced much a s i t is : “bree

Brodhea d . Though Webster ca lls for brahd ,

Broa d head” ( or“Broa d ’

cd ,” to rhyme with ap

plauded i s just about a s common in the Ashokansection of New York a s it is in Wisconsin .

Bruni, Tex. To say tha t this rhymes withloony” would be fully a s b ad a s to say tha t Fra zee,M inn . , rhymes with

“cra zy .

”So I won ’t . But they

do .

Bryn Mawr . In Wa les , it m ay rhyme withour,

”but the town and school in Pennsylvania

rhyme with “ shin sca r ,”

a s in held-hockey

Buca tunna , Miss . Sometimes spelled Buck,and should be pronounced tha t way. Rhymes with“Duck a s on 0

’


and no reply forthcoming were unfounded . It rhymeswith “hunger .”

Burlingam e, C a lif . Accent on the first syllable ;the middle m ay be

“ ling” or lin but the la st isunmistakably “game ,

” with a long a .

Bustam an te, Tex . In evolving from Spanish toEnglish , this ha s reached the boost-a -men-tee”

stage .

Butte, Mont . Just like the abbrevia tion of

beauty” :“beaut .

Ca ba llo , N . Mex. Horse . ! Proximity tothe Mexican border ha s kept this Kah vah

’

yo .

Ca b ell ( county, Virginia ) . Like James BranchCa bell

,rhymes with gabb le .

Cab ery , Ill . Accent and vowel sounds a s inquavery.

Cache, Ill . , and Utah . Stra ight French : cash

Cadiz . In Indiana and Kentucky,“Kay

’Diz ,

a s i f you were saying a curt to Dizzy Dean .

But in Ohio , a“cad

”ha s crept in .

Ca illou , La . An approxima tion o fthe French , i s still standa rd , but

“kay

loo’” is ga ining .

Cairo, Ill . In Egypt, ky’ro . But in Little

Egypt (where the Ohio j oins the Mississippi ) , it i s ,a s my observer says ,

“ just like the corn syrup”— andtha t means “ ca re” plus “oh , not long a .

Cala is . When I told Richa rd Wa rren Ha tch ,young novelist of the Down Ea st scene , tha t I hadnever hea rd “Ca la is” rhymed with “pa la ce ,

” he murmured ,

“Very ca’

less of you .

” Ca reless or not, itrepresents not only the Simon-pure Republican ver

3 7


sion (Ma ine and Vermont ) but a lso a common British pronuncia tion of the channel port . The Frenchrhymes with “a play .

”

Ca laveras (Ca lifornia ) . The Spanish is still api

proxim a ted :“Ca la ” rhymes with “Allah” ( first syl

lab le a ccent )“y ay

’rus

” properly ha s a long a

sound, but weakens Often into a rhyme for“ terra ce .”

Ca lca s ieu (Louisiana ) .

“Ka l

’

ka -shoo . Rhymeswith “girl sneezes ,

”if you see wha t I mean .

Cal exico , Ca lif. This is a type of collision-namefound on the borders of a lmost every sta te ; it is pronounced , of course ,

“Ca l ( ifornia -M ) exico ,” with

eviscera tions .

Ca l ipatria , Ca l i f. Though sometimes abbrevia ted to “

Ca lipa t,”its soup-and-fish name is pro

nounced ca l-i-pay’ tree-a .

” Loca l people say this ismore common than Webster ’ s “

pa t.

”

Ca llao, Utah . Nothing Peruvian here . Rhymeswith “

a K .O .

” Accent the “ lay .

”

Ca lliope, Iowa . Out where the ta ll corn grows ,this rhymes with Ga l elope .” The same is true ,there , of the wheezy steam-organ , now happily a l

most extinct .

Camack , Ga . (Also spelled Cama k. ) Rhymespretty well with Some ba ck ! ” the first a i s

Cam ano (Wa shington ) . Thorp , professing torepresent current loca l usage , contradicts Web ster


and Lippincott , in rega rd to this island . Not ca

m ah’ no ,

” he a sserts , but a rhyme for“a pa in ,

oh !”

Cama s , Wa sh . Like campus with the p omitted . So is Kama s , Utah .

Camb ria, C a lif . , Va . First syllab le rhymes withclam .

”It

’

s the La tin name forWa les .

Cana j oha rie , N . Y . Rhymes with Anna , Joe ,Ha rry.

”Stress “Ha rry .

Cana lon,Mo . Preferably a s in cana l on fire !

though first-syllable a ccent is common . My Ob serversays it means , in Spanish ,

“Where goeth the channel ,

”but my dictiona ry , less poetica l , says la rge gut

ter .

Cananda igua , N . Y . Cannon day’ gwah .

Canaseraga, N . Y . Ca rina se-raw’

ga .

” Thereis something about an a in an Indian name tha tmakes folks do unexpected things . Examples : Chicka sha

,Ojibwa , Wichita . Look them up . And

how did you make out ?

Caneadea , N . Y . The more ca reful say cannya dee’ a ,

” most folks slur it a bit,“can a dee’ a .

”

Caney , Kans . Rhymes with Delaney, as youwould expect .

Canon , Ariz . The postoflice does not permit thee tha t the residents continue to use in both this andCa non City, Colo . But both pronounce it can-yun— and , in view of certa in obvious differences between


canyons , cannons , and canons , would do well tochange the spelling to “

canyon .

”

Canonsb urg, Pa . If it ever wa s canon , i t i sjust cannon” now.

Can ton . Everywhere in America , a ccent thecan ,

”but in China the “ ton .

Cape Gira rdeau , MO .

“Gi ra rd , oh for na tives .

The a ccent ha s receded to the “ra r .

”

Ca rmine , Tex . A common pronuncia tion rhymeswith “ sa rdine” ; but Webster

’ s preference for thecolor ,

“ca r

’ min ,” i s a lso preferred for the pla ce .

Ca rpinteria , Ca lif . Mexican influence ha s keptthe a ccent on the next-to-the-la st syllab le ,

“rec ,

” justa s it ha s in “ca feteria ” - ln Southern Ca lifornia .

Ca rrizo Springs , Tex . Kah ree’ zo .

” And forCa rrizozo , N . Mex .

,just push the a ccent a long one

notch . The filling-sta tion m an there made it rhymepretty well with “merry bozo

Ca ruthersville , Mo . The name o f the founderwa s evidently a va riant of Ca rruthers or Crothers ;there ’s a rhyme for mother in a ll three . The “

ca”

of the first is sometimes sung out by the brakeman a s“kay,

” incorrectly, a s anyone with an ea r for brakemen would expect . The a is mute , and the a ccent onthe u.

Ca sa Piedra, Tex. Still quite Mexican : kah’ sahpee ed’ ré .

” Or even lengthen the “ ed” to “a id ,

”if

you want to make an impression on some senorita .


Ca son , Tex . Like ca isson , i t rhymes with“

Jason” Or

“Ma son .

Ca ssa da ga . In both New York and Florida , thea ccented syllab le is day . (See CANASERAGA . )Cas tile , N . Y. This rhymes with “ la st m ile .

But let me say here tha t the name for Spa in and thename for soap end in “ steel” (usua lly a ccented ) .

Ca th lamet, Wa sh . Girl named Ca therine comesto b a t. Brother cries ,

“Ca th , lam it !”

Ca tta raugus , N Y . Rhymes , informa lly, withPa t

’

er jaw, Gus .

Cayucos , Ca l if . Rhymes well with my new

Cayuga , N . Y . According to Webster , the firsta i s a s in “

cha otic . Evidently we must trea t theIndian cay differently from the same comb ina tion inSpanish . Say

“kay 0 0

’

ga.

”

Cayuse, Wa sh . Though a Cayuse is a Wa i i la t

puan Indian from Uma tilla ( I just mention this tokeep you from forgetting tha t we a re engaged in a

Wild Name Hunt ) , I believe the name to be of Spanish origin . At any ra te , i t is Spanish enough to rhymewith “my noose” ; Web ster empha sizes the secondsyllable , the sta te of Wa shington the first .

Ceb olla , N . Mex .

“Onion . The Mexicansdon ’t pronounce the i ’s , and neither Should we . You

might rhyme this with “We know ya .

” Begin , ofcourse , with a hissing “

s .

”See SEBOYETA .

.AMERICAN PLACE NAMES

Cecil. The high-b row radio announcer ca lls thissessil” if the Cecil in question is British ; and the

higher the brow, the closer he comes to“sissil

”

H owevef, towns in Arkansa s , Ohio , and Wisconsin,and a county in Ma ryland appea r to be unanimouslyfor

“see

’

sil ,” while in Pennsylvania a rhyme for

“vessel” is “used by a few .

”

Cecilton , Md . , and Cecilville , Ca lif . , a re curiously akin , in tha t the a ccepted pronuncia tion ,whether you a re on Chesapeake Bay or in the Ca s

ca de Mounta ins , is“Sissil .

”

Celina , Ohio . Na tura lly this is se li’ na , rhyming with

“Dinah but I wa s a little surprised to

lea rn tha t in Texa s it i s the same— the explana tionof the long i being, I suppose , the four hundred milestha t sepa ra te Celina from the Mexican border .

Celoron , N . Y . Sounds a good dea l like sell’

or-own ,”a s in this slightly cock-eyed conversa tion

“Do you ea t your own vegetables ?” “N0 , we sell

o’r own.

”

Ceres . The goddess of gra in , and towns in herhonor in Ca li fornia , New York, and Virginia , a re a llpronounced about like “ series

,But how do you pro

nounce “ series” ? Webster a llows “ see’rizz , for in

stance , and is indeed very firm about tha t “ cc in the

first syllab le , wherea s Ceres , N . Y . , reports , I havenever hea rd it pronounced The fa ct istha t most of us rhyme tha t first syllable of “ series”

( and Ceres ) with“beer .”


Chanute, Kans . Sta rts out like shut vowelsounds and a ccent a s in “uproot .

Cha ppa qua , N . Y . The sneezing ch is ap

pa rently ga ining on“ shap” ; rhyme the whole with

tap a jaw.

”

Cha riton , Iowa and Mo . Change the d of Sheridan” to a t, and you have it.

Cha rlemont , Ma ss . (The other side of the Mo

hawk Tra il . ) The na tives don’ t bother with the

French “sh . Yet it’s not quite “Cha rlie .” Rhyme

it with “m a r a font .”

Cha rleroi , Pa . Here aga in the French sh isyielding to the sneeze ; the French

“rwah

” long ago

surrendered to “Roy

”

; but the la st-syllable a ccentha s been la rgely reta ined . Regrettably like “Cha rleyRoy.

”

Cha rlotte . The usua l a ccent ( on the sha r isfound in Florida , North Ca rolina , Virginia , and

Canada . But Michigan and Vermont empha size the“ lot ,

” just to b e different . Or is it French-Canadianinfluence ?

Chatawa , M iss . Sparkling wa ter . Rhymeswith “

B a t a jaw.

”

Chateaugay , N . Y . This name seems to be inprocess of changing from the French to somethingtha t might rhyme with “

pa t a bee . At present ,“sha tty

-gee” (ha rd g ) is the most common

Chatham . Bolton says tha t the “ham i s gen


erously brought out , down Cape Cod way. I do notfind this to be true of Cha tham , _N. Y .

, where it isusua lly a mute sort of “um . But see EASTHAM .

Chautauqua , N . Y. The first “ au” and the la sta a re S imila r in sound uh” )

“sha taw

’

kwa.

”

Cha zy , N . Y. The French-Canadian a ccent , onthe “

cc ,”is still favored by Web ster , but the power

of the “ la zy-cra zy” ana logy cannot be denied . The“ ch” is still “sh .

”

Cheb oygan , Mich . Pronounced the same a s Sheboygan , Wis . , (

“ sha boy’

it m ay a lso haveorigina ted with the squaw who reported thus la conica lly on the birth of a second son— but the tin

romantic truth is tha t there is an Indian word,sheboyga n, tha t means cornsta lk.

”

Cheha lis , Wa sh . Sta rts with a sneeze , and

rhymes with we say this .”

Chelan , Wa sh . Preferab ly, shéi lan to rhymewith “

a ma n.

”

Chelm sford . In England and in Ma ssa chusetts ,the l is often silent ( a s in

“pa lm” or“ca lm”

) but the“chem z

” is giving way to the spelling pronuncia tion ,influenced by

“ elm ,

” especia lly in elm -Shaded NewEngland .

Chemung , N . Y . Like many ch names of Indian origin— especia lly when the ch” syllable is una ccented— this sta rts with an sh rhymes with “ the

youngf’


Chenango (New York ) . Means la rge bullthistles .” Begins with “ sh , and rhymes prettywell with we tango” (not dwelling on the we ) .

Chenoa , Ill .“She know a ,

”a s in “

Does she

know a good pla ce to go ( See GENOA . )Chepachet, N . Y . , R . I . Better sta rt with a

sneeze, and a ccent pa tch .

Chesan ing , Mich . Accent on the first syllab le ;fa ir enough rhyme for “ lessening .

Cheviot, Ohio . Here the Chevrolet influence ha sestab lished the “

sh” sound . Some rhyme the name

with idiot, but the preferred rhyme is with“hea vy

butt .”

Chevy Cha se, Md . Sneeze the first ch a s wellas the second , and rhyme

“Chevy” with “heavy.

”

Chewelah , Wa sh . Sneeze the “ch , and rhyme

the whole with “ a m ea l a (minute . )Cheyenne , Wyo. The Cheyenne libra rian con

S iders tha t “ Shy Ann, popula rized in a pre-wa rdance tune , expresses it a ccura tely .

Chica go . Chicagoans , even the very cultured ,prefer “

kaw to kah .

”The Sa turday Review once

ran a story, sent in by Anne Pursee of Cambridge , tothe effect tha t an English visitor to Chicago , on b eingcorrected for her flagrant mispronuncia tion , repliedicily,

“But I say‘chick’ a -

go .

’ And Ma rga retWiddemore capped this one with tha t of the Bostonian who , being a sked how Bostonians pronounced


it, returned with dignity, We never pronounce it inBoston a t a ll .”

Ch iches ter, N . Y . Web ster says the first syllable ( a ccented ) rhymes with

“ i tch” in England ; butthe i is long in New York .

Chickasha, Okla . A few Indian names ending insha take your brea th away

'

by ca lling it“ shay” ( see

NEODESHA ) . This is one O f them . Yet it comesfrom the same Indian word a s Chicka saw. A ladyon Chicka sha Street, in Chicka sha , once wa s awa rdeda Pa cka rd ca r in a prize contest . But the radio announcer didn ’t win any new friends for Packa rd inOklahoma when he mispronounced Chicka sha twicein one sentence !

Ch ico , Ca lif . Keeps to the Mexican (and Ma rx“tchee

’

co .

Ch icopee , Ma ss . Accent the chick .

Chicot (Arkansa s ) . The French ha s been keptshee’ ko .

Ch illicothe, Ohio . The first two syllab les abouta s spelled ; the third ,

“kah , a ccented (but a first

syllab le a ccent is ga ining , among the residents , in linewith the familia r recessive-a ccent trend ) ; the la stsyllab le , like

“ the in“ theme .” It is the Shawnee

word for “Old Town .

Ch iloquin , Oreg . The meeting of the waAccent On the chill . Rhymes with “pil

low thin .


Chim acum, Wa sh . They mostly sneeze theirch ’ s” inWa shington . Rhymes with trim a chum .

”

Ch ina Lake,Ma ine . Bolton says this is loca lly

pronounced “Chaney.

” Ba ck in 179 1 , tha t way o f

saying “ china wa s given preference by Wa lker , inhis Critica l Pronouncing D ictiona ry.

Ch ina ti, Tex . H a s nothing to do with tea -fromChina . Ca ll it “

tchee nah’ tee .”

Ch ino-0 k , Mont .“Chin” a s in double chin .

And “nook ( a ccented ) rhymes with“cook This

is sensible , in tha t“ spook” is the only -Ook word

which ha s the long

Ch ino Wa sh (Arizona ) . Nothing to do with a

laundry. The Chino” ( a s with Chino , Ca lif . ) i s“chee’ no . A wa sh is a sort o f creek , usua lly b road

and sha llow . Nea r Flagsta ff, there is a WoodyWa sh . New Mexico ha s a Tuntsa Wa sh (nea rToadlena ) which can no doub t be worked into theconversa tion a t this point .

Ch ippewa Fa lls , Wis . Though there is a relation between this and “Oj ibwa ,

”

( often pronouncedand even spelled “

way“Chippewa ” ha s the vowel

sounds of hip of a ,”a s in “hip of a snake .”

Chocorua (mounta in , 'N. H . , just three feethigher than Mt . Greylock ) . Sta rt with a sneeze ,and a ccent the core . Rhymes with Joe shore

threw a

Cib ecue, Ariz . Sibby—cue , r hym i ng wi thLibby Q .

”


Cibolo , Tex. See’

bo-lo .

Cim a rron , Colo . , Kans . , N . Mex. , Okla . Accenton the “Sim ,

”and rhymes pretty well with “

grimmer

tonef’

Cincinnati, 0 . The na tty ending seems to beapproved by the na tives ;

“nah-tee” i s not hea rd ,

thereabouts ;“na ttah

”i

is“common but Slovenly,

”be

ing quite genera l with outsiders (unlike the otherwisesimila r “

m izoora”for M issouri or

“my

-amma” forMiami ) .

Cincinnatus , N . Y . Sin-sin-nay’ tus .

body anywhere nea r here a lways ca lls it tha t .

Clatskan i e, Oreg. Lippincott had the a ccent inthe middle , but la test reports are that the thingrhymes with “

ca ts can die .”

Cleburne, Ala . , Ark . , Tex. Klee’ burn .

Cle Elum , Wa sh . Clee ellum”

( remember itby the

“ slippery ellum of our childhood ) . It is Indian for “clear wa ter

Cleves , Ohio . Kleevz . The nickname Cleve ,equipped with apostrophe-and-s , wa s not however theorigin , but ra ther the German town of tha t name .

Clio , Ala . , Iowa , Ky . , Mich . Rhymes withOhio” ( though one brakeman on the Rock Islandha s been understood to give it the classical “ cc” )

Clito , Ga . Observer writes : Everyone , white ,bla ck , and otherwise , pronounces i t

‘klee-to ,’ with


the same accent on both syllables . But I suspectthe stress is chiefly on the first .

Cloquet , Minn . There is unanimous loca l agreement tha t this rhymes with “croquet ,

” even to the

a ccent on the second syllab le .

Cocheset, M a s s . Ac c e n t on t h e c h e e

( sneezed ) .

Coch ituate, Ma ss . Accent on the chit.” Rhymeswith “

the very la st bit you a te (Oliver WendellHolmes ) .

Cocolam us,Pa . Interesting evolution here . Lip

pincott had“law

’ mus,”and strangers still say

“lah

’

mus ,”

a ccording to my observer— who a sserts unequivoca lly tha t “lay

”is right .

Coeur d ’ Alene , Idaho . The most common loca lpronuncia tion is “

cur da lane , with a ccent va ryingbe tween first and third . Core is hea rd .

Coeym ans , N . Y . Not quite a rhyme for womMake it “kwee’ manzen s

Cofi eyville , Kans . The kah tha t Mawsonca lled for is considered an a ffecta tion in Kansa s . Infa ct , throughout America ,

“kaw’

fee” is preferred , a s

Freddie Ba rtholomew found‘

out when he undertookto be ma ster of ceremonies for Maxwell House .

Cogna c , N . C . Rhymes with “J og , Ma c .

” Butdon ’ t shoot the wa iter in the Pa ris ca fé if you pronounce it tha t way and he doesn’t catch on right atfirst .


Conesus , N . Y . Rhymes with Oh crea se us !a s the baggy pants excla imed .

Conger, M inn . Ha rd g , a s in Congo . Alsoin Congerville , Ill .

Conicville , Va . (From the shape of the hill ,formerly “Cab in Hill ,

” on which it is situa ted . )“Conic is a lmost “comic .”

Conimicut, R. I . Rhymes with so g’

rim a hutor

“GO rim a putt or

“Go trim a nut” or something.

Connea ut, ‘Ohio . ( Indian for manyConnie ought,

”a s in C onnie ought to go .

Connecticut . Ha rdly seems necessa ry to mentiontha t this ha s no neck-tie .

”It

’

s“Nettie .

Connellsville, Pa . The doub le 1 does not stealthe a ccent away from the “con .

”

Conowingo , Md . Sta rt with con , not“co ,

and hit it on’

the “wing .

Coos . The approved pronuncia tion in NewHampshire , a ccording to Web ster , is

“ko

’ahss . In

Oregon , i t rhymes with“ loose .”

Copa lis (Wa shington ) : Rhymes with Oh,

ba il us ! ”

Copem ish , Mich . Rhymes, to a ll intents and purposes , with

“soap dish .

Copiah (Miss ) Rhymes with Josiah . (Longi , a ccented . )Coplay, Pa . Soft-peda l the a , a s if you were

describing a cop who a cted “coply.

” This is a lso cor


rect for Copley Squa re , in Boston , but I am told tha tcab-drivers there rhyme “cop” with “pope .”

Coquille, Oreg .

“KO keel ,

”rhyming with no

dea l .”

Cordele , Ga . Rhymes with More eel ! ( thegentleman is fond o f eel ) .

Cordes , Ariz . Two syllables . A fa ir rhyme forboa rd us .

”

Cordova . Webster says tha t in Alabama theystress the “ cor . But in South Ca rolina the a ccent isin the middle .

Corinth , N . Y . (Also Vermont . ) Accent thefirst syllable . Old residents did ca ll itlikewise the ra ilroa d employees , which did much towa rd making i t incorrectly pronounced . Querywere the Old residents led a stray by too grea t fam ilia rity with First and Second Corinthia ns ?

Corpus Christi, Tex .

“Kristy” to rhyme with

m is ty .

Corsicana, Tex . Empha size the can . No

longer “kah .

”

Corydon , Ind . , Iowa . Accent the first syllable .Rhymes with “ torrid ’

un a s in “She’ s a torrid ’

un”

a hot numb er ) .

Coshocton , Ohio . The a ccented syllable is ashock .

Cotati, Ca lif. (A famous Indian chief . )Rhymes with “Oh sotty .

”


Cotopaxi, Colo . (Evidently named for a townin Ecuador . ) Rhymes with

“photo-taxi .” Stress theMax.

”

Coughran, Tex . Ko’ran . Does not rhyme

with “foreign .

Coulee City , Wa sh . Pronounced like a Chinesecoolie .” The Grand Coulee ( a ccented by F. D . R .

on the cc”but by Webster on the “

koo”

) i s litera lly a big-dry-river-bed .

Coupeville , Wa sh . Cheerfully fa cing fa cts , myOb server writes tha t the coupe” i s “ just like any

chicken coop .

”

Covelo , Ca li f . Una ffected by the Spanish , thisname of Indian origin rhymes with “

s ta ve b elow .

”

Covert, N . Y. Though Lippincott implies tha tit used to be “

kuv ( a s in cover ) , i t now sta rts with“ko .

”

Covina, Ca li f. Close enough to Mexico to

rhyme with “Oh Lena !” ( a ccent in the middle )

Covington , Ky. Coving rhymes with “ loving .

Cowesett, R . I . Rhymes with “GO lea se i t.”

Coweta, Okla .

“CO wee’ ta .

” My observerkindly , i f qua intly, adds : “I beli eve this to be thenea rest pronouncement a s spoken by people here .It is the name of the town of Indians loca ting herewhen they were removed here from the south ea st .”

Cowiche, Wa sh . I am happy to report that the


whole thing is a s funny a s it looks . The cow is itchy,with the empha sis on the “ itch .

”

Cowpens , S. C . Colloquia lly, kuppens , but itis no brea ch O f good ta ste to pronounce it a s spelled .

Cozad , Nebr. Webster a ccents the “zad ,

”but

there is evidence tha t the stress is a lready recedingrapidly to the “

ko .

Creek . As with Lawss Anjeleezpeople seem to think this should rhyme with “ leak ,

”

but keep right on saying “crick .

” At lea st, tha t isthe ca se in Ba ttle Creek , Mich . , and Creek Locks ,N . Y. , while Rio Creek, Wis . , and Ca ines Creek,Ky. , frankly admit tha t for them “crick” i s correct.

Creve Coeur, MO . Na tives rhyme it with “we

see fa r,”

or possib ly fur” where a tra ce of theFrench persists .

Crich ton , Ala . Rhymes with Brighton ,Ba rrie ’s admirab le butler did .

Crillon . This Ala ska mounta in of nearlyfeet rhymes with “Dillon” (French influence lost ) .

Croatan Sound (N . C . ) According to Webster ,just two syllables , rhyming with

“no fa n,” which wa s

why the fan dancer got arrested .

Croton , N . Y . Rhymes plausibly withbut not with Groton

Crugers , N . Y . Ha rd g , both here and in Cruger ,Miss . There is rea son to beli eve that they comefrom German Kruger ,

“ sa loon-keeper .”


Cuero, Tex. Lea ther. Rhymes usua lly withKa ro” : “kway’ to”— or just the a of

“ca re .

Cum i, Ark . The a ccented syllable is “Q” “To o

high” is the rhyme .

Cuyahoga Fa lls , Ohio . Mawson and I had an

idea this rhymed with “ try a toga ,”but Webster

labels tha t “ra rely,”

and tells us to say“ky hah

’

ga .

” It is unlikely tha t “hah” will stick ; i t will eitherdrop to “

haw”

or go ba ck to“ho .

”

Cuyuna, Minn . Rhymes with “guy Luna . Ac

cent ln the middle .

Dah lonega, Ga . Lippincott put the a ccent onthe “nee ,

” but my Observer stresses the “ lon ,”m ak

ing the name rhyme roughly with“ha rmonica .

” Hea lso says the first syllable is “

day, but tha t is ha rdto justify unless you a re one of those who sta rt“dahlia” with “

day”— a s some do .

Damar,Kans . Rhymes with a fa r .

Dannemora, N . Y . Accent on the “mo rhymeit with Fa nny-La ura

,but keep the “

cc” sound a s

unob trusive a s possible .

Da rrouzett , Tex. Rhymes a dequa tely withSa rah Brett .”

Da rtm outh . As in Plymouth,the mouth col

lapses into “muth .

Decorah , Ia . Accent on the second syllab le ;rhymes with “ fedora ,

”or (W ) E . B ora h ; named

a fter an Indian chief whose surname wa s a corruption of French De Ca rrie

Deferiet , N . Y . Pa raphra se Milton’s line inL

’Allegro

H ow Faery Mab the junkets eat

and you get“De-fa iry-et de junkets .”

5 7


De Kalb , Ill . Dee ka lb ka l a s in Ca l

Coolidge .”

Delano , Mont . , Pa . , Tenn . These a re dell’

a -no ,”a s in President Roosevelt’s name . But Ca li

formia , home sta te O f Hoover , sturdily refuses toclimb on the bandwagon . There it rhymes with “ theDrano .

”

Delh i, Colo . ,Ill N . Y . Just a s spelled , rhyming

with “Swell pie . But in India it rhymes with

“belly .

Del Rio , Tex . (Where the Old Spanish Tra ilfirst hits the Rio Grande . ) Na tura lly ,

“rec-O

”

with Mexico r ight a cross the river.

Demund , Ky . The most common version s' oundsperilously like demon” :

“dee’ mund .

”

DePere,Wis . The first dee” i s not slighted ,

but the a ccent fa lls on the peer .” NO tra ce OfFrench influence l eft .

De Queen , Ark . This simplified spelling wa sadopted when it wa s found tha t the origina l Dutchname , De Goeijen, wa s becoming na tiona lly famousa s a tonsil-cra cker . The Dutchman wa s one of theba ckers of the o rigina l Kansa s City Southern Ra ilway.

Derby . The traditiona l da r i s breaking downin England , though still preferred by some authorities . AS with “

leftenant,” the British h a te to give it

up . In America ,“da rby is seldom hea rd .


cannot be trusted to keep a full-rounded 0 b efore r .

The a ccented syllable becomes more like “ lore .”

Doniphan , MO . Sounds a good dea l like “Donovan , if you sub stitute “

f” for “v .

Donora, Pa . Put a d in front O f Oh Nora !

Dony , Ky . Rhymes with “pony.

Dos Ca beza s , Ariz . (“Two heads , from a

curious mounta in nea rby having twin peaks . ) Beingclose to Mexico , the

“DOS

”ha s a long 0 , and

“Cabeza s” rhymes , about, with“a ba se us .

Doucette, Tex . Keep the French : “doo

Dowa giac , Mich . Rhymes with “Oh M a , ba ck !La st syllab le is pla in “Ja ck .

”

Dowell, Ill . Origina lly this m ay have expressedthe pious hope , Do well , but today the namerhymes , pra ctica lly, with

“fowl .

Dravosburg, Pa . (Formerly Drawsburg . ) To

a ll intents and purposes ,“Dravos

” rhymes with“Davis .”

Du Bois . In Pennsylvan ia , doo boyce , rhymedwith voice

,is prob ab ly the b est . In Indiana and

Montana and Wyoming, the“doo is more likely

to be a ccented .

Dubuque, Iowa . Duh biuk. Would rhymewith “

a duke” if everybody would say dink ,”

which everybody won ’ t , and sma ll wonder .

Duchesne, Utah .

“Doo shane” —rhyming withtoo pla in” or Toura ine .”


Duluth , M inn . Some of our iu a crob a tsprobably say

“diu liuth ,

” heaven help them . It ’sjust “

doo

Dunba r . The Scotch empha size the ba r but

in Pennsylvania and West Virginia the first syllab legets the a ccent .

Dungeness , Wa sh . Just dungeon plus ess ,

and a ccent the “ess .

”

Dunna van t, Ala . Named a fter the Irishman

( P) who supervised the construction O f the tunnelson either side O f the town , fifty yea rs ago . Possib lya va riant of “Donovan ,

” which is O ften pronounced“Dunnavan . Just add a t.

Duquesne , Pa . DOO cane , rhyming with/

through tra in.

Duquoin , Ill . A ma j ority o f the residents , Iam told , say

“diu coin ,

” rhyming diu” with “ few

and empha siz ing the “ coin .

” The rea son it i s not“doc

”is tha t the town is fa irly fa r south , b elow

St. Louis .

Ea stham , Mass . In England and New England,these syllab les a re thought of a s sepa ra te . Thena tives , Bolton says , would as soon think of saying“ fri ed ’um and eggs” a s

“Ea st ’um .

”

Eau Cla ire ,Wis . If you know somebody namedCla re , you

’re a ll right ; just say“Oh Cla re !”

Eb ro , Fla . (Named a fter a river in Spa in . )Mix up “Hebrew” and

“Negro , keeping the a ccenton the first syllab le .

Echeta, Wyo . ( Indian for Wild Horse , not

Pidgin English for “The m an is dishonest .” “Ee

chea t’ a .

”

Ecleto , Tex . At present , a curious mixture of

Spanish and English ; rhymes with“See Cato ,

”

a ccent on “cay .

”

Edensburg , Pa . As in Evans , sta rt Off witha short e .

Edhube, Tex . Evidently named for Ed Hube ,whose la st name rhymes with “ few be” (

“Will fewbe chosen

Edinburg, Ind . , Tex. , Va . The first syllable62


rhymes with dead or mayb e they prefer bed

or“wed .

” The “burg” i s pronounced a s spelled ,without Scotch guttura l or b agp ipe a ccompaniment .

Edisto Island, S. C . Accent the ed as in pedesta l .Rhymes roughly with (They ) fed us so ! (Notetha t in ordina ry, rapid speech , which is all we areconcerned with in this book , short i, short e , and

short u, when una ccented , a re so similar a s to bea lmost indistinguishable . )

Egeria, W . Va . The folks in this fa rmingcommunity a re having SO much trouble with thistha t I shouldn ’ t be surprised if they changed it . MyObserver writes ,

“A fa rm-hand would say‘cc-j erry,

’

but indica tes tha t the rest run the gamut from “ec f

j eer’ cc-a”

(Web ster’ s recommenda tion for the

cla ssica l name— which meant , by the way,“ba ck

sea t driver” ) to“cc

’ gree .” For the present , stringa long with Webster .

Eifort,Ohio . Rhymes with die fur’t ,

” as inthe pa triot ’ s answer to the question , Do you loveyour country ?” “ I ’d die fur ’t .”

Eka laka, Mont .“Eck’a-la ck-a sounds like

pa rt o f an old“boom-a -la ck-a

” cheer . And is it funt o do on a typewriter !

Ekron , Ky . Must be rela ted to Akron , Ohio ,though I can ’t prove it. Anyway,

“eck .

Elbe , Wa sh . The German river doesn’ t quiterhyme with “

Shelby, but this Fa r West communitydoes .


El Cajon , C a li f. The Mexican chest of

drawers” ) ha s been s c r up u l o u s ly kept“cl kit

I ”hone rhyming with “ smell a bone .

El Cen tro , Calif. Not the Ca stilian th thesame c a s in “centra l .

El Dorado . The gilded country of mythologyis genera lly given the Spanish “

ah ,” but in Illinois

and Kansas the name rhymes with hell-tornado .

”

Poe ’s rhyme for itwa s “ shadow ,

” just to be different

Elgin . The wa tch city , in Illinois , is“el-j in ,

but in Texa s , strangely, the Scottish ha rd 9 i s preferred ( a s in

“give” )Elka der, Iowa . Accent on the ka rhymes withWell , trader .

”

Ellinger, Tex . Soft g a s in danger a ccenton the

“ ell .”

El Pa so , Tex. Ell pa ss’o”— fla t a . Commentof a na tive : p ah

’ only for those who have studiedSpanish , and insist upon being queer . A New Englander reports : “We Say

‘pay But when you

say tha t in Texa s , stranger , smile .

El Verano , Ca lif . H a s a lready la rgely abandoned the Mexican “

ah for the fla t a of“piano .

”

Probab ilities a re tha t eventua lly it will be “ray.

Emaus , Pa .

“Probab ly 7070 Of the older inhabi

tants do not ta lk English , but South German”

;

however, the preferred version rhymes with“tree

moss” (“aw

”


Encina l , Tex . I f I saw a fri end fencing anda sked him wha t he wa s doing, he might say,“Fencin ’ , Al .

” Tha t would rhyme with“Encina l .”

Encinitas , Ca li f. (“Little Oaks . Rhymes

wi th “Fencin ’ bea t us . Appa rently one Should knowsomething about fencing .

Engadine, M ich . Accent the first syllable , and-here , I am told , the na tives disagree with theb rakeman— rhyme dine” with “ line .” Can it be

tha t the brakeman has hea rd Web ster’s “deen” ending for the Alpine valley a fter which the M ichigantown wa s named ?

Enroughty . (Excerpt from letter to C . K.

Bolton from the Assistant Secreta ry O f the VirginiaHistorica l Society . )

“A member of the Enroughtyfamily inherited an esta te and wa s to take the nameDerby He wa s ca lled ‘Da rby’ but signedEnroughty. The family pla ce , Da rbytown , i s nearRichmond . They were cha rcoa l burners .”

For the sake o f those who , by some freak o f

intellectua l honesty, cannot pronounce Enroughty“Da rby,

” the a ccented “ rough” rhymes withbout

’

Entiat, Wa sh . En’tee-a t.

Enum claw, Wa sh . Rhymes with ( I’ve ) seen

’em raw,

”a ccording to Thorp .

’ Webster ha s an ideait sta rts out the way

“ enema does , but Wa shingtonians appea r to prefer “

cc .

Ephrata. In Wa shington , accent the fray” ;


rhymes with He delayed a (moment ) But inPennsylvania the “

eff”is a ccented , and both a

’s a re

mute .

Erick , Okla . Web ster says a ir, but when Idrove through there ( litera lly , a s I didn

’ t even stop )the young bicyclist of whom I inquired sa id he“guessed it wa s more like ea r” —pointing to his ea r.

The presumption is tha t either will do .

Erlanger , Ky . , N . C . Accent on the ur

the g is usua lly sung, a s in“paperhanger .

Erose,Ky . Rhymes with “free dose . I don’ t

know whether it tra ces its ancestry to Cupid or soilerosion .

Escanab a , Mich . Web ster gives the na ( a ccented ) a s

“naw.

” But my childhood is threa dedwith memories of the Es-ca -nah

’

ba” tra in . And

“nah

”is still right .

Es condido, Ca lif. (Means hidden . Likeits rela tive in Gua tema la , it sticks close to theSpanish : la st two syllab les a re rhymingwith the approved pronuncia tion o f Credo .

Es cuela , Ariz . Accent skway”

( long a ) to

keep the Spanish school NO squea l” yet .

Esperance, N . Y . (Archa ic for hope”

) Squeezeit into two syllables , to make it rhyme with

“Le

’

s

dance !

Estelline , Tex . Rhymes with Tes t a line .

Fa lfurrias , Tex . Rhymes with (Wha t makestha t ) ga l curious ?

” Observer mentions tha t “our

Mexican people give it more Spanish sound — wha tever tha t m ay mean .

Falm outh . As in Plymouth , the mouthlapses into “muth .

” The fa !” rhymes with “

pa l .

Accent “fa l .

”

Faribault , M inn . Fa iry-bo i s close enough ,says the hea d of the English Depa rtment a t theSha ttuck School .

Farina, Ill . Rhymes with Dinah , just a s thecerea l does in England , though not a lways in thiscountry.

Farisita, Colo . Pronounced a s i f it were foundedby the inventor of the Ferris wheel :

“Ferris ee’ ta ,a s in the question ,

“Will Ferris ea t a piece of pie ?”

Fauquier ( county, Va . )“Faw Those

who have read H ell on Ice m ay remember that thela st letter o f the grea t-hea rted doctor wa s addressedto his family, in Fa uquier County.

Fidalgo ( island , Wa shington) . Rhymes withDid Al go ?

”


Findlay , Ohio . Differs from the traditiona lScottish pronuncia tion (which rhymes with

“ thinly” )only in tha t the Ohio town does

'

SOund the d . Maw

son i s mistaken in ca lling for an una ccented long a

in the la st syllab le .

Flom aton , Ala . The Floma rhymes with a roma,

and the la st syllab le is the usua l “ tun .

” An erroneous long a in the middle sometimes leads to a

fa cetious a ccent on“m ay .

”

Floydada , Tex . A

—

boy-girl combina tion ; justFloyd

-Ada ,” Floyd being a little more important

than Ada .

Fond du La c , Wis . Foot of the lake .Usually a ccented on the fon . Rhyme it with “

ona ra ck .

Forada, Minn . Ada wa s evidently a commonname for the Pioneer Woman ( see FLOYDADA ) .

The Minnesota town wa s named “for Ada .

”

Forsyth , Mo . My observer writes , We a re

100% on the pronuncia tion o f Forsyth exceptingthe Presbyterian minister . He a ccents the lastsyllable instea d o f the first one .

Frankenm uth , Mich . (Famous for chickendinners . ) Accent on

“Frank” ; and“muth rhymes

with “Ruth ,” except among some of the Oldest resi

dents , who a re German.

Frazee, Minn . Na rrow escape here . I thought


at first it rhymed with cra zy on the contrary, itrhymes perfectly with da isy .

”

Fremont . Indiana , Nebra ska , Ohio , and Wisconsin a ccent the “ free .

Fresno , Ca lif. (“White a sh tree . Rhymes

with “sez no .

” My Ob server writes : Should behissed , but in a ctua l usage it is buzzed ; we Americans make such heavy sounds where possible .”

Fried , N . Dak . This keeps the German , andstays well out Of the kitchen : “ freed.

Friedens , Pa . This is “ free ,”too .

Friedheim , MO . The German vowel sounds havebeen kept : “ freed’ hime ,

” rhyming with “ seed time .”

Fries land , Wis . Still loya l to the German ie,this is “ freeze-land . Then there ’ s a Fries in Virginia which is a lso freeze .”

Fri jole, Tex .

“Free Holy, accent in the middle,mostly.

Friona, Tex. Free 0’na .

” “Frio is a lmosta lways “ free’o” in Texa s . (See BOVINA . )Frontena c , Kans . Like Fond du La c, rhymes

pretty well with “on a ra ck.

Fyfi e, Ala . As in “fife and drum .

Gala ta , Mont . The first and third a ’s a re mute ,the second fla t. Can be rhymed with “rega tta ,

”

( a ccent in the middle ) .

Gal ion , Ohio . Like —the ga lleon Of old , rhymesa cceptably with rapsca ll ion .

Gallipolis , Ohio . (O . O . McIntyre’

s hometown . )

“Ga llop , police !

Ga llup , N . Mex . As on a horse .

Galves ton , Tex . H a s nothing to do with girlswea ring vests . “

Ga l gets the a ccent , and the rest isjust “vest-un . Or ra ther “

v’

st’n .

’

Gamb ier, Ohio . Rhymes with sham beer

( i . e . , nea r-beer ) .

Gana do, Tex. Still close enough to the borderto keep the a ccented ah .

”

Ga rcia sville , Tex . Approxima tely two whoopsand a holler from the border . Therefore “

ga r see’

us .

Geneseo , N . Y . Jenny see, Oh ! But Jenny’ sknee” is not a t a ll noticeab le .

Gennett, Tenn . Pronounced a s the girl ’s name

(Jeannette, or, often , Jeanette ) .


Genoa , Colo . , Nebr . Both a ccent the no .

Pronounce a s in this question : Did ja know a fellow of tha t name ?”

Genola, Ga . Accent on the o ; and the 9 ha rda s in “

go .

”

Genou , Mont. Knee . The French ha s beenkept ; sta rts with the soft zh,

”and rhymes with

ado .

”

Gera, Va . Unlike its predecessor in Germany,this is “ j eer' a .

Geronim o , Ariz . , Tex. Begins with a j sound ,and rhymes ptetty well with See Donnie go !

”

Gervais , Oreg. The newsca sters had a b ad timewith this la st summer , and sma ll wonder ( a s RansomSherman would put it ) , for it

’ s in a state of flux,a s shown by i ts nickname ,

“Gravy .

” Appa rently“Ja rvis” best represents the most common rendering, and thus m ay become the Officia l spelling someday.

Geuda Springs , Kans . Ha rd g , and rhymes withthe la st two syllab les of “Bermuda .

”

Gila (Ariz . , N . Mex . ) Close enough to Mexicoto be “hee’ la .

”

Gillett . All start with the j sound, and none o fthe postoflices have a fina l e . But Texa s and Wyoming a ccent the “ ett , while Wisconsin rhymes thename with skillet .”

Glady , W . Va . Rhymes with lady.


Glouces ter, Ma ss . “Glaw-ster ra ther than

Glah-ster .” Glous ter,O . , rhymes with

“ouster,”

however .

Goessel, Kans . In German , Gossel . Most people rhyme the Kansa s town with “vessel .

Goetzville, Mich . My ob server ca lls it Ga tesville ,

” the Poles ( of whom there a re many ) say“Getsfeel,

”and the brakeman makes it “

Go a tsville .

And “Goa tsville it will rema in , to most people ,

until i t gets its name changed .

Goffe . ( Street in New Haven . ) The RegicideJudge ’ s” name still rhymes with “doff .

”

Goliad , Tex . This rhymes with Oh bedad !

( a ccent on the end ) .

Goltry, Okla . Long 0 . Rhymes with poultry.

Gonic , N . H . Rhymes with “ tonic .

Gonzales , Tex.

“Gon za l

’iss ,

” rhyming withOn Alice .”

Goshen, Conn . , Ind . , N . Y . , Wyo . All long 0 .

Rhymes with “ocean .

” I have persona lly investigated the Connecticut Goshen , having hea rd the a ccusa tion (which proved fa lse ) tha t folks there say“gosh . Incidenta lly, i t is just outside Torrington ,Conn . , wherea s Torrington , Wyo .

,i s in Goshen

County. Must be some connection .

Goteb o, Okla . Rhymes with “throw the snow

Gotham . In England , rhymes with“bottom .

In this country , it’

s a toss-up . Webster and Mawson


disagree a s to whether goth” should rhyme withboth ,

” or be pronounced “

gahth .

” Wisconsin prefers the la tter .

Gough , S. C . Rhymes with cough .

Gra ettinger, Iowa . When Hitler hea rs aboutthis , there will be an angry protest. The umlaut ha sgone and the 9 ha s softened into

“ j” “grett’ inj er .

”

Gratiot . The a ccent is on the first syllab le . Butin Ohio say

“Gray-Shot ” in Michigan rhyme the

name with ma shie-putt, and in Wiscons in rhymeit with “

D a sh ut !”

(profanity ) .

Greenwich . In England this is still grin-nij,rhyming with an Old pronuncia tion o f spina ch (

“ sp innage” ) The American va riant of this ,

“

grennitch ,”

and even the English origina l , a re still hea rd in upsta te New York and in the Old Quaker town of New

Jersey, but in Greenwich , Conn . , the SO -ca lled b estpeople have not b een ab le to stem the trend to thespelling-pronuncia tion : “green-witch . In New YorkC ity’ s Greenwich Village , the shorter form ,

“grennitch” is common , pa rtly b ecause it is shorter , pa rtlybecause the Village is still , by fits and sta rts , prettya rty .

Grinnel l, Iowa . Accent the second syllable ;rhymes with in but why risk a libel suit ?

Groesb eck, Tex. Rhymes with “D ose

,heck !

a s the sma ll boy excla imed when he saw ca stor O i lapproa ching .

Gros se Pointe, Mich . (Detroit surburb . ) Just

H allowell, Ma ine . Web ster ha s conferred hisblessing on the somewha t peculia r loca l versionhollow well .

H am el,Minn . Rhymes g r a t i fy i ngly W i t h

camel .”

H am tramck , Mich . The who live therehave to choose b etween the difficult “

tramk, inwhich the devil usua lly gets tha t hindmost k, and“tramm ick . The la tter is winning out.

H a rb inger, N . C . Like “harb inger o f spring,this a ccents the b a r and ha s the soft g of

“

pa s

senger .”

H arwich , Ma ss . Nobody says sandidge for

sandwich” ; pronounce“H a r-wich , a s spelled .

H a ssayampa (Arizona ) . Rhymes with Sa ssa grampa .

”

H a vasupa i (Ariz . ) At the Grand Canyon , thisis pronounced “Have a soup-pie .

H averh ill. Usua lly “hay

"vrill in Ma ssa chu

setts and New Hampshire , BBC saystoo .

H averstraw, N . Y . Not like Haverhill . Thisa i s fla t, a s in “haversa ck .

76


H avre, Mont . Pronounced a s in this expressionOf self-denia l ,

“You can have fer l”

H avre de Gra ce, Md . The Havre is a s

above ; the commonest rendering o f“Gra ce” is

“gra ss , but the long a is ca tching up with it .

H awa ii . Not just “Hawa iian” w i th th e n

chopped O ff.“Ah , try me

” is the rhyme recom

mended . Loca lly , the w O ften sounds like v , but thefolks out there like to boa st tha t their written language represents perfectly the spoken syllab les— so

until they “ spell i t with a wee” we sha ll pronounce itwith a w.

H awarden , Iowa . Ruth Suckow’ s birthpla ce isH ay, wa rden .

H aworth , N . J. Rhymes with paw worth a s

in“H ow much is your paw worth ?

H ay‘ti, Mo . , S. Dak. You a re fa r from the West

Indies , here :“hay, ( a s in b a rn ) ,

“ ti e” ( a s a roundyour neck ) . H aysi, Va . , rhymes with it .

H eavener, Okla . Long “cc ,

”a s in I wa s

heavin’ ’

er a line .”

H eil, N . Dak. Rhymes with file, a s in Ger

many .

H eirnda l , N . Dak . German c i a s in “ stein andheil .”

H einer, Utah . Aga in the German ci. Rhymeswith “finer .

H eise, Idaho . The German rhymes fairly well


with Liza . Idahoans tend to make the second syllab le zee , though keeping the a ccent on

“high .

H eizer, Kans . Aga in the long i. Rhymes withwiser .

”

H elena , Ala ., Ark . , Mont . , Okla . Stress the

hell” in these four sta tes . But in Ohio and Missouri lee” gets the empha sis .

H elix ,

‘

Oreg . Rhymes with Felix, ( long

H ema tite, Va . Webster a llows both hem and

hee” for the iron ore . But everybody in the Virginia town , a ccording to my Observer, rhymes itwith “

Emm a might .”

H enlopen (Delawa re ) Accent in the middle .Rhymes with when open .

H enrico , Va . Authorities agree tha t a good oldVirginia rhyme for it would be “Men like

H ereford , Tex . (Dea f Smith county . ) TheHereford is the red steer with white fa ce tha t yousee everywhere in the southwest . Web ster choosesa rhyme for “Na ry word,

”but the tire man there

shortened the first two syllab les to pla in“her”

( fema le ) . He sold me an inner tube tha t b lew a ll to

pieces , three days la ter , in Ba rdstown , Ky . , whereMy Old Kentucky H ome wa s written . Don ’t trusthim .

H ettinger, N . Dak . Germany won this con

test ( see GRAETTINGER )“Hettinger” rhymes with

“getting ’

er,”a s in “

H e wa s getting’

er goa t .”


H ia leah , Fla . Means High Pra irie , in Seminole

, and is pronounced the way an Ita lian organgrinder would say

“high lee” high-a lee-a .

”

H iawa tha , Kans . , Utah ,W . Va . Like “Hia leah ,sta rts out with a long “Hi .”

H ico , La . , Tex . , W . Va . Rhymes with Why

H ickory W ithe , Tenn . Usua lly the same asthe preposition “with” (voiced ) . For the commonnoun , Web ster gives you three chances : the whispered “with” (preferred ) , the voiced

“with ,”

and

a rhyme for b lithe .”

H ida lgo , N . Mex . , Tex . Rhymes presentablywith “

See Sa l go !” The mouth-full-O f-pota to d whichcan still be hea rd in Sp a in above the genia l noisesO f wa r i s not much used in this hemisphere . See

MADRID .

H indes , Tex . One syllable ; rhymes with“ finds .

There ’s a H inds County in Mississippi.

H itch ita , Okla . This would rhyme withWichitaif the Kansa s “

taw”had not been frowned

on , and an a ttempt made to repla ce it with a mutea ( a s in Kenosha ) . The result wa s , perverselyenough , tha t most of the na tives took to saying“H itchity .

”

H iwa ssee , N . C . Both this’

and H iwa sse , Ark . ,

must be rela ted in some way to“Hiawa tha a ll

three sta rt with “high” ; and then the first two rhymewith “

bossy .

”


H ob oken , N . J . Long o’

s a s in hobo thema j or a ccent is on the first syllab le , but the

“bo

”

gets some a ttention too . Incidenta lly, there i s a

H obucken in North Ca rolina .

H ocha town , Okla . I had hoped tha t this wouldprove to be the origina l hot cha town .

” Buthocha rhymes with “

coa ch a”

(“coach a

H ochheim , Tex . (Ca rd from neighboringYoakum . ) This pa rt Of Texa s seems to be quite aGerman settlement : Lindenau , Nordheim , Westhoff,Wa elder, Schulenburg, Weima r . SO the heim is“hime” ; but the guttura l

“ ch” ha s been purged, andthe name rhymes with “

no time .”

H oehne, Colo . Ca rd from there : You seem to

have difficulty in pronuncia tion o f this Irishman ’sname . I want to help you . I Suggest tha t you follow the plura l Of pony, ponies ; crony , cronies . It ha stwo syllables with rough brea thing a ccent (Greek )Ho’nes .I ha te to confess tha t this is a ll Greek to me .

For one thing, the“ Irishman” wa s prob ab ly a Ger

m an . I sha ll have to visit this rema rkab le placesometime and see where they get tha t s from . Tillthen , let

’ s rhyme it with “pony .

”

H olstein , Neb r . In confirma tion o f Webster ’sdeci sion tha t “ steen is the “popula r” pronuncia tionfor the cow, the Nebra ska town is a lways tha t way :rhyming with “

B owl Queen .

”

H o lyoke . Colorado and Minnesota see no oh


jection to Holy Oak, but Ma ssa chusetts ra ther insists on collapsing it into two syllables “

whole

yoked’

H onaker, Ky. Rhymes with “s tone a cur .

H onea Pa th , S. C . Webster says it’ s justHoney” a s in hives .

H oneyoye Fal ls , N.Y . Honey-oy .

H onolulu . Travelers a re a lmost unanimous inrhyming “hon with “John” ; but the na tives a re

sticklers for “ho ,

”and now tha t newscasters have

adopted it it ha s a brilliant future .

H oqu iam , Wa sh .

“H o

’ quee-um

H oricon , Wis . Unlike “horizon , a ccents thefirst syllab le ;

“Horic rhymes with “Doric .

”

H orine, MO . Long i ; rhymes with“m ore wine .

H os ch ton , Ga . The na tives say hoosh-tun”

first syllable rhyming with“push .

”

H ough ton,Mich . , N . Y . , Wa sh . In these states ,

hough” rhymes with “ though” : In SouthDakota , there seems to be some wavering towa rd“how,

” while Iowa , thinking about “cough ,”experi

ments with “hoff

’

tun .

H oulka, Miss . A fifty-yea r resident writes metha t she says “H ool

’

ka ( first syllab le rhyming withpull ) , but tha t

“Hulky is more common . I f shedoesn ’t know the correct historical pronuncia tion , nobody does .

H oum a, La . As in the question , Who , Ma ?”


H ousatonic ( river , New England ) . Rhymeswith “Moose Ma sonic”— and i f tha t makes senseI ’m a B . P . O . E .

H ouston . From Minnesota south to Texa s ( including Houstonia , Mo . )

“hew” is supreme , thoughillogica l . The English , and many Americans , prefer“hoo .

” In Pennsylvania and in the south-ea st ,how [a u] can b e hea rd . And the New Yorker

reports tha t in the metropolis it’ s “house-ton ,”

though there is one subway gua rd who a lways ca llsout,

“H ew-ston next.

” The New Yorker adds“People who want Off a t House-ton Street probab lyjust ride on by , but a fter a ll , right is right .

H ovenweep Na tiona l Monument (C0 10 . and

Utah ) . Rhymes pretty well with “rove an

’ creep .

H ueneme, Ca lif . Take your choice “when

’

a

mee ,” “when Amy,

” “why neemy,” “why namey .

”

If the city fa thers will adopt the spelling “WildNamey ,

” I will dedica te my next book, Wild Names

I H aveM et,to them . In the meantime , the na tives

keep on c a lling it pra ctica lly everything but “hueneem .

”

H umptulips ,Wa sh . As spelled ; a ccent the tO

I

O

— not“tiu ,

” unless you can manage such m onstrosi

ties a s Stiu-deb aker .

”

H uron . The discovery tha t this wa s origina llya ccented on the second syllable helped me a t long la stto get the j oke about Wha t lake a re we on ?

”

“Lake You ’re on,” etc .


Imogene, Iowa . Immo-j ean , rhyming prettywell with “limousine ( first syllable a ccent a llowab le ) .

Inger, Minn . Rhymes with finger , mostly.

And in rega rd to wha t the brakeman says , my Ob

server writes cheerfully ,“As soon a s we get our rail

road, we’ll let you know .

Ingomar, Miss . , Ohio . (Wa s an Indian chiefcelebra ted in a German play “Ing-go-m a r.

” Ac

cent first and third , chiefly first .

Interlaken,M a ss . , N . Y . In Swi ss it’s lock

but in American it ’s usua lly “lake .” Accent first andthird .

Iowa . A century of controversy boils down tosomething like this : the na tives like “

I’

o-way”

and

sing about it (“There ’ s where the ta ll corn

but we outsiders a re rea lly expected to say i t somewha t a s in the sentence ,

“I owe a dolla r .” All agree

tha t the a ccent is on the first syllable .

Ipswich , Ma ss . Ipsidge”IS still hea rd . But

see HARWICH .

Ira an , Tex. Rhymes a ll right with Why D on !”

The m an who gave this hamlet the Oflicia l name forPersia had a bit more imagina tion than his neighbors ; the only other settlement within a radius oftwenty miles is named “Red Ba rn .

”

Iroquois , Ill . , N . Y. The a ccent wavers fromthird to first, brakemen and announcers a lways find


ing it ea sier to begin loud and trickle off . But thema in thing is the “kwoy .

” Don’ t sound the s .

Isa ba n , W . Va . (Not fa r from Horsepen , Fishtrap , and Mouthca rd . ) Rhymes with

’Tis a m an I

”

Iselin , N . J . , Pa . Both rhyme sa tisfa ctorily with

Ishpem ing, Mich . First syllab le a ccent . Rhymeswith “

D ish the king.

Isle au H aut, Ma ine . When I wa s there a fewyea rs ago , I understood tha t everybody sa id

“Eelo-ho .

” But now Bolton a ssures me tha t the loca l version is “ Ill O ’ H olt,

” which would seem to mean sicko f me . I prefer the other , for persona l a s well a slinguistic rea sons .

Is le LaMotte , Vt . Nea r the Quebec border ; butthe French “eel” ha s not preva iled . Rhyme thename with sm ile a lot .”

Is leta , N . Mex. Webster ’s version ( a ccentinglay

”

) i s a li ttle more Mexican than the a ccepted 10ca l pronuncia tion : “

iss let’ ta .

”

Is lip , Long Island . Just a s in the well-knownchant ,

“ I slip , you slip , he slips .”

Issa quah , Wa sh . Comes perilously close to

rhyming with “K iss a squaw.

”

Issa quena (Miss ) Accent on queen . Con

tra sts nicely with Assawom a n (Va . ) in rega rd to degree O f royalty.

Is trouma, La . Sounds like a sma ll boy trying


to convince his mother tha t he’s not lying : i sstrue

,m a .

”

Ita sca (Minn . ) The source of the Mississippi ,and the cutter tha t made a va liant sea rch for AmeliaEa rha rt , both rhyme with

“ I a sk a AndI don ’t mean ahsk.

”

Itawam b a ( county , Miss . )“ Itta .a s in baby

ta lk ;“Wamb a a s in Iva nhoe ( the j ester ) i.e . , the

“warn” rhymes with “Tom .

”

Iuka , Kans . , Miss . Rhymes with My yoo’

ka

a s in “My ukulele .”

Iza rd ( county, Ark . ) Rhymes with gizza rd .

Izee, Oreg . Just the letters “ I . Z. (name o f aranch ) , equa lly a ccented .

Ja ite , Ohio . Named for Mr. Ja i te ( origina llyYa ite ) who had a p aper mill and whose na tiona lity isa s yet a mystery, the pla ce now rhymes with “ fa te .”

Take it or leave it .

Jam ul, Ca lif . Mexican influence is strong in SanDiego County : ha rhyming with “

a pool .”

Ja rbalo , Kans . Sounds a good dea l like a two

word description of an ea rthquake : “ja r b elow .

”

Jere, W . Va . Refreshingly, just“Jerry .

” I suppose somebody named “Jeremiah” got tired Of it a ll .

Ji ca rilla ,N . Mex. Though 170 miles from the

border,this “ little chocola te-cup is Off the bea ten

tra ck , and its Mexican j ha s not been“touristified .

”

Say“b icka -ree-ya .

”

Job , W . Va . Not a monument to a socia l phenom enon appa rently becoming extinct . This Job isfrom the Bib le , and rhymes with “globe .

Joch in ,W . Va . Joking a side , it’

s“

jokin

Jofi re , Pa . This ca lls for AEF French , notPa risian . Resemb les Jeffrey ,

” except tha t you be

gin with Jaw”instead O f “Jeff.

Joliet , Ill . (Excerpts from a long and empha ticletter written me by the head of the high school Eng

87

8 8 AMERICAN PLACE “ NAMES

lish Depa rtment ) Pra ctica lly every citizen Of sixmonths ’ standing pronounces it with the long 0 . Weof the city know the ‘outsider ’ by his pronuncia tionof‘Jolly-et.

’ Ra ilroa d oflicia ls a re either ignorantor reprehensib le i f they fa il to instruct their brakemen and tra in ca llers . Our annoyance a t any

one mispronouncing Joliet turns to resentment whentha t one i s a ra ilroad b rakeman or tra in ca ller .”

And this leads us to make the modest suggestion tha ta ll such employees be required by law to possess acopy Of this book .

Jora lem on ( street , Brooklyn ) . Accent rah .

Rhymes acceptably with “N0 Solomon .

”

Jordan . In Kentucky and Virginia , and even a s

fa r north a s Noble County, Ohio , this is usua lly“ jurd’ en .

”

Joseco, Nev . H O say’ co , they tell me . But

you will be understood if you say“

Jo sec’

co .

”

Juab ( county , Utah ) . Two syllables : “joo’

ab .

Juan , Ky. Economic roya lists and other slickersm ay try to put this a ll into one syllab le or

even try to hawk up a Spanish j , but us mounta ineersrhyme it with “

true one,” the way Lord Byron did .

Juanita, N . Dak.

“You and I know” tha t this

is usua lly “wa nee ’ ta — and North Dakota is no ex

ception . This is included b ecause I couldn’ t find thename Jua nita anywhere in the b igWebster .

Juniata (Pa . ) Rhymes with “Mooney a t a

(party )

K a a terskill ( creek C a t s k i l l s ) . O r i g i n a l l ykah ,

”now usua lly kaw

” —including the boys ’

camp of tha t name , in southern Vermont .

Kah lotus , Wa sh . Accent the

Ka lama , Wa sh . Sounds like the first three syllab les of “ ca lamity.

Ka lamazoo , Mich . For those unfamilia r withthe slogan ,

“Ka lama zoo , Direct to You

”- this

rhymes , syllable by syllable , with“Sa l , a canoe !

”

Accent on the zoo .

Ka lispell, Mont . Rhymes , raggedly, with pa l

a spell .” Accent either first or third

Kana ranzi, Minn . Rhymes with fan a pansy.

Kanawha . Whether in the Appa la chians , Iowa ,or Texa s , the correct a ccent is on the naw

”:“ka

naw’

wah,” rhyming with “

a s traw, Ma

Kandiyoh i, M inn . Rhymes with (Why is )Mandy so shy ?

”

(Webster ha s something differentfor tha t la st syllab le , but my Kandiyohi correspondent is perfectly positive about the longness of tha tla st i. )Kankakee, Ill . Rhymes with gang agree .

89


Ka norado , Kans . (Where U . S. 24 crosses theKansa s-Colorado line . ) One resident says the a c

cented syllab le is “rah . But the chances a re tha t if

you say“rad

” in Colora do you will say it heretoo .

Kanosh,Utah . Rhymes with M ’

Gosh !

Kapows in ,

‘Wa sh . Rhymes with “a dousin

’

( a s with a bucket of wa ter ) . Empha size the “pow.

Ka rlsruhe, N . Dak . The fina l syllab le of theGerman ha s been chopped off . Just “

K a rl’

s ROO .

Ka rls ta d , Minn . Accent the first syllable ; andstad” rhymes with dad .

”

Ka tahdin (Ma ine ) . Rhymes with ( H is headwa s ) a-noddin

Ka tr ine, Va . Unlike the Scotch l a k e , t h i srhymes with “ma chine .”

Kaweah , Ca li f. Best usage is , ka wee’ ah .

Kea rney . Whether spelled this way, in Missouri , Nebra ska , and Pennsylvania , or

“ny, in New

Jersey , this rhymes with“bla rney.

”

Kea rsa rge . This “kea r is not so queer . The

name rhymes with “here , Sa rge ,

”a s they don ’ t say

a tWest Point when the roll is ca lled .

Kea ting, Pa Bolton indica tes tha t this rhymeswith “ha ting.

Keech i; Tex . (An Indian tribe . ) Rhymes withea ch eye .”


Kineo , Ma ine . Rhyme kin-e with skinny,and then say

“Oh .

Kinzua, Oreg ., Pa . The two communiti es agree

surprisingly well , tha t the fina l a usua lly ha s no pa rtin the proceedings , and tha t the whole is two syllables , rhym ing with

“Tin

’

s a (meta l )Kissee Mills , MO . Accent on the see .

Kissimm ee, Fla . No luck . This is a ccented onthe “

Sim .

”

Kittanning, Pa . H ad hoped aga inst hope tha ti t would be “kitten-ing,

”b ecause of the potentia l

wise-cra ck— but the empha sis is on the “tan , following the double-consonant rule .Kittita s , Wa sh.

If you ’

ve never been to K ittitasThings have reached a pretty pass .

Kiva , Mich . Rhymes with“Eva .

”

Klam ath Fa lls , Oreg . This rhymes with m am

moth .

”

Klein , Mont . Little . Rhymes with fine .

Klickita t , Wa sh . Just a s spelled . Rhymes prettywell with “

p itty-

p a t”or

“kitty-ca t.

”

Knifley , Ky“Niff—ly,

” rhyming with “stiflly.

Knippa , Tex . When a ma ss murder wa s com

m itted nea r here , the newsca sters took chances . Istopped a t a Knippa filling sta tion , and interruptedan informa l boxing ma tch long enough to lea rn tha tthe k is pronounced.


Knoke, Iowa . Pronounce the k. And rhymethe

“noke” with “smoke .”

Koch Ridge , Ark . Appa rently of German extra ction ; the German guttura l i s preferred , but mostpeople say

“Coke .”

Kokomo, Ind . Three long o ’

s , a ccent on the first .Even the brakemen (

“I f one could understand a

brakeman excla ims my Ob server ) do i t this way.

Koosharem , Utah . The a ccented “ sha re” rhymeswith “ fa re .”

Kootenay . (Also Kootena i, Idaho . ) Rhymesnot b adly with H oot away.

”

Kosciusko . Outside of Poland in Australia , Indiana , and M ississippi— this ha s been anglicized to , approxima tely,

“ cossy-usko , rhyming with“Ma , see bus go .

”There

’ s a story about a Brooklyn policeman who found a dead horse on KosciuskoStreet , and couldn ’t phone headqua rters about it until he had dragged the ca rca ss over to a street with apronounceab le name .

La ch ine,M ich . Exa ctly pa ra llel with ma chine .

La Crosse , Wis . Just put an I in front of

a cross .

La c Vieux Desert (M ich . andWis . ) Accordingto a letter from Pr esident Ellis o f the WisconsinMichigan Lumb er Company , this is La c Vo Desa r ,

”

rhyming with “Ma c , row me fa r.

” Appa rently anAmerican va ria tion of the French-Canadian corruption . Obviously , this does not exhaust the possib ilities .

La Cygne , Kans . The Swan . Pa ra llels Racine even to the long a customa rily used bybrakemen to add resonance and dignity .

Lafayette . You prob ab ly pronounce this la ffyyet , or thereabouts ; but in Alab ama and Georgiathe a ccent comes on the fay , while in Mississippiand Louisiana you m ay hea r lay-fay-et.

” The clerka t the LaFayette Hotel in Fayetteville , N . C. ,

sa idtha t it should be a ccented on the “ la ff, but tha t

“ lotsget it wrong . I present ‘him , not a s an authority,but a s a ma teria l witness .

La Follette, Tenn . Named for its founder , a

cousin o f Sena tor Bob the Elder , it correctly a ccents94


the foll . The French Canadian lumb erj a cks whoformed much O f Old Bob ’s ea rly

“

support in Wisconsin a ccented the “ ette ,

”O f course , but thei r children

have lea rned b etter .

La Fox , Ill . I understand tha t this la is a s in0 0 la la But see LA PLACE .

La Grange, Ill . In conversa tion , rhymes witha rrange .” Ora tors and announcers empha size thela more . It is not a question o f correctness , but oneof sonority.

La H ab ra , C a lif . Accent the hah . The firstand la st a ’

s a re less important.

La ing , W . Va . Rhymes with Slang .

La Jolla , Ca lif . Pa rkyakaka s had trouble withthe I of

“Jolson , a fter b eing pa instakingly instructed in the mysteries O f “

La Jolla ” (“hoy

’

New Mexica ha s a La I oya , a lso pronounced“hoy

al l9 ?

, La Junta, Colo . Junction of two b ranches ofthe Santa Fe : the one from Delhi and Wormington ,and the one from Manzanola and Swink . ) My Observer , who sends in

“Hun” for tha t first syllab le ,differs with Web ster , whose

“Hoon” rhymes withspoon It is devoutly to be hoped tha t an agreement is rea ched before some pub lic-spirited citizengets the name changed to Swink Junction . In themeantime , say

“H unt-a if you want to be under

stood in Colorado .


Lake Cicott, Ind .

The brakem an , I’

m told , hollers Seek-ut

And that’

s the way some others speak-ut .

But most of the natives like “Sy-kut,

”

So better say Sy-kut”and like-ut.

Lake Mahopa c , N . Y . Not settled yet ; but wha t

you hea r most is a rhyme for “Dago Ja ck,”a ccent

on the first syllab le , the h unnoticeable .

Lakenan , MO . This“ illustra tes an unfortuna tetendency among our postoflice pundits . This is not“la -kee’nan” - don ’t be ridiculous— it’ s just “LakeNan .

” Or look a t these : Lonea sh , Lucernemines ,Minera lking ( especia lly a fter you

’ve been looking a tRockawa lking ) Why not two words , Mr . Fa rley ?

Lake Neba gamon , Wis . Hunting-with-fire-byBut for the fina l d , this rhymes with

“thevagabond .

Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island . Accent thekonk . Rhymes with “

on bronco , Ma , except fortha t la st 0 , which is usua lly squa shed into muteness .

Lam ar, Colo . Rhymes with “afa r .”

La Mesa . In Ca li fornia a nd New Mexico theMexican “

m ay is kept . But in Texa s , not only is thespelling Lamesa ” oflicia l , but a lso the mee

”

pro

nuncia tion , despite the protests of“ the ladies ’ clubs .

”

Mesa , and Redmesa , Colo . , a re m ay,”andMe

s illa , Ariz . , ( little mesa ) is“m ay see ya .

”

Lam oille, M inn . Rhymes with “a boil .


Lamoni, Iowa . My ob server reports tha t thema j ority disagrees with Web ster: The Ita lian influence is gone . Rhyme the name with a s tone eye .”

Lam pasas , Tex.

“Lamb pa ss us , with a coupleOf good fla t a ’s .

Lam peter, Pa . ( In the Amish country. ) The b elief tha t this derived from a certa in “ lame Peter”

wa s j olted by the discovery tha t there wa s a villageof Lampeter in Wa les , and the rea liza tion tha t ea rlysettlers o f tha t pa rt of Pennsylvania were Welshmen ( just ea st o f town there lie the

“Welsh Mounta ins Anyway , the a ccent is on the first syllable .Ca ll it Lam Peter

Lana rk , Ill . Accented on the first syllable as itis in Scotland ; rhymes with the first two syllab les Of“ana rchy.

”

Lanca s ter . Lean a s lightly as possible on themiddle syllable . I t’ s pra ctica lly “

lank stir .”

Langeloth , Pa.

“

Two syllab les : “ lang’

lahth .

Langlois, Oreg . Rhymes with “H a ng boys !

( benevolent exclama tion sometimes hea rd aroundH a llowe ’en time ) .

L’

Anse, Mich . Ca lled lahnce by most of thecitizens , says my Ob server . However , a good fewrhyme it with “pants .”

Lapine, Oreg. Out of line with some simila rnames , this rhymes with

“Ah,Kline” ( long i ) .

La Pla ce . In Louisiana, natura lly enough , the


French pla ss ( a s in pla cid ha s been kept . Butin Illinois the Anglo-Saxon conquest , not content withrhyming “Pla ce” and

“ ra ce ,”is bent on butchering ;

the first a . Yes ,“lay

” i s common .

Lapush , Wa sh . Should be two words , a s i t is acorruption of French la bouche , the mouth ( of theriver ) . The la is a s in music , the

“push” is a s in thesubway in rush hour .

!La quin , Pa . This might a lmost a s well be spelledLake Wynn .

” The brakeman is more likely thanthe townspeople to a ccent the first syllab le .

Laredo . Texa s keeps the Spanish e , making thename rhyme raggedly with pota to .

” But M issourisays “ree .”

La s Cruces , N . Mex . It i s ha rd to give a rhymefor

“la s

” without entering into controversy a s to theproper America n pronuncia tion of

“gra ss” and

loss” ; anyway , lah-ss” represents it . AS for

Cruces , though the town is only an hour from theRio Grande , those who rhyme it with

“

goose cha se”

a re outnumb ered by those who think true , sis”

a

good enough rhyme .

La s Vega s , N . Mex . Vega s is pronouncedvagues , a s in I haven

’

t the vagues’ idea .

”

La tah , Idaho ,Wa sh . Rhymes with Say, paw !

( the“aw

”of Uta h )

Lauada , N . C Law Ada , with the accent onthe

“A .

”

( See FORADA . )


the Lehma n Caves in Nevada , both of these are“lee’ m an .

”

Leices ter, Ma ss .

I once knew a ha l f-wit nam ed LeicesterWho thought him self quite a young jeicester.

H e blew up a schoolAnd sa id ,

“April Fool !”

H is consc ience will soon start to feicester.

Leigh , Nebr . Same a s Lee .

Leipsic , Ohio . Pronounced lip sick . Rollyour own wise-cra ck .

Leiter,Wyo . (And Leiters Ford , Ind . ) GermanJust like “lighter .”

Leith , N . Dak . , Ohio . The Scotch ci is cc .

Rhyme this with Keith .

”

Lem ert, Ohio . The lem is a ccented and

rhymes with “ stem .

Lernh i, Idaho . Lem’ high . Rhymes withClem

,try.

Lemm on , S. Dak . Yes , it’

s“ lemon . SO wha t ?

Lem oore, Ca li f. Named f or Dr . Lee Moore ,but not pronounced tha t way .

“It rhymes with “ thedoor

”— and don ’ t spend any more time on the e thanyou have to .

Lena pah , Okla . Like Omaha and Wauke

sha , this ends in aw. Rhymes with “Glenna

Shaw.

Lena rue, Ky. As in the previous name , the first


syllab le is a ccented ; and the first two usua lly rhymewith “

Glenna .

”

Lenoir City, Tenn . Like Lenore , rhymes with“the door .

Leom ins ter, Ma ss . Though the British squeezethis into two syllables , to sound like

“lem-ster ,” in

New England it is usua lly “lemon-stir ,

” like somefanta stic new name for lemona de .

Leoneth , Minn . A comb ina tion O f Leonida sand

“Eveleth ,”

(neighboring town ) hence a ccentedon a fla t

“on .

” The town would properly have b eenca lled “Leonida s” because of the Leonida s minethere ; but the posta l authorities ob j ected on theground tha t there wa s a Leonida s in Michigan . SO

the folks in M innesota keep on ca lling their town“Leonida s” a s if nothing had happened.

Les Chenea ux ( i slands in Lake Huron ) . MeansThe Oaks” but is very frequently referred to a s

The Snows — a b eautiful example o f a phonetictransla tion .

” Those who don ’t ca ll it this , or“Snow

Islands ,” genera lly a im a t the French : something

like “lay sh-no .

”

Le Sueur, Minn . Best usage approxima tes theFrench— but ina smuch a s it means “swea t” whybother ? It is commonly anglicized to rhyme with“ the brewer .”

Leupp , Ariz . Loop , rhyming with scoop .

Levan , Utah . Rhymes with “ the ma n.

”T ln

°

s


i s about the way the grea t Ga rry, Princeton footba llhero , pronounced his name .

Levan t, Kans . Rhymes with the pla nt.

Levesque , Ark . ( Site of a la rge refugee camp ,in the 193 7 Mississippi flood . ) Rhymes with

“ thedesk.

”

Leyden . New York rhymes this with Dryden ,a s in Holland and in physics labora tories . But inNorth Dakota everybody says “ lay .

”

Liebenthal, Kans . Stra ight German : lee’ bentahl .”

Liege, Mo . Rhymes with siege .

Ligonier, Pa . Nothing to do with the AmericanLegion , though it does rhyme pretty decently with“brigadier .”

Lim a, N . Y . , Ohio . Rhymes with “I ’m a a s in“I ’m a wreck But not in Peru .

Linary , Tenn . Rhymes a cceptably with “finery.

Llano , Tex . Fully 2 5 0 miles from the border

(by any sort of decent roads ) , this isn’ t even “

lah’

no any longer . It now rhymes with“can-o

”a s in

“can-opener.”

Webster says tha t the Lla no Es ta cado Stakedwhich lies , in a genera l way, b etween Ros

well , N . Mex. , and Lubbock , Tex. , i s“ lab ’no ess

tah kah’

do.

”

Locklies , Va . As if the man’s name were Lockly


to pronounce it . But then inlanders tell us tha tBostonians do not know how to pronounce B os ton.

”

A LOS Angeles libra rian writes me tha t peoplethere , a lmost without exception , when a sked aboutit , reply,

“Well , I pronounce it‘LOS Anjelles

’ but Iknow tha t

’ s not right .” The town is la rgely com

posed Of Ea sterners who pronounce it any numberof ways . The ma j ority, however , a ccording to myOb server , say

“LO S Anjelles .

” Persona lly , she follows Cha rles Fletcher Lumm is ’ s recommenda tion ina poetic appea l tha t the “

g sha ll not be jellified .

”

Here , slightly pa raphra sed , is his conclusion

0 long, g hard, and rhyme with Yes

That’

s how to say Loce Ang-cl-ess .

”

I have tried va liantly to rhyme 10 3 with dose ,but am more and more convinced tha t it is high-browand unusua l . The ha rd g and the rhyme with Yes”

a re , on the other hand , Often hea rd and a re herebyadvoca ted .

Evidently Loss is not unanimously approved a sa nickname ,

“L . A .

”b eing much ea sier and sa fer

to say.

Losantville, Ind . Accent on sant . Rhymeswith “

Go pla nt, Bill .

Los Ga tos , Ca li f . The San Francisco a rea ishundreds of miles from Mexico , so this rhymes withboss sa t us”— and I hope you can make more sense

out of tha t than I can .

Los Lunas , N . Mex. Wha t looks like a m ascu


line a rticle With a feminine noun is expla ined by thefa ct tha t reference is to “ the Luna s” ; i.e . , Mr . andMrs . Luna and the little loons . It is usua lly pronounced

“lahss loon-us .

”

Los Molinos , Ca lif . (Named a fter the old flourmills a long the Sa cramento River . ) In M olinos ,

keep the Spanish : both the o ’

s long, and the a ccentedi like cc . But loss ha s la rgely supplanted the“10 3

” tha t rhymed with “dose .”

Los Olivos , Ca lif . Aga in the Spanish cc , a c

cented . But the “10 3

” is commonly loss .

Lostan t , Ill . (Named a fter the Countess OfL

’

O stant, wife Of a French minister to the UnitedSta tes . ) Just

“los t ant

”- if ants ever do get lost.

Louin , M iss . Rhymes with Bruin.

Louisburg , N . C . Lewis (pronounce the s ) .

The same with Louisburg Squa re , in Boston .

Louisiana . All agree tha t an gets the principa l a ccent . But a ba ttle rages over whether

“10 0

”

or“cc

” gets the seconda ry. The feeling is tha t“loozy Anna

” expresses the loca l twist , a s in the“Oh

Suzanna ” song, while“10 0 cc

’ etc .” goes b est in TinPan Alley lyrics .

Louisville . In Georgia and Nebra ska , the s i spronounced ; but the b etter-known Louisville of Kentucky is either “ louie-vil” or “

loo-a-vil”

( the la tterunquestionab ly to be a ttributed to the Southerndrawl ) .


Loup City , Ncbr. Thinking, no doub t, O f

group” and“ soup ,

” with which it rhymes,my oh

server rema rked ,“There ’s no way O f m ispronounc- f

ing it tha t I know of .

” This illustra tes perfectly therea son many communities don’t bother to publicizetheir own pronuncia tion . But the fa ct is tha t“Loup” might be on the “

Sioux ana logy , orit might follow the ana logy o f loud” and

“ lout .”

Lowrane , Mont . Rhymes with no pa in.

Lowville , N . Y . But , just to be aggrava ting ,this first syllab le rhymes with “

cow.

Lucia , Ca lif . (Nea r San Jose . ) The Ita lianssneeze a t this point ; but Ca li fornians give this a

Spanish slant : “10 0 see’ a .

”

Ludowici, Ga . ( Connected , no doub t , with Ludovico , Ita lian for Rhymes with You

go , sissy .

” Accent first and third .

Luebbering, Mo . Luebber rhymes withgoober” (peanut ) . Accent “ loo .

”

Luling, Tex. The accent is on the first syllab le ,a ll right . But Webster makes it “ liu instead of

wherea s in the neighboring sta te of New

Mexico he encourages us to pronounce Luna “10 0

’

na .

” The British have become resigned to “10 0

” in

words like “a lluring

”and

“ luna tic”— why shouldn ’ twe ?

Lurich , Va . The most common rendering of this

Mcc rea, La . As in McLean , the ea i ssounded long a . The name rhymes with “

away.

McLeod , M inn . , Tex . The Scotch eo” is like

ou.

”Say

“Mc Loud .

”

Mab elle, Tex . Curiously enough , just wha t youwould expect : “

m ay bell .”

Machens , MO . Rhymes with b la ckens .

Ma ch ia s , Ma ine , N . Y . , Wa sh . Though widelysepa ra ted, these a re in excellent agreement , tha t the“ch” is sneezed , the whole rhyming with

“a’

bia s .

”

Ma ch ipongo , Va . Rhymes with “ scra tchy Con

go ,

” reminding us Of the time the m issmna ries sentred-flannels to Africa .

Ma ckay , Tex . A first-syllable a ccent , on Ma ck ,is preferred ; the rhyme is with la ckey .

Ma ckina c . According to the authorities , thisIndian name m ay be spelled either

“na c

” or “naw,

”

but must be pronounced “naw.

” However , a recentvisitor informs me tha t on the Island the na tives inS ist on

“na ck .

” There is a M ekinock in NorthDakota which m ay be rela ted. It rhymes with“wreck a clock .


Ma comb , Ill . , M ich . M ’ comb , a s in Handme m ’

comb , is now approved. The “coom” version is still hea rd , especia lly in folks

’ names .

Ma doc , Mont . Rhymes with haddock .

Ma drid , Iowa , M a ine . Not content with a ccenting Canton and Berlin on the first syllable , Americans a ccent this on the “Ma d ,

” making it a lmost“M a d rud . The Spanish resembles “

m a -thrith’ ”

(voiced ) .

Ma es , N . Mex . Forget your Spanish for themoment . This town belonged to Ma e somebody .

Mahanoy City, Pa . This is evolving from anIrish “

m ah-hah-noy to an American version com/

pounded chiefly of long a’

s . But for the present itis usua lly a ccented on the first syllable and rhymedwith “Ah

,a boy !

”

Mah tom edi, M inn . Rhymes with Otto , need

Mah towa , M inn . Aga in the aw ending whenthe a ccent is on the first syllable ; rhymes with

“B a h,

no straw !”

Makem ie , Va . Nothing defiant or seductiveabout this . Indica tions a re tha t it rhymes with “

ya

lemme a s in “Won ’ t ya lemme do i t ?” Accent in

the middle .

Makinen , Minn . Accent on Ma ck . Rhymesfa irly well with “

ba ckin’in”

(“ I wa s ba ckin’

in to

the only end with en ra ther than “ in .

”


Makoti, N . Dak. Rhymes with “Dakotee, i f

you pronounce “Dakota” tha t way. Don ’t .

Ma lad City, Idaho . Does not rhyme with a let-5

tucc-and-toma to . Think of“YO-ho , m

’

lad, yo-ho !”

Ma laga , Ky . , N . J . , N . Mex. Tin Pan Alleywould probably rhyme this with “

Ga llagher” ; anyway, the a ccent is on the first syllable , giving us arhyme for “

ana logous ,”if you will knock the

“an

”

off the front and the s ofir the ba ck .

Maiden , Ma ss . , Mo . The “a !”is awl , a s in

Alden” and“Wa lden

Ma lesus , Tenn . Accent on the lee . Rhymes ,a bit raggedly, with

“ a thesis .”

Malheur, Ore . (“Evil hour . And Ca lamity

Creek flows into the Ma lheur River . ) Webster says“ma the President o f the Woman ’s Clubm a l

’ your , and most people “m a l

’ hur .” In a ll

seriousness , no county should be branded with a

name tha t is not only in auspicious but unpronounceable . My modest suggestion— and i t ’s a very

.good

one— is tha t they change the name to Va le County,Va le being the present county-sea t , and there beingno other Va le County in the entire na tion .

Malin, Oreg . Rhymes with “akin” and cha

grin .

”

Malo,Wa sh . Rhymes with Stay low Get

low and s tay low l”

)

Ma lpais . This is the southwestern equiva lent of


Manitowoc , Wis . Accent first and la st ; soundslike “

m an a t a wa lk .

” With the appropria te sub stitution, Ma nztowzsh, Wis . , i s the same .

Manka to , Minn . An older dictiona ry giveskah

”for the a ccented syllab le , but the residents

rhyme “ka to with “pota to .

Manom et , Ma ss . This empha sizes the m an .

Manor, Pa . Almost like “manner . But inGeorgia i t rhymes

,

with “Gaynor.”

Manteca , Ca lif . H a s abandonedthe Spanish . Rhymes with can peek a

Manti, Utah . AS in the Indian’s rema rk,“Man

tie, woman untie .

Mantua , Ohio . Rhymes with Gra nt you a , a s

in“Gra nt you a request ,

” though doub tless “Man

chaway” can be hea rd above the clank of skilfullytossed horseshoes , down by the firehouse . (SeeNASHUA . )Manzan ita , Oreg . (Also Manzanita L a k e ,

Ca li f . ) Just for a change , this is the Little Apple .The Spanish a ccent on the “nee” ha s been kept , a s inthe girl ’ s name ,

“Anita ,”but\ the z is usua lly pro

nounced“z”and not

Ma quoketa , Iowa . For one rea son or another ,the a ccented syllab le is usua lly “

ko” ra ther than

“quo .

” The name rhymes with a poke a t a ,"a s in

Take a poke a t a m an .

”

Ma rai s des Cygnes , Kans . Swan Swamp .


Usua lly Merrida Zeen , to rhyme with spa re ama chine ( the -a is b eing converted into an uh” tha tcan be represented by a lmost any mute vowel ) .

Ma rana , Ariz . (From a Spanish word for shrubor thicket. ) Now usua lly

“Ma ran a ,”a s in “Ma

ra n a mile .

Maria . Anna Ma ria , Fla . , Ma ria Stein , Ohio ,(Stein rhymes with fine ) , and Ma ria s River , Mont . ,a ll use the a ccented long i tha t is cha ra cteristica llyAmerican . Even M a ria l

,Oreg. , rhymes with a

tria l .”

Ma rkesan , Wis . Accent ma rk . Except forthe midwestern r , this resemb les mocca sin.

Ma scouta h , Ill . A Boston child with a scooterwould refer to it a s m ’ scoot-a .

” Accent the “koo .

”

Mashoes , N . C .

“ I done los’ m a shoes ! saidthe da rky .

Ma ssa ponax , Va . Accent pon. It seems theSlaves looked everywhere for the ax, until i t wa s fina lly discovered tha t ma ssa wa s Sitting on i t . Ormaybe this is just a nother way of spelling Na ssa

wadox.

Ma ssillon , Ohio . First syllable gets the a ccentin spite of the doub le l . Rhymes with “

ca s tle on ,”

unless life seems too short , in which ca se the namecan be shortened in va rious ways .

Ma ta gorda , Tex. Over 200 miles from the border , this no longer sta rts with

“m ah . The name


rhymes with ca t a fford a , as in , Can a ca t a fforda look a t a king ?”

Ma tteawan ( a sylum , N . Y . ) There a re Ma ta?"

wans in Minnesota and New Jersey, a Ma tewan inWest Virginia , and a Ma ttawan in M ichigan . Andthey a ll, like M a tteawan

,rhyme with “

sa t upon .

H ow do you suppose tha t unhappy e got into Ma t

teawan ?

Mauch Chunk, Pa . Mock chunk representsit , but the sound wavers between m ahk

”and

“mawk .

Maumee, Ohio . Rhymes with Aw gee !”

Mauna Loa ,Mauna Kea (Hawa ii) .

Fa r up on Ma una Loa

A dago foun’

a boa

All sta ined a“brown-a gray-a

W ith ash from M a una K ea .

Mavie, Minn . Rhymes with navy .

Maza , N . Dak . Rhymes with Gaze a (while ) .

Mazam a , Wa sh . Rhymes with “pa j ama ” - if

you pronounce tha t correctly pa jah’

Meagher ( county, Mont ) Neither“meager

(Mawson ) nor“m ay

-er”

(Phyfe ) nor“m ah

’ her

(Webster ) , though the la st is wa rm . My Ma rtinsda le Observer (name On request ) writes me tha tthe county wa s “named for the ga llant Genera lMeagher, New York society da rling , Irish pa triot

( and drunk ) , and is pronounced habitua lly ‘m a r,’

but there a re certa in boobs who want to seemin


Memph remagog ( lake , Vermont ) . Mem-fre

m ay’

gog, rhyming with empty gray dog .

Menands , N . Y . Rhymes with “ the sands .

M enan,Idaho , a lso a ccents the la st syllab le .

Mendocino , Ca l if . Shows its Mexican heritage ;the a ccented “

ci”is pronounced “

see .

”

Meno , Okla . Rhymes with Reno .

Menoken , N . Dak . Accent the “men . Soundslike a perfect, though somewha t unconventiona l ,plura l for “manikin .

”

Mercedes , Tex . (About five miles from the RioGrande . ) Pretty Mexican . Accent “

say You ’ llbe understood if you rhyme it with “pervade us ,

”but

a little more “a ir

” in the first syllab le and more ofa long a in the la st would be less “gringo .

” M erced,

Ca lif . , a ccents“sed

”and rhymes with her bed .

”

Merepoint, Ma ine . (On the end of a long fingersticking out into Ca sco Bay . ) There ’s Trundy Pointand Pema quid Point and B ay Point and Sma ll Point— and 'MerepOint. Why not Mere Point ,

” UncleSam ? Or should I say Uncle J im ? ( See PENA

BLANCA . )Merino , Mont . Accent ree .

Mesa ba , Minn . Rhymes w i th We r o b a

(Don’

t empha size the we . ) The Mesab irange , in the same sta te , rhymes with the lobby.

”

Mescalero, N . Mex. ( Indian reserva tion about100 miles from the border . )

“Mess ka lay'

ro .

”


However, in rapid speech , the era commonly soundsmuch like “

a rrow .

”

Mesh oppen , Pa . As in I haven ’t done m ’ shop

p in’

yet.

Mes ita , Colo . Rhymes s a t i s f a c t o r i l y w i t hAnita .

”

Mesquite, N . Mex . Two syllables ; much like ashort form for mosquito ,

” “mes

Meta line, Wa sh . Rhymes with “Get a shine

Methow, Wa sh . The preferred pronuncia tionis M et how a s in this conversa tion : We met yesterday .

” “M et how ?”

Methuen , Ma ss . Best usage would rhyme thiswith “

Beth , you an’

(“Beth , you an

’ I Thema in thing is to put the a ccent in the middle— ln thiscountry.

Metuchen , N . J . Accent on tutch . Rhymeswith “ the scutcheon .

Metzger, Oreg. Metz’ gur ( the ger a s in“ tiger” )Mexia, Tex . This is considerabl e of a town .

Yet it ha s not only fa iled to throw Off its a llegianceto Mexico (nea rly 400 miles away )— it still pronounces the x like an h— but it prides itself on a ccenting the xi and ca lling it hay

”! Which is not Mexican

or anything else . For the present , say“me hec ’ a .

”

Miam i. The owner of a newspaper in the Florida city told me,

“Only the very wealthy sa id‘mee


ah’ mee ,

’

and there a ren ’ t any of them any more .The choice in rhymes is , then , between

“Why dammee ( a ccent on the dam ) and

“My Gramma”

( a ccent on And the feeling seems to be ,not only in Florida , Oklahoma , and Arizona , buta lso in M iam isburg , Ohio , tha t

“mee” is correct buttha t “muh” is more common . Somewha t a s in M iss ouri we outsiders usua lly end with “mee”

wherea s the genuine Cra cker gets a little tired, anddrawls “muh .

”

Micawb er, Okla . Hoping aga inst hope ( seeMIKADO ) tha t the loca l gentry had invented somepreposterous mispronuncia tion for this , I wrote anda sked . But they knew their Dickens too well fortha t . It ’s “mick aw

’

bur.

”Its popula tion ( some

wha t under 100 ) indica tes tha t it is still ra ther waiting for something to turn up .

Mich igamme, M ich . Preferably mish-i-gah’

me , rhyming with ba lmy. It a lso rhymes with“Sammy,

”among the— Sha ll I say ?

— “unwa shed .

I ’d better not . I wa sh occa siona lly, but I don’ t a l

ways remember to say gah’ me .”

Mida le, Mont . This is My da le . You canhave the other da le .

Mika do , M ich . Hold your brea th . This is notmick ah’ do” but my kay

’ do ,”a ll the vowels long.

Mikka lo , Oreg . This rhymes with s trike a

b low.

”


sidered ca reless even the hissing sound m ay be

hea rd a long with the “ jury” ending, from the kindO f people who use the “ eye sound in “ either” and“neither” ; but these hissers a re likely to be

“Yankeesfrom Outside .” Most of the na tives , in both Missouri and Kansa s , say

“mi zoor’ a .

”

Mob ile, Ala . About equa l a ccents on the twosyllab les ( depending On the rhythm of the sentence ) .

Rhymes with “low heel .

Moclips , Wa sh . Rhymes with no hips .

Modena, Mo . , Pa . , Wis . All rhyme with OhLena ! ” ( a ccent the I understand tha t thePennsylvania town wants its name changed to Pa

perville ,” which would of course be more musica l and

distinctive .

Mohave (desert ) . This used to be spelled witha j, but evidently got tired of b eing ca lled mo -j ave ,to rhyme with no shave The Mexican versionrhymes with a Bostonian ’ s question to a druggist,“NO sa lve , eh but the una ccented la st syllab le i srapidly becoming vee .

Moiese , Mont . At present this is ca lled mo

Moira, N . Y . Rhymes with Go hire a , a s inthe Old sneer , a ddressed to some long-winded com

pla iner,“GO hire a ha ll .”

Molina , Colo . (Named for an old grist mill . )The Spanish-speaking founders of the pla ce doubtless called it “mo lee’na .

” Then came a layer of to


b a cco -chewing pioneers who liked to rhyme it withDinah .

” Now, thanks to theWoman’ s Club and to

higher educa tion , the pendulum is swinging ba ck toLena .

”

Moline, Ill . The ine a s in ma chine or m a

rine” “m o

Molino , MO . This rhymes with no Reno .

Mollena uer, Pa . Usua lly pronounced “mull in

our, a s in “You can ’t m a ll in our ga rden . Peoplewho mull in ga rdens a re a positive mena ce .

Moloka i, Hawa ii. Rhymes sa tisfa ctorily withoh so high ,

”a ccents on first and third .

Moneta , Ca lif . Here aga in ( see LOUP ) , Thereseems to be no way in which this name can be mispronounced .

” Yet an educa ted Mexican would instantly ca ll the a ccented syllab le “

nay”; and the

f a ct tha t the - town is well south , nea r Los Angeles ,would make the average outsider lean towa rds theMexican version . However ,

“mo nee ’ ta ” is correct .

Monie , Md . Rhymes with “Oh try !”

Monoca cy , Md . , Pa . Except for the first syllable , a perfect rhyme for “democra cy . In otherwords , empha size the

“nock .

Mononga hela, Pa . Ma in a ccent on the bee.

Seconda ry on “nong.

”

Monson , Ma ss . , Me . Sounds more like Munson” than a rhyme for “Bronson .

”

Montague, Tex . Most people and pla ces o f this


name make it three syllables , with the a ccent on the“mon .

” But in Texa s , a ccordiing to Bolton , the

tague is thought O f a s rhyming with Sprague” ;and is a ccented . Rhyme the name with “JohnCra ig .

”

Mon te Ne, Ark . Coin H a rvey, the founder ,figured this meant mounta in wa ter .

” Anyway , Ne

i s “wa ter” in an Indian dia lect . ) Usua lly Mon’ tee

Nee” —though “nay

”is fa irly common .

Mon tesano, Wa sh . This rhymes with On thetra in , oh .

”

Montevideo , Minn . South of the Rio Grande ,i t ’s different . But here ’ s a triplet in honor of Minnesota :

Up north in MontevideoA guy called “

Don the Giddy-OMa rried some Old widdy-O .

Montha lia , Tex . Don ’ t let the cla ssica l pronuncia tion o f

“Tha lia ” upset you . The a ccented syllab leis a l isper ’s version o f “

say”

; and the whole rhymesWith “

(Did ) Don fa il ya ?”

Monticello . The Ita lian is chello , and tha t isprob ab ly wha t Jefferson ca lled it. But “ sello” isgenera lly preferred now ; for instance , a t the M a nti

cello Hotel in Cha rlottesville .

Montier, MO . Rhymes with ( Is ) D on here ?Origina lly, I suspect , i t wa s more like

“ frontier ,”be

fore Recessive Accent got in its deadly work .

Mook , Ky. Rhymes with “spook .

”


Moxee City” will play hob with the a ccent , and

eventua lly, I think , bring forth a rhyme with“ foxy.

Muens ter, Tex . My Ob server says it ranges ;

from “minster ( the best ) to“monster” ! It will

probably settle down to “munster .”

Mukilteo , Wa sh . Rhymes with Buckle Leo .

Mulesh oe, Tex. Unlike “Ravenshoe” “raven’shoe” ) this is just wha t it appea rs to be : “muleshoe .

Mundelein , Ill . Rhymes with the Boston pronuncia tion o f

“underline .” Accent the“mun .

”

Munising, Mich . The “mew” is empha tic a s inca ts . Imagine a girl named “Muna ” ( there is sucha name ) , and then

“Let Muna sing .

Murtaugh , Idaho .

“Murt’ aw.

”

Musca tine, Iowa . Accent on the la st syllable .Rhymes with “

Gus , ma rine .”

Muskegon , Mich . Accent the kee .

Muskogee, Okla . (Also Muscogee, Fla . , Ga . )Ha rd g a s in “geese - rhym es with

“us go see .My observer writes ,

“ I am told the Indians once a ccented the la st syllab le , and pronounced it

‘j ee . ’

Na ches , Wa sh . Accent on the cheese rhymeswith “ a breeze .

” But Port Neches , Tex . , rhymeswith wretches . (See NATCHEZ . )

Na cogdoches , Tex . Silence the g . Rhymes withpa ck 0 ’ roa ches .”

Na hant, M a ss . The first a is ob scure , the secondgets the a ccent . Oliver Wendell Holmes works it ,

in thusT he shining horses foam and pant,And now the smells begin

O f fishy Swampscot, salt Nahant,

And leather-scented Lynn .

Nanafa lia , Ala . Accents on nan and lie .

Rhymes with “M anna , Ma ria ! ” a s the m an fromthe deep B ib le Belt excla imed when he first saw snow .

Nandua, Va . Rhymes with “and you a

”

He ca lled me a and you a

Nan taha la (mounta ins , North Ca rolina ) Meansland - of noon-day sun .

” Accent the “hay . (Yes ,

the mounta ineers rhyme it with“ga ily,

”but we don ’t

have to follow suit . The la st a should be mute . )Na pa , Ca li f . (Famous for glove-lea ther . ) Pro

nounce it a s in Nap a while .”

1 2 5


Na pavine, Wa sh . Rhymes with snap a line .

Naponee, Nebr . (And Nappanee, Ind . ) Firstand third syllables a ccented about equa lly ; rhym eS

with “tap a tree .”

Na ra Visa , N . Mex . I f you say pa radise-a

(hanging an obscure a on the end ) you have a sa tisfa ctory rhyme for “Na ra Visa .

”

Na selle, Wa sh . Rhymes with Mabelle i.e. ,

with “pray tell” ; hiss the s .

Nashua , N . H . Somewha t a s in Iowa , when thena tives have their store-clothes on theymute the fina la ; but a t other times the homespun long a still seemsa ltogether desirable ; perhaps there is in it somehowthe music o f a distant cowb ell or the evening songfrom the frog-pond . The contra sting rhymes arewith ca sh you a” and

“ca sh away ,

”a s in the follow

ing fanta stic conversa tion : “May I ca sh you a

check ?” “Ca sh away.

”

Na ssawadox , Va . Another illustra tion o f thea ccented a pronounced aw.

” Rhymes with “Ma ssasaw box.

”

Na ta lbany , La . (By deriva tion , probab ly hadsomething to do with b a rbecued bea r

'

mea t . ) Theloca l pronuncia tion is sa id

,

to be T a lbany”

( just tplus Alba ny, N . Y . ) and to have been in use for overa hundred yea rs . However, you will not be the guestof honor a t a lynching p a rty if you put a

“Na t” in

front.


cent : “naw-voo . But recessive a ccent will probab lybring them into agreement , someday, on the firstsyllab le .

Navarino , Wis . Accent on ree . Rhymes withHave a B ea no .

”

Nava sota, Tex . Rhymes with Have a quota .

Navesink Hills , N . J .

“Navy sink” and“Never

sink” a re not to - be taken too seriously ; the preferred rhyme is with “

H ave a drink

Necedah , Wis . Accent on see . Rhymes ,about , with

“Miss Freda .

”

Neches , Tex . See NACHES .

Neha lem , Oreg . Rhymes with we na il ’em .

Neiha rt , Mont . Keeps the German . Rhymeswith “

my hea rt .”

Neligh , Nebr . Rhymes with freely.

Nem adjee , Minn . Rhymes with “them badgey

a s in “Goering likes them ba dgey

”

( referring to uniforms with lots o f decora tions ) .

Neodesha , Kans . , Okla . Uncle Noah will be in

terested to lea rn tha t na tives o f both these pla cesrepudia te the “ shah” ending given in the dictiona ry .

The prima ry a ccent is on “ shay,” the seconda ry on

“Oh . Rhymes with “We know the play.

”

Neopit, Wis . Rhymes with “We hope i t.

Nesc opeck , Pa . Ma de the headlines in an embezzlem ent ca se , and got itself pronounced a ll sorts


of ways over the radio . Rhymes with Bess, go

neck” ( a ccenting the first )Nespelem , Wa sh . Rhymes with Le ’ s dea l ’ em .

Netawaka , Kans . Netta wa lk a ,”a s in “Make

Netta wa lk a while .”

Neub ert, Term. The German would have an“O i” in it . But this rhymes with “Hubert .

Nevada . The a ccented a i s usua lly fla t, as inAla bam a , though

“nevahda

” i s a lso authorized . Thetown in Iowa , I regret to say, rhymes with

“ a bla de0’

Newa gen , Ma ine . This , I am told, is newwagon ,

”implying tha t the “

wag gets the empha sis .

New Almelo, Kans . The principal a ccent is onthe “

ahl ,” in Holland , and the same in New Almelo ,

except tha t the Kansa s Al is a b it fla tter .

Newark . Both New Jersey and Ohio admit thatthe two syllables a re pretty well squeezed into one .

Ohio prefers “noo” to“niu” ; and on tha t point not

even the WOR announcers a re in agreement.

New Athens . See ATHENS .

New Baden . See BADEN .

New Bra unfels , Tex. Keep the German [a u]rhymes with “

town smells ,”a s in “The town smells

just wonderful .”

New Brem en . See BREMEN .

Newfoundland , N . J . , Pa . Up north , where ita ll started, the

“ land is a ccented. But the dog,


wandering fa r from its pla ce of origin , came to bea ccented on

“ found” ; and the same with the NewJersey and Pennsylvania towns .

New Orleans ; La . Accent on the leenz i sdefinitely wrong, being hea rd chiefly in T in Pan Alley.

“N ’Yawlins represents pretty well wha t you

hea r in the Deep South . Just a concise form o f“niu

or’ lee-unz .

New York . Ea sterners dislike the Western r inYork,

”on the ground tha t it makes “

York” soundlike a yodel from a la rge frog ; a fa ir representation of the Manha ttan rendering is “N ’

Yawk”

(not“

yoik” —the 3 3 rd Street “

O i”is a ma ssa cre o f er,

not of or ) . Meticulous people , l ike certa in radio announcers , say

“niu .

”

Nezperce, Idaho . The Old-fa shioned pronunciation

,which approxima ted the Indian , wa s something

like “nip Percy .

” But now i t usua lly rhymes with“sez worse ,

”a s in “My little brother sez worse

things than yours does .”

Nicut, Okla . Rhymes with My cut .

Niob e, N . Y . (Origina llyBrokenstraw. ) Theresidents agree with the specia lists in cla ssic mythology, tha t this rhymes with

“My Oh me ! ”

Niob ra ra , Nebr. (“Running Wa ter . Mayb e

the Indians sa id “nee , but the long i is now established . A rhyme for i t : Guy O

’

H a ra .

”

Nipinnawasee, Ca lif . Home of the deer .


novel , and the inger rhymes with cringer ,one who cringes .

Nowlin , S. Dak. Rhymes with bowlinbowlin ’ a lley .

Nuan gola , Pa . Noo Ang go’ la . The origina l intention appea rs to have been NewAngola .

Nueces ( river , county, Texa s ) . Much like “newway, sis ,

” only squeeze the first two syllab les together .

Nuevo , Ca lif . Aga in , make the nue a s muchlike one syllab le a s possible 5 “noo-way

’

vo .

Nuriva, W . Va . Sta rts out with “noo , and

rhymes with “you drive a ,”a s in You drive a ha rd

ba rga in .”

Nyando, N . Y . (By deriva tion , neither Indian ,African , Ita lian , nor Greek . Give up ? N . Y . 8: O .

Ry.-New York 85 Ottawa . ) Rhymes with “

buy

la nd , oh .

”

Oahe, S. Dak . (Sioux for founda tion . Thisfour-letter word ha s three la rge and resounding syllables :

“Oh a h hay.

”

Oahu , Hawa ii . Wah’ hoo . Or spread it out

into three syllables , o ah’

hoo .

” Web ster. likes thelatter .

Oasis , Calif . Rhymes with GO’

way, sis . Thefirst-syllable a ccent a llowed in the dictiona ries is notheard in any pla ces of tha t name in this country.

Oberon , N . Dak. Rhymes with “over on ( the

table ) Or m ay be shortened to“Oh’ brun .

”

Ocala, Fla . Sounds like the beginning of“O

’

Callahan .

” Accent ca l .

Occoquan , Va . (Na rrowly escaped being on

U .S. One . ) Accent in the middle . Rhymes with“

(Does ) Pa know, John ?”

Oceana ( county, Mich . ) Don’t be misled by

what the dictiona ries say about Ha rrington ’ s Utopiaof tha t name ( a ccent either

“ see” or longWhen in Michigan say

“Oh , sheAnna .

”

Ochelata, Okla . Sneeze the ch , and rhyme thewhole thing with “Oh , we ha te a ( quitter , or wha tever we do ha te ) .


O choa, N . Mex . I am told tha t the ch is sneezedand the a is silent , making the name rhyme with“N0 , Joe.

”

Oconom owoc , Wis . Rhymes with GO yon, aslow wa lk .

”

Octave, Ariz . (Mining camp . ) Rhymes withSock Dave.

Odanah , Wis . This is Oh Da na !” Accent in

the middle , on the long a .

Odeb olt, Ia . Rhymes with Throw the colt.”

Accent first and third .

Oelrichs , S. Dak . In b est usage , rhymes withdroll tricks . But Ulricks” is common .

Oelwein , Iowa . Aga in the umlauted 0 has become long 0 . Cut Off the d from “

old wine .”

Oenaville, Tex. But here the 0 sound is entirelylost : “ cc’ na .

”

Ogeechee, Ga . Rhymes with Joe B ea chey.

The g i s ha rd a s in geese .”

Ogema, M inn . (Compa re Ogem aw County,Mich . ) Another illustra tion of the fina l “aw” in a

three-syllable name a ccented on the first . Thisrhymes roughly with “

toga , m aw.

”

Ohio . A common mispronuncia tion is Ohia .

Ojai , Ca lif . Just “Oh , high !

”

Ojibwa, Wis . In M issouri this is spelled Oj ibway. Another spelling is Chippewa , for the sameIndian tribe— and tha t , too , is Often topped Off with


Olms tead , Ky . (Also Olms ted , Minn . ) Bothrhyme with “

bomb dead .

” In line with our policy o f“The customer is a lways right” — even if you pronounce “

bomb” “bum ,

” no ha rm is done , a s the pronuncia tion

“um’ sted” is a lso a llowed

Olney , Ill) , Tex . This is “ahl

’

nee . But Olneyville , R . I . , rhymes with Toneyville .

Olyphant , Pa . Take the “Oli” of Oliver and

paste i t in front of the phant”o f elephant

Olyph ic , N . C . Rhymes with prolific .

Omaha , Neb r . Accent the O , and wind up withhaw,

”not

“hah .

”

Om ak ,Wa sh . First syllable a ccent : Oh , Ma c .

Om emee , N . Dak. (“Flying pigeon . Rhymes

with “so dreamy, and sounds like rehea rsa l time in

a Singing Academy .

Onala ska , Wa sh . Might be the name of a col

lege song of the On , Wisconsin” type : “On ,

Ala ska .

”

Onawa , Iowa . Wide Awake . This is similar to

“Ottawa ” in vowel sounds and a ccent : firstsyllab le a ccent , and a concluding mute “

a”

( or even“aw

”

) T o quote my Ob server ,“Even the most am

bitious brakeman ha sn ’ t been able to destroy the melody o f this Indian word .

” But I ’ll bet he saysTha t ’s the way they spell it in Michi

gan.

Oneida . In spite of seize and neither nee


ther” to most Americans ) , this name , found in ninewidely sepa ra ted sta tes , keeps the long

“ i .” Ac

cent it.

Onekem a , Mich . Still unsettled ; rhymes withGO neck a Ma

” or “Throw the key, Ma . Best ofa ll , a ccent the o and say the rest under your brea th .

You ’ll have to spell it out in any ca se .

Oneonta , N . Y ._ Rhymes with Row me on a

But the b rakeman Often converts “ta

”

into “ tee . And in Alabama , both on’

s a re fla t.

Onondaga , Mich . , N . Y . The first three vowelsounds a re usua lly about the same , the fourth beingobscure . The a ccented “

dah”is , however , Often pto

nounced“daw.

”

Ontona gon , Mich . I have hea rd the a ccentedna pronounced “

naw”a ll my life ( the ancestra l lum

ber company owned timber there ) .

Oolite, Ky . Na t three syllables , the way it

should be , in references to rock tha t resembles petrified fish-eggs . The Blue Gra ssers rhyme it withYou might .”

Oostburg, Wis . The Dutch touch , long a , ha s

been lost . The “oost now rhymes with “roost .

Opelika , Ala . Usua lly rhymes with “Papas trike a (ma tch ) .

Opelousa s , La . Accent first and third , making itrhyme , roughly , with

“Papa Whozis .

”

Oph iem , Ill . There’s an Opheim in Montana ,


pronounced in the German way, to rhyme with Stopcrime .” In Illinois , the origina l wa s doub tless Opheim too , but some ignorant people pronounced the

“

c i“cc ,

” perhaps , so the spelling wa s changed . Andnow everybody there ca lls it “

Oh feem”!

Opolis , Kans . When it grows up it’ s going to be

metropolis . But the a ccent is on the “op”a lrea dy.

Ora ib i, Ariz . Rhymes with “no ivy.

” But surely

you didn’t expect ivy in Arizona .

Oriskany , N . Y . Rhymes with so brisk a knee .

Criva , Wyo . Rhymes beautifully with LadyGodiva (preferab ly long i a s in

“GO dive a while” )

O rofino , Idaho . The Spanish ha s been kept ;rhymes with “Morrow-Reno .

Orono, Ma ine . (University of Ma ine . ) As inthe sentence “Let Ora know .

”

Oronoque, Conn . Rhymes with Pour a Coke .Indica tions a re tha t the a ccent is receding from thethird syllab le to the first .

Orosi, Ca li f . It means Gold ? Yes ! and

rhymes with “Oh no,Lee ,

”Or, popula rly and more

commonly , with Oh no , suh”

( compa re Cincinna ti,M iam i, M issouri ) . The s is hissed

Orsino , Fla . Accent the see , a s in Ca sino .

Osage . The a ccent here depends to some extenton the following word ; if it is a monosyllable or is a ccented on the first syllable , Osage is likely to have


Otsego , N . Y . Rhymes with got m e go , a s inNow you ’ve got m e going.

”

Otselic , N . Y . Rhymes with shot Felicthe Singula r o f “F

Ottumwa, Iowa . The tum is empha sized

( fa shion note ) . Sta rt with ah”and end with “uh .

Oua ch ita , Ark . Hold your brea th . This soundslike Wa sh it a ll

’ — if you can forget the two l ’s .

Ouray , Colo . , Utah . The na tive ca lmly says

you-ray , in spite Of Web ster

’s quite logica l “oo

rayl H

Outagam ie ( county, Wis . ) Accent on gam

rhymes with “Clout a mammy . A Lawrence professor (whom Web ster should have consulted b eforerecommending “

oot writes me tha t “ the citizensa re a lmost unanimous .

Ovid , Mich . , N . Y . Rhymes with N0 bid . Aboy in the New York town told Mr . Bolton tha tonly highbrows say

‘ah

’

vid .

’ Nevertheless ,“ah

’

vid” is correct in references to the Roman poet.

Oviedo , Fla . The Spanish color ha s faded . Thisrhymes , now , with

“GO see , Joe .

”

Owaneco , Ill . Accent on“wah . Rhymes with

Throw B onny O a s in “Throw B onny over.”

Owa sippe , Mich . Though a“wah

”a ccent is

sometimes hea rd , the usua l a rrangement is a s in“Mississippi .” Rhymes with “know a Skippy .

”

Pachuta, Miss . Accent chew . The namerhymes with a f ew ta

” as in H ow do you expect aJ ew té. like H itler ?”

Paden , M iss . Okla . (Also Pa den City,W . Va . )All rhyme with la den . ( See BADEN. )

Padena , Ga . Rhymes with “Ga lena i.e . , two

mute a ’

s with a dee” b etween them .

Padroni, Colo . Properly, should rhyme withbad crony ,

”but there is a tendency, among the na

tives , to change the“cc

” sound to a mute a , as inOrosi or M iami . The fa ct is , according to my Ohserver , tha t the founder

’ s name was actually Padrona .

Paducah . Kentucky is careful to call it “diu ( a lmost “

DOO” i s used in Texa s . In both

sta tes the middle syllable is a ccented .

Pagopago . The na tive pronuncia tion is pangopango , and tha t spelling should therefore be preferred . But surely when it i s spelled

“Pago” youm ay pronounce it

“

p ah’

go .

” A pa ra llel ca se isI ehol . You don’ t have to pronounce it “Ra -ho

”un

less it ’ s spelled “Raho .

”


Pa isano (peak nea r Ma rfa , Tex . ) The blondewa itress in the hotel of tha t name , in Ma rfa ,couldn ’ t pronounce it a t a ll , but the brunette (pa rtMexican , perhaps ) gave it, correctly, a s

“

py sah’

no ,

”

rhyming with “My M a no” a s in“My M a knows

best ,” expression constantly hea rd on the lips of chil

dren,bless their little hea rts . Incidenta lly, pa isano

means both pea sant” and“phea sant ,

”and yet the

two English words a re not etymologica lly rela ted.

Pa lls , Va . No London influence here . JustPaul ’s .” Something vaguely depressing about it ,though .

Pal o Alto . Though I hea rd an announcer , on

Election Night in 193 2 , speak of a certa in gentlemanin “

Pay-low Alto , two ca rds from Ca lifornia insisttha t “Pa lo” rhymes with “ sa llow true a lso o f

Pennsylvania and Texa s , but not of Virginia , whereit is This long a is likewise correct inPa lo , Iowa and Michigan .

Palo Duro ( sta te pa rk , Texa s Panhandle ) . TheWa lgreen ca shier in Ama rillo agreed tha t the pa l

”

wa s fla t a s in Pa lo Alto In conversa tion thegenera l effect is “pa lla -doo’ ro , w ith the o Of

“Pa lo”

breaking down into a mute a .

Pa loma r, Ca lif . (“Pigeon-house . Accent on

pa l .” Rhymes with sha llow b a r .

”

Pa lo Pin to, Tex. Web ster recommends pay .

But Bolton joins me in the conviction tha t the “

pa l

is pra ctica lly a lways fla t, in Texa s .


ro’bless ,” I prophesy tha t the fla t a of El Pa so and

the ana logy with “nobles” will preva il .

Passapa tanzy, Va . This rhymes with Gla ss upa pa nsy

”— which means , obviously, to transplant apansy into a greenhouse . The “gla ss” referred to ,incidenta lly, rhymes with

“

ga s .

”

Pa ss Ch ris tian , Miss . Nobody down there saysChristian” in the norma l way. Make it three syllables , with the a ccent on the an. French influence.

Patchogue, Long Island . Rhymes with “catchhog ( a ccents about equa l ) . There is

_

a differenceof opinion , just a s in

“hog , a s to whether it is “ ahg”

or“awg

”

; but Web ster’s long 0 is definitely wrong.

There is a Pa cha ug in Connecticut , pronounced muchthe same .

Paton , Iowa . Rhymes with Dayton .

Patzau, Wis . My Pa tzau correspondent makesit pa t

’

zoo .

” It seems unlikely to me , as an ob serverof trends , tha t this will preva il over

“

pa t’

zaw”— if

only because the la tter bea rs less resemblance to a

sneeze .

Paullina, Iowa . Evidently a slightly wa rpedspelling of Pa ulina , and a rela tive O f Pa uline . It ispronounced “

paw Lena .

”

Pavia, Pa . Stress the pay. Rhymes with Batavia .

Paxinos , Pa . Rhymes with Ja ck’s sinus , as inJack’ s sinus is troub ling him aga in .

”


Pecos , Tex. Close enough to the Mexican border to rhyme with “

s tay close” (hissing s ) Amongthe na tives

,the trend is towa rd peck” ra ther than

C‘pcek.

”

Peedee ( river , S. C . ) Like the initia ls P . D .

In North Ca rolina the same river is ca lled the Yadkin . For a self-respecting river, there would seem to

be little choice .

Pegram , Idaho . Rhymes with we scram .

Don ’t swa llow the a , the way some folks do in“

pro

gr ’m and“telegr

’

m . Or do they ?

Pejepscot, Ma ine . Rhymes with “the pep ’s hot.

Pekin , Ill . As with Canton and Berlin , Amer1ca ha s transferred the a ccent to the first syllab le“peek’ in .

”

Pem a quid , Ma ine . Rhymes with Emma did

Pem b ine, Wis . Rhymes with them whine

(“ I ’ll make them However , PembinaCounty, N . Dak . , follows the a ccented

“pem” witha Short “bin , and even , a ccording to Webster , m ay

top it offwith an “aw,

”a s do Oma ha andWaukesha .

Pena b la nca, N . Mex. (This is the postoflicespelling for this town nea r Santa Fe— why not

“San

ta fe ,” Mr. Fa rley — but my Ob server writes it Pei

'

ia

B la nca . ) Correctly, a s in“Wha t am I

pa in-

ya for ?” But commonly peen

’

ya . And willeventua lly, I expect , be

“penna or“

peena .

Penalosa , Kans . (Origina lly, Pefia Losa ,


sort of flagstone . ) Rhymes with Senna ? No ,

suh , a s the colored druggist replied when a sked ifhe would recommend senna for a tootha che .

Pen Argyl, Pa . Argyl rhymes with a cockneypronuncia tion o f Vergil

“va r

’ j ill .”

Pend Oreille ( county,Wa shington , bordering onCanada ) . Still French in genera l effect : “pon-daray ,

”rhyming with “on the way .

”

Penelope , Ill .’

and Tex . The b etter- informedresidents a ccent the “nell ,

”a s if the name rhymed

with “Then shell a pea .

” But a common renderingin Illinois is “penny-lope . Need I say

‘

tha t this i sfrowned on by the Woman

’s Club ?Pengilly, Minn . Ha rd g . Rhymes with when

silly.

”

Peniel, Tex . (B iblica l , but not the B ib lica l pronuncia tion . ) Rhymes with “

m en smile .Peos ta , Iowa . Rhymes with “we a b st’ a , a s in

this Boston conversa tion : “H ow O ld is she ?” “We

ab st’ a , but she wouldn’

t tell .Pepin ( lake , M innesota , and county, Wiscon

sin ) . Web ster says “peppin ,”but the residents like

Pepperell, Ma ss . In spite of the doub le l , theempha sis is on the “pep” ; and the middle e is a lmostSilent : “

pep’

rel .

Pequam ing , Mich . The a ccented a is aw a s

in “Chicago .

” “Pequaming” rhymes with “shechawm ing , a s in “Isn ’t she chawming !

H


Ph ilippi, W . Va . In spite o f the long i Of thecommon Bib lica l pronuncia tion , and in spite ofWeb

ster’

s empha sis on “lip

”

(ba sed , no doub t , on thedoub le p ) -my informa tion is tha t this rhymes withGrill a pea .

” AS if a boy named“Philip Should be

feeling “Philip-y .

” In Tennessee , Phillippy” does

the same thing.

Piasa, Ill . Another example of a first-syllab lea ccent with an

“aw

” ending ( see WAUKESHA ) .

Rhymes with “Buy a straw .

”

Pica bo , Idaho . Bolton says this is peek’ a -boo .

Anyway, the a ccent is on the“peek .

”

Pica cho , N . Mex . Close to the Mexican : peekah

’tcho .

”

Pierre, S. Dak. Peer . Only non-residents a ttempt to preserve the French pronuncia tion . Thesame with Sa n Pierre , Ind .

Pillager, Minn . Soft g. Same a s one who pillages .”

Pim a , Ariz . The i a s in police” :“pee’ ma

Pineola , N . C . Not like “Mineola” or even pianola ” :

“pine-O la , the with “fine .”

Piniele , Mont . Pie rhyming with “myheel .

”

Pinon , N . Mex . There should be a whozis overthe first n, but Uncle Jim Fa rley doesn

’ t a llow tha tany more than he does an apostrophe in things likeDobbs Ferry. However , the pronuncia tion i s Still


very hot tama le : pin yone , rhyming with intone .

Piqua , Kans . , Ohio . The fa stidious ( and Webster ) say the ordina ry , and

the brakemen,

“Pickaway . T O help prove it,there ’s a Pickaway, W . Va . , and a Pickaway Countyin Ohio . _

Pis ca taway , Md . Rhymes with (Don’t ) hiss

tha t-a -way.

” I suspect a rela tionship with the Pisca ta qua river , in New Hampshire , and Pisca ta quis

County, in Ma ine— both a ccented on the ca t.

”

Pla cer ( Ca lif . ) Also Pla cerville , Ca lif . and

Colo . All derive from pla cer mining, and rhyme theword with “p a sser” (Bostonians plea se note tha t Irefer to a fla t a ) . One of these Pla cervilles used tobe known a s H angtown , because of V igilante a ctivities .

Pla is tow , N . H . Pla s’ to , rhyming with Gla sgow .

”

Planada , C a lif . Not Spanish . Nothing to dowith Canada . Its name used to be Geneva , but therewere fifteen others , not counting Geneva -on-the

Lake , Ohio , so they changed it to a made-up name ,“ to be different from any other in the UnitedSta tes .” The middle a is fla t and a ccentedthe other two a ’ s

‘

a re nondescript .

Pla quemine , La . Persimmon . Web ster ’ sFrenchy version (

“pla ck is not confirmed byW . A . Read , who indica tes tha t the loca l pronuncia


tion is usua lly pla ck’ a -mun , rhyming with la ck

a gun.

”

Pla ttsmouth , Neb r . You’re outside New Eng

land now, so don’ t skimp : “mouth ,

” not “muth .

Plymouth . In spite of the American tendency topronounce a s spelled , this still follows its historica lShortcut : “plim’ muth .

Poinsett ( county , Arkansa s ) . I made a detourthrough here when U . S. 70 and U . S. 64 were bothunder six feet O f Mississippi flood-wa ters . It rhymeswith “

coin yet, a s in“I have a coin yet .

Pokegama , Minn . Rhymes with “NO leg , aha !

a s the detective cried when he found the torso in thetrunk. My Ob server says tha t Long-Distance genera lly gets the a ccent wrong . (See MEHAMA . )Pom pano , Fla . Accent on the “pomp ,

” the a being mute . Named a fter a ra re and expensive fish ,which ta stes much like other fish .

Pompe i i , Mich . A lady who hea rd a broadca stof mine wrote me tha t the na tives say

“pompey-eye .”

Most outsiders would rhyme it with Bombay” ( second syllab le a ccent ) .

Ponce de Leon , MO . Almost a s many versionsa s there a re residents . The Sp anish ha s a

“th

”in

there , while the Mexican cc is“say the e

’

s a re

sometimes long a , sometimes“co,

”and sometimes

( the first one ) Silent ; the O’

s a re either long or short.

Best usage , I understand , in Missouri involves theMexican “

say,”and a rhyme for “

B one , eh ? Kay


heard . For most of the residents , Victrola furnishesa sa tisfa ctory ana logy.

Poteca si, N C . Accent on kah . Rhymes withdotty posse .

Potosi, MO . Rhymes nea tly with Orosieven to the extent o f frequently drawling its “

see

out into a “suh ,

”by ana logy with M issouri.

Poughkeepsie , N . Y . This ha s been dra stica llyshortened , the

“keep” to kip ,”and the

“pough” to

a ba re closing of the lips : “puh kip’see .

”

Poulan , Ga . Sounds like Poland without thed . Evidently the long 0 sound of

“canteloupe .

Poulsb o , Wa sh . As Wea ry Willie , seeing somesma ll lakes in the distance , sa id to his fellow hobo ,“Pools , bO .

”

Poway , Ca li f. ( Indian . ) Three guesses .Rhymes with “Now try.

”

Powcan , Va . Evidently the India ns liked thesound of

“Pow !

”a s in Kra zy Ka t ca rtoons . This

rhymes with “cow ran .

”

Powha tan . Everywhere the pow rhymes withhow. And in most pla ces the a ccent is on the firstand third ; but in Ohio an a ccented ha t i s , a ccordingto my ob server , more common .

Pownal, Vt. Though this is British , not Indian ,the pow is the same a s in the preceding. The troub lehere is with the a ccent . A surprising numb er of tourists get it wrong . Even with his doub le l , Governor


Powna ll o f the colony o f Ma ssa chusetts accented the

pow, just a s we do today .

Pra gue, Okla . One syllable ; long a . Rhymeswith Sprague, plague, The H ague .

Prairie du Ch ien , Wis . The word for dog is

pronounced “ Sheen” her e ; the name rhymes withma rried a queen .

” An old pronuncia tion of pra irie” ( something like

“

pe-ra ir-a ” ) tha t wa s ridiculed

by Dickens in Am erica n No tes is pretty well out.

Prairie du Rocher, Ill . Though the é lite , I understand , approxima te the French , the youngerelement rhyme the whole thing with “ma rried a

poa cher.”

Preb le ( County, Ohio ) . Rhymes with pebb le

Presho , S. Dak . Sta rts out like “pressure .Then think of

“Presto .

Presque Is le . (“Almost an island . French

influence is still strong in northea stern Michigan ,where this rhym é s with

“desk mea l” the tradi

tiona l business-man ’ s lunch ) . In Ma ine , however ,the “

isle” rhymes with “mile .

Prevos t, Wa sh . (On Stua rt Island , nea r FridayHa rbor . ) Rhymes with

“free toa st .”

Primos , Pa . Just “Prime us .”

Protivin , Iowa. (A Czech name . ) Accent onthe “

pro”

(properly Rhymes with“bought a pin .

Pueb lo , Colo . A common mistake is to sta rt


out with Pew ! The first syllable i s poo-eh,pushed very close together .

Puente, Ca lif . Rhymes pretty a ccura tely withtwenty.

”It means “

bridge .”

Puget Sound (Wa shington ) . Here we have anempha tic “

Pew !” “Puget” rhymes with the English

pronuncia tion o f tempus fugit— like the first two syllables o f

“fugitive .”

Pula ski . In Indiana , Michigan , New York , andWeb ster , long i is indica ted . But in severa l othersta tes , and in Polish , the rhyme appea rs to be with“ few a sk me” or

“do a sk me” —the fl a tness o f the

a depending on the speaker ’s pretensions to cultchaw.

Punxsutawney , Pa .

‘Punk-SOO-taw’ ney .

” Af

rectiona tely known a s“Punksey .

”

_ Puposky , Minn . Appa rently to steer clea r ofpup ,

”this sta rts with “pew” :

“

pew pah’ skee .”

Purmela , Tex . Rhymes with “her squea l a , a s

in ,“When I stepped on her foot, I made her squea l

a bit.

Puya llup , Wa sh . ( Siwa sh for Snow River .Not

“

poo-

ya !”but pew Rhymes with “ few

ga llop .

”

Pyrites , N . Y . The approved rhyme for theminera l which strikes fire” i s With “my nighties .

”

And my informa tion is tha t most people in the NewYork town do it tha t way, though some rhyme thefirst syllab le with beer .


Qulin , MO . Cue , Lynn !” to rhyme with

pulin ’ ( considered to be the favorite indoor sportof infants ) .

Quogue, Long Island . Rhymes with neighboring Pa tchogue . Just “kwawg .

Ra cm e ,Wis . Properly, rhymes with ma chine ,but the brakeman says “

Ray seen ,”a s in “

H a s Rayseen my new book ?”

Rahway , N . J . Raw’

way , not rah .

Rainier . (The O ld dispute a s to the name o f themounta in ha s b een settled by making it MountTa coma in Ra inier Na tiona l Pa rk . ) A poll of onehundred Ta coma students a s to the a ccent in Ra inier

( on which authorities disagree ) revea led tha t a

sma ll ma j ority favored the la st syllab le : “ray-neer’

Ra leigh . As in Rahway , the aw” pronuncia tion

is preferred to the “ah ,

”in North Ca rolina and

neighboring sta tes , though the British tend to say,

quite fla tly ,“ ra lly — a s those who saw the play,

Journey’ s End ,”m ay rememb er . It rhymes , there

fore , with“Crawley ,

” except in North Dakota ,where “Polly gets the ca ll .

Ram ah , Colo . ( B ib lica l , a high pla ce . Nea rPike ’ s Peak . ) Rhymes with blame a (

“ I wouldn ’ tblam e a fellow .

Ramon , N . Mex. See RATON .

Randa do , Tex. ( In Jim Hogg County, about1 5 7


thirty miles from the Mexican border . ) Keeps theMexican “

dah”:“ran dah

’ do .

”

Ra ph ine, Va . (Derived, b elieve it or not , fromthe needle o f a sewing ma chine . ) The a is long,illustra ting the same trend a s in Ra cine . It ’ s “

ray

rhyming with stay clea n.

Rasar, Tenn .

“Ra zor” represents it.

Raton , N . Mex . Like Ramon,

rhymes with a lone . Simila rly B oca Ra ton, Fla . ,

which means “mouth of a mouse,

” rhymes with“Poke a Ma lone .”

Raub , Ind . German influence gone . Rhymeswith “

daub”

Rauch town , Pa . (This German-English“

comb ina tion implies tha t the town is smoky . ) The guttura l “ch is gone and the German [a n] ( a s in“out is going . People ca ll it “Rock-town .

” Mayb ethey would do well to change it to tha t ; there aren

’ tany others .

Raval li, Mont . Rhymes , properly, with a

ra lly ,”but there is an unfortuna te trend , among the

inhabitants , towa rd“Ray Va lley.

”

Ravenna, Neb r . , Ohio . Short e , a ccented , a s isto be expected from the double consonant . Rhymeswith “ a henna (

“a henna shade would be

In contra st , Ravena , N . Y . , rhymes with Ga lena .

Rea , Pa . The pronuncia tion is “Ray ,”a ccording

to the superintendent of schools , Mr. Ray Beam.


Reiff, Ca lif . German is out. This is reef .

Reinb eck , Iowa . Unlike H ols tein thiskeeps the German c i. Rhymes with “

fine neck.

”

Reinersville, Ohio . Why can ’t we make up our

minds ? This “ rein” rhymes with “ clean” —andmeans clean ,

” by the way .

Reinerton , Pa . And here ’ s "

a reiner tha trhymes with “finer . Ach da lieber !

Reis ters town , Md . Here ’ s a German c i. Thereis” is “rice .”

Renan , W . Va . The cultured prefer the secondsyllab le a ccent a s in French ; but a lmost everybodysays “ree’ nan .

”

Renick , Mo . Quanda ry here . The only honestrhyme I know for “ rennick” is scenic— and

“ sennick” i s not the pronuncia tion approved by Mr .Webster . So with ( or without ) your kind permission :

A caterer fed chicken saladT o the Y . M . H . A . out in Renick ,T ill one of them hollered “

It’

s pork !”

And they a ll rushed for home in a pennick.

Renssela er, N . Y . Ha rd to spell— and pronun

cia tion disputed . The R. P . I . cheers ca ll for an

a ccented “ leer ,”but the dictiona ries a re unanimously

in favor o f a rhyme for penciler ( one who pencils ) .

Represa , Ca lif . (“Retention or stoppage” ; i.e . ,

The Spanish e ’s have been lost ; this is nowrepress a , a s in “ repress a Sig


Reseda , Ca lif . Here aga in, the Spanish ha s lostout . Rhyme this with “We feed a ( lot of people )Rheims , N . Y . Don’ t get Ga llic and try to rhyme

this with pa nts or Fra nce . It ’ s “reem z .

”

Rhodh iss , N . C .

“Roa d hiss” ; i.e . , the specia l

hiss used hab itua lly by the ga rter snake when crossing the road .

Rico , Colo . Ree’ ko , a s in Puerto Rico .

Riedel, Mont . German ie gives us a rhyme forneedle

,though the long i is hea rd , out there , among

those whose Kultur is defective . Hitler should dosomething about this .

Riegelsville , N . J . Aga in , the German ie . The

first two syllab les are truly “rega l .

Rienzi, Miss . Though the dictiona ries recommend “ ree” for the first syllable Of this Romansta tesman ’s name , the loca l folk rhyme it with

“highfrenzy.

”

Riesel, Tex . Though some favor the long i, thegrowing popula rity o f the D iesel engine is more andmore a ttra cting Riesel into willing rhyme with it .But I confess it will a lso rhyme with wea sel .

Rieth , Oreg . Our percentage Of German ie’s

(pronounced cc continues gra tifyingly high .

This i s “wrea th .

”

Riffe , Wa sh . Pronounced rife” ( long i ) . Can

it have been a pa thetic a ttempt to spell the Germanname , Reijf


Rillito , Ariz . Only about eighty miles from theborder , and still very chili-con-ca rne : “ ree eet’ O .

”

Rina rd , Iowa . Rhymes with “wine ca rd , an in

dica tion tha t it is closer to the German Reinha rdtthan to the French Rena rd .

Rio . Though Webster records no Ri o with a

long i, I find one in Illino is and another in M ississippi tha t regula rly rhyme with Ohio . Also a RioCreek, Wis . , tha t rhymes with Ohio trick.

”

Rio Dell, Ca li f . Usua lly ree’ O .

”

Rio Frio , Tex . Both appea r frequently in va riouscomb ina tions in the southwest , and usua lly rhymewith ea ch other “ rec ’o free’o .

”

Rio Gra nde ( river ) . Say ree-o down there .And you will hea r

“grand ,”though a rhyme for

ca ndy brings you closer to the Mexican withoutsounding a ffected , and is therefore preferab le .

Rio H ondo, Tex . Yes ,

Rio Linda , Ca lif . Pretty fa r north ( Sa cramentoCounty ) but still

Rionido , Ca lif. North o f San Francisco— butrec ’o uced’ o .

”

Rio O so , Ca lif . Fa rthest north yet— and stillree

’

o .

” But “ strangers , unless Spanish , do use thelong i, occa sioning mild distress in Rio O so .

Rio Vis ta , Ca lif . Still hundreds of miles fromMexico— but it

’

s (This b egins to soundlike a pep-ta lk for a certa in automob ile . )


Rochford , S. Dak. Aga in , rotch .

”

Rocia da , N . Mex. Though locked away in thehills north-ea st o f Santa Fe , which is 3 5 0 miles fromthe border, this stays Mexican in sound :

“rO see

ah’da .

”

Rodeo , N . Mex . Accent the first syllab le . Byana logy perhaps with “ radio .

Ronceverte , W . Va . Rhymes with Don’s a

fl irt ,” except tha t you should hiss the s sound .

Roosevelt .‘Most communities of this name know

tha t “rose” is right ; but“rooze

”is still very com

mon . Two o f my observers , representing presumab lythe litera ti, seemed to pride themselves on saying“t ooze” while confessing tha t most of the na tivesmade it “

rose . One town took pa rticula r pa ins tomention tha t it wa s named a fter T . R. , not F. D . R .

Roseau , Minn . First-syllable a ccent . Rhymeswith “

bozo .

Rosenhayn , N . J . Rhymes with frozen lane

Roseto , Pa . While strangers tend, j ocula rly ornot , to say

“ rosy toe ,”

and Web ster mentions to

zeet’ O ,” the na tives appea r to

’

prefer“ro sett’ o .

Rosholt , S. Dak . ,Wis . If your name were “RossHolt,

”and you empha sized the Ross , you would feel

a t home in either pla ce ; but a common va ria tion inWisconsin is first short

,second long.

Rosiere, N . Y . (Named a fter a French village . )Rose-ea r” ( a ccents about equa l ) .


Rouba ix , S. Dak . Still fa ithful to its French descent : rhymes with You m ay

”and

“toupee .”

Roub idoux , MO . Pretty Pa risian still . It constitutes an ungramma tica l answer to the question ,“Which one of you girls does laundry ?” “

Ruby

do !”

Rousseau, Ky . , Mich . Trousseau is now usu

ally a ccented on the first syllab le , and so is this .Both rhyme with “Crusoe .”

Routon , Tenn . This ha s an out. Rhymes9 ”roughly with “

shoutin

Rowena , S. Dak . Rhymes with Oh Lena ! a s

in Iva nhoe .

Ruidosa , Tex . Noisy woman . The only misprint I have found in the 193 7 Posta l Guide madeit mean noisy Right on the river . Rhymeswith “Louie ? No , suh .

Rus s ia , Ohio . I understand tha t these kindlyfolk ca ll it It is not recommended foroutsiders .

Rutherford , N . J . Rhymes with Mother

hea rdfi’

Ruthven , Iowa . Rhymes with (Tell the ) truth,men .

”

Sa b ina l, N . Mex. H a s a Mexican ring to i t ;rhymes with “

grabb in’ Al .”

Sa b ine (La . and Tex . ) Rhymes with“ma chine .

Sa b ot, Va . Could be ma de to rhyme with “rab

bit a t lea st , tha t’ s the genera l idea .

Sabula, Iowa . The middle syllab le , a ccented ,rhymes either with “

few”

or“too about evenly

divided .

‘

Sacandaga, N . Y . Accented syllab le is daw

a s in Onondaga : sa ck and daw'

ga.

”

Sa caton , Ariz . (Pretty well Off the b ea ten tra ck ,up in the Sa ca ton Mounta ins nea r Phoenix. )Rhymes with “

Cra ck a bone .”

Saco , Ma ine The tra ditiona l Down Ea st pronuncia tion i s “ saw’ co .

” Out in Montana , however ,it’ s “say

'co .

”

Sa cul, Tex . Rhymes with ca ckle .

Sa ff a ra s , Ind . The a ccent is on the sa ff (fla ta ) . Rhymes with “

ha lf fer us” (“Ha lf for you and

ha lf fer

Sa gapona ck, N . Y . Where the ground nuts


Sa int Ma ries , Idaho . As if i t were Mary’s . In

cidenta lly , Web ster ha s discovered tha t Americansno longer use a long a in M a ry or va ry or wa ry.

Sa la do , Tex. This is three hundred miles nea rlydue north O f the Mexican border— and Shows it.

Not content with sub stituting “lay

”for the Spanish

“lah

” in the a ccented syllab le , these people even sta rtwith Say l”

Sa lida , Colo . (Over feet high . ) TheSpanish “ lee” i s gone , but both a

’

s a re still mute .A fa ir rhyme is “

applied a ,”

a s in “We applied a

beef-steak to her eye .”

Sa lina , Kans . , Okla . Rhymes with a D inah .

Sa lina s , Ca li f . (“Sa lt ma rshes ”

) Mexican influence distinguishes this from the above . Hiss thes o f

“a rena s” and you have a rhyme for Sa lina s .”

Sa line ( in a numb er of midwestern sta tes ) . LikeSa bine and Ra cine , this rhymes correctly with ma

chine . But brakemen in full cry cannot be trustedwith tha t mute a . ( See RACINE . )Sa lineville , Ohio . For the a ccented syllable ,leen” is preferred, but

“line ‘

( long i ) is very common .

Sa lkum, Wa sh . Neither ta lcum nor wa lkfurnishes the ana logy here . The sound appea rs tobe “

Sol come ,”a s in “When will Sol come ?”

Sa luda ( river , S. C . ) The a ccented syllab le is

(This is strictly for the informa tion of those


announcers who,following Webster , still say a l

yooring”and sa l

Sa lvisa , Ky . Long i, a ccented . Rhymes withGa l , slice a (piece of ba loney, or

Samos , Mo ., Va . Much like its Greek ancestor ,

this rhymes pretty well with famous .”

San Antonio , Tex . and N . Mex . Affectiona telyknown a s

“San An And a s is the ca se with

most nicknames , residents seem a little puzzled and

a little hurt when some a iry stranger takes libertieswith it .

San Dieguito, Ca li f . Sa int Little-James , orca ll it The first two syllab les a re the

initia ls “D .A . run close together . Then the restof i t, guito , rhymes with m osqui to :

“D .A . Gee’

to”

(ha rd g ) .

Sandusky , Ohio . Accent the dusk . Rhymeswith “Is the m an husky ?”

San Fidel, N . Mex . Rhymes with We tell

(proud motto of the Ca sanova Soci ety ) .

San Fran cisco , Ca lif . Two things you must notdo in San Francisco : say Frisco ,

”or mention the

I mean , it wa s a Fire . In the words of an infuria tedna tive , to make use O f the famous nickname is “acrude , vulga r , and unwa rranted familia rity . Inother words , they don

’ t ca re for it.

San Ja cin to , Ca lif . , Tex . The j is“ j

,

” the c i s“s .” Rhymes with “Dan ’ s a pinto . But Nevada


reports Mexican influence— “h” for j ( see LA J OLLA ,

which is less than seventy-five miles south of Ca lifornia

’

s San Ja cinto )San Joa quin , Ca li f . Some puzzle fans went

a stray when Joa quin M iller appea red in the OldGold contest , a s they were not awa re tha t “

wah

an approxima tion o f the Spanish , wa s standa rd .

San Jose, Ca lif . The guttura l j O f the Spanishis not used in the Western Hemisphere ; just h.

“H O

say’ with a hiss , is preferred to the ha rd z sound .

San Luis Ob ispo , Ca lif. AS spelled : “LewisO-biss’ pO .

”

San Ma rcos , Tex . Not the possessive , Ma r

co’

s .

” The s is hissed . Almost “Ma rcus .”

San Ma teo , Ca lif . , N . Mex. Rhymes with a

tray, Joe l”

,

San Miguel, Ca lif . , Colo . As in introducing a

lady : “ (Meet ) me gel”

(“my girl ,

” to you ) .

Sano , Ky . The report is tha t this is just tha tinva luab le advice to girls ,

“SayN But I wouldn’ t

write any life-insurance on tha t second-syllable a c

cent . Recessive Accent is a t work , and any day now

the slogan m ay b ecome“Say no . Which is va stly

inferior from an ethica l point o f view.

San Pedro , Ca lif .“Pee”, i s now preferred to

the Mexican “

pay.

”

San Pierre, Ind . See P IERRE .


name ( tha t O f Loyola ) seems to have b een popula rwith the pioneers . My highway m ap shows two

( spelled Ig in New Mexico , one nea r Santa Rosa ,the other nea r Albuquerque .

San Y sidro , Ca lif . ( Sa int Isidore , fa rmer , usedto get two angels to do his ploughing for him so tha the could spend more time in prayer . ) Also spelledIsidro pronounced “

cc seed’row, to rhyme with

We need snow .

”

Sapeloe, Ga . (The island north Of Da rien isspelled without the concluding e . ) Web ster a ccentsthe “pee ,

” for the island , while my Observer wouldrhyme the town with “ slap a foe .

” Mayb e they’ llcompromise on the sap . In the meantime , take yourchoice , b ecause usage va ries .

Sa pulpa, Okla . Rhymes with a gulp o’

Sa ticoy , Ca l i f. As in There sa t at coy younglady) ’

Satus , Wa sh . Suggested epitaph

We were a young couple from Sa tusWho entered the ma rital sta tus .We ’d spent a whole weekOn Klickita t Peak

When up came a grizz ly and a te us .

Sa ugerties , N . Y . (Dutch for a sawyer ’s .”

There is still a “Saw Creek” in the vicinity . ) Ac

cent ou the “saw rhymes with “logger sees .


Sa ugus , Ma ss . Also Sa uk .Center , Minn . , and

Sa uk County, Wisconsin . All aw.

”

Sault Sa inte Ma rie , Mich . The ra ilroad name ,The 5 0 0 Line ,

” derives of course from “Sault ,

”and

illustra tes the a ctua l pronuncia tion . Sa inte is just“Sa int” and M a ri e just “Ma rie ,

” the girl ’ s namem a

Saunem in , Ill . Rhymes with pawn ’em in ( apawn

Sa usa lito, Ca lif . Rhymes quite decently withraw mosquito . ( I swa llowed one , a ccidenta lly ofcourse . )

Sa vedge , Va . Like Savage ,” “

sav rhymingwith “have ,

” for which , a ccording to Webster , thereis no rhyme

Sawa tch (mounta ins , Colorado ) . Rhymes witha ma tch .

” May be spelled Sagua che but still pronounced a s above , a s i f the g were a w.

Scha b erg, Ark . The a ccented first syllab le i s likethe one-hoss “ shay .

Scha gh ticoke, N . Y . There ’ s one for your spelldown .

“Ska tty

-coke ,” rhyming with “

ca tty j oke .”

Sch enec ta dy , N . Y . Most radio fans have a lrea dy hea rd this powerful sta tion , WOY , and knowtha t the “

sch”is a s in

“school ,”and tha t the name

rhymes with Ben wrecked a bee .

”

Schenevus , N. Y . Still in the Dutch sphere of


influence , SO sk The name rhymes with a grievous

”

(“a grievous

Schenley , Pa . German , not Dutch : shen’ lee

Sch leswig , Iowa . Anglicize to “sless’ wig.

Sch ley , Ga . , Minn . , Va . According to Web ster,the rea r-admira l for whom these towns were namedca lled himself “

Sly” wherea s Georgia makes it

“Shly. And so does my Observer , a school-tea cher ,in Minnesota , but he goes on to say tha t

“ sly” is themore common . Virginia insists on sly. Anyway,a ll rhyme with fly.

Schoda ck Landing, N . Y . Any town in NewYork sta te tha t b egins With sch i s pronounced “

sk.

”

( See SCHULENBURG . ) This rhymes with Kodak

( advt )

Schoeneck , Pa . Ba ck to the German a rea . Thisis rhyming with “pennick” ( see RE

NICK ) .

Schoha rie, N . Y . Dutch country aga in ; so sk.

Rhymes with “GO m a rry !

”

Sch olle , N . Mex. As if you were to say tha tthe old lady in the bonnet and Shawl wa s very “

bon

nety and shawly.

”

Schroeder. As usua l , the umlaut causes trouble .In Texa s this i s “ shray

’

der, rhyming with“ trader” ;

in Minnesota it is still “sh , but it rhymes with“ loader .”

Schroon Lake, N . Y . Of course, sk ( see


Scioto ( county, Ohio ) . Also Sciotoville , Ohio ,Scio to M ills , Ill . , and Scio ta , Pa . In a ll of these , thec is silent and the i long ; sta rt with a

“ Sigh .

” All” ;

rhyme about equa lly well with my photo (graph ) .

Bea r in mind tha t the second 0 Of Scio to is not unlikea mute a— which is exa ctly the ca se in pho tograph .

Scipio ,Okla . (Also Scipio Center , N . Y . ) The

c is silent a s in “ science” and“ scissors .” ( In fa ct , a s

C . A . Lloyd points out in Spea k English in Englishc is a lmost a lways silent a fter s . ) Accent the

“Sip

”

Scircleville, Ind . Forget tha t first 5 , thoughScircle” wa s , they say, the name of the first settler .Just “C ircleville .”

Scitua te , Ma ss . Blot out the c , a s if i t weresitua te . Long a

,a s in the verb .

Scollay ( squa re , in Boston ) . Usua lly ca lledScully.

”

Scriba , N . Y . Just scribe a , a s in Describ e acircle .”

Seattle, Wa sh . Accent the a t. I f you stressthe first syllab le , it usua lly stamps you a s a non-resident Or foreigner . Incidenta lly, there is a Suia ttle

river ba ck in the C a scade Mounta ins , nea rfoot Gla cier Peak .

Sebago Lake , Ma ine . Rhymes With “ the dago .

Seb oeis s , Ma ine . Rhymes with “free Lois .

”

Seb oyeta , N . Mex . (Cebolleta is Spanish for


“ tender Still Mexican-like . Rhymes withPray go get a (horse or something ) .

Seco . (“Dry. The long “

cc” is seldom heard

in the southwest . But socko” i s more common thanthe Spanish “

say’ co ,

” on our Side of the Big River .

( See PECOS . )Sedan , Kans . , Minn . , Nebr . , N . Mex . Though

brakemen and other outsiders sometimes a ccent thefirst syllab le , the na tives prefer the la st . Rhyme itwith “ the m a n.

”

Seguin , Tex . This genera lly rhymes withKeega n, but the approved pronuncia tion rhymes with“ the queen

” “se

“The queen” ha sn’ t a

chance .

Seigler Springs , Ca lif. This is unfortuna te . Thename wa s origina lly, no doubt, Siegler or Ziegler,and is still pronounced “ see .” But when the ie wa schanged to ci, confusion b ecame worse confounded .

Perhaps the only solution to the problem is to spellthe name , frankly,

“Seegler .

Seitz, Ky .

“Si tes ,

” rhym ing with fights .Nea rly the same a s i t would be pronounced in Germany.

Sej i ta , Tex . Another in tha t very Mexican county

( see REALITOS ) . This i s “say ea t

’a,

”a s in “

Say;

ea t a mango some day .

”

Sekiu ,Wa sh . U se the initia ls C . Q . , a ccentingthe first . Reminiscent of the Old “C . Q . D . (

“Comequick,


Selz , N . Dak. The German tz ha s been lost .This is “ sells ,

”a s in Sells-Floto .

Sena th , Mo . In ordina ry use , sounds much likezenith ,

” only you hiss instead of buzz .

Senia , N . C .

“Who wa s tha t lady I seen ya

with la st night ?”

Sequim, Wa sh . Pra ctica lly a monosyllablesquim .

”

Sera hna , N . Mex . Sera i s Sa rah , and fina

rhymes with “Lena .

”

Sevier, Utah . (Also county in Arkansa s and

Tennessee . ) Just severe .”

Sewanee, Tenn . The traditiona l Swanee

( rhyming with“brawny represents this fa irly

well ; the first e is b a rely hea rd .

Sewa ren , N . J . Accent in the middle : See

Wa rren.

”

Seym our , Conn . , Ind . , Iowa , Tex . See more .

Shamokin , Pa . As Joe Penner put it,

“Sha

mokin ’ in bed i s sometimes dangerous .” It rhymeswith “

awoken” ( Ob solete ) .

Shangha i, Va . First-syllable a ccent is wrong forChina , but right for Virginia : a s in“She a shed me to shing high , sho I sha ng high .

”

Sha niko , Oreg. Think o f“ca lico ,

” only sta rtwith shan” ( a s in sha nty ) instead o f

“ca l .

”

Shawangunk (mounta ins , N Y . ) Believe it ornot , rhymes with s trong rum

” “ shong’ gum .

”


equipment comes apa rt and pricks him : Boo hoo ,

pin !

Sidell, Ill . Rhymes With my bell .

Sieper, La . German ie ( see RIETH ) . RhymesWith “peeper .”

Sigel, Ill . , Pa . (Probably from German Siegel ,though the CivilWa r genera l a lso spelled it Sigel . )The genera l rhymed it with lega l ,

”and so do the

Pennsylvanians ; but in Illinois it usua lly goes with“wriggle .”

Siletz, Oreg . Accent letz . Rhymes with Gil

lette ’s .

Sim i, Ca lif . As in Come up and see me , sometime ,

” most of the time .

_ Singac , N . J . Sin’

gack, rhyming with Grin,

Ja ck .

”

Sioux City , Iowa . Sioux and Sault both become “

80 0”in Americanese .

Sisseton , S. Dak. Ha rd to live this name down ;i t’s “ sissy-tun .

Ska git ( county, Wa shington ) DiscountingWebster ’ s ha rd g , Thorp , recording usage , wouldrhyme this with ga dget. Puget forms a sort Ofana logy.

Skamania ( county,Wa shington ) . Just put sk

before “a mania .

”

Skamokawa, Wa sh . Accent mock and mute


a ll the a ’

s— unless you want tO/rhym e it with Rockaway.

”

Skaneateles , N . Y . Rhymes Wi th Lanny sa t

a bus”

( the it sound very inconspicuous , of coursesee EDISTO ) But, O ff the record , it

’

s“ skinny a tla s .

Bolton reports tha t a druggist there uses “Scan the

a tla s” a s a slogan , thus empha s iz ing the fa ct tha tthere ’s “only one Skanea teles , perish the thought .

Searcy , Ark . Rhymes with “mercy.

Ska nee , Mich . (Named for a section O f

Sweden . ) Most people americanize i t to rhyme withBlaney.

Skowhegan , M a ine . Rhymes with Now Ré

ga n l”

Skykomish , Wa sh . As spelled , with the accenton the ko .

” This -Om ish” motif wa s appa rently

in a lmost constant use among the Indians Of Wa shington . There ’s a Mount Skokom ish, a cross theSound from Snohom ish and the Skykom ish river .

Sleith , W . Va . Rhymes with “wrea th” and

Keith .

”

Slidel l, La . Lowell evidently thought o f this a sa ccented on the first syllab le ( see his M a son a nd

Slidell : A Ya nkee Idyl But the South certa inly layssome stress on tha t dell .” Rhyme it with “drywell .

”

(See SIDELL . )S ligo , Colo . , La . Rhymes with Why go ?

”

Sm a ckover, Ark. Pronounce a s spelled , empha


s izing the sm a ck. But it wa s origina lly CheminConvert covered

Snedekerville,Pa . Snedeker rhymes with

wed a cur ,”

a s in “ I will never wed a cur”

( theempha sis in the sentence seems somehow to strike afa lse , if not immora l , note , but a t any ra te it indicates

!

the correct a ccent ) .

Snohom ish , Wa sh . ( See SKYKOMISH . ) Rhymeswith the way Greta Ga rbo used to feel : gO

-ho

mish . Accent on “ho .

”

Snoqualm ie, Wa sh . Rhymes with an Indianchild ’s request : Show doll me .”

Sob ieski,Wis . (Named a fter a king O f Poland . )In Wisconsin , no whisky

”is a good rhyme

Socorro , N . Mex. (Rises stolidly out of a dustydesert ; site o f an old mission . ) The a ccented syllab le i s “core , a s in apple .

Solano ( county, C a lif . ) Though this is in theSan Francisco a rea , i t keeps the Mexican vowe lsSO lah’ no .

” But , in Minnesota , Sola na i s“lay,

”

even in the best circles .

Soleda d , Ca lif . (“Lonesom etown . Starts out

like “ solitude” (which it means ) and ends with‘Cdad .

”

Soleduc ( river , Wa shington ) . This , and SolducHot Springs , a t the northwest corner of MountOlympus pa rk , a re pronounced about a like , in two


pilla r of the Methodist Church . ) Rhymes withWhy tell ?”

Spivak , Colo . Usua lly rhymes with ( Is ) she

back ?”

Spokane, Wa sh . Rhymes with no fa n.

Spurger, Tex . Ha rd g . Rhymes with Burger

Spuyten Duyvil (N . Y . ) The uy” of “

buy .

rhymes with “fightin

’

riva l .

Squaxon ( island , tribe , Wa shington ) . Websterrhymes this with K laxon, but Thorp makes it“squawks an a s in

“Tha t pa rrot squawks an awfullot .” An honest difference O f opinion , here , a s toma jority usage , with the probab ilities favoring thefla t

“ax.

”

Stambaugh , Mich . Ob server writes : We pronounce it

‘stam-bo’ while outsiders say

‘Stam

baugh .

’ Which seems to cover a ll possible m ispronuncia tions .

Stanis la us (Ca li f . ) Derives from the Spanishname , Es ta nis la o , of a river in the region . The approved pronuncia tion is still very close to tha t : “ staniss lou’” ( rhyming with

“fan this

Staten Is land (N . Y . ) Rhymes with Manha t

tan . Probab ly does not derive from the immigrant ’s question

,

“ Iss da t an i sland ?” There ’s a

Sta ten in Georgia which , unfortuna tely , rhymes withSa tan .

”


Sta uffer, Oreg. Rhymes w ith cough-erwho coughs ) .

Sta un ton . In Virginia , just like Stanton (fla ta ) . In Illinois and Indiana ,

“ staunt” rhymes with“daunt

Stead , N . Mex. Rhymes with bea d .

Steger, Ill . (Chicago H eights . ) German influence still , in the vowel , though the sh

”ha s been

lost . Rhym e it with “vaguer” (“more

Stehekin , Wa sh . Accent in the middle . RhymesWith “

she

Steila coom, Wa sh . Still’ a-kum , rhyming withK ill a bum .

”

Steina uer, Nebr . The cc sound O f German ieseems to be ea sier to keep than the long i sound of

German ci ( see RIETH ) Anyway,“the correct

pronuncia tion , which is used by a few here ,” rhymes

with “

fine bower” —but the most common one is a

rhyme for “keener Perhaps there is reflected herethe average American ’ s enormous opposition to thelong i sound in “ either” and

“neither . ”

Ste iner, Tex. To pa raphra se , slightly, a qua

tra in ( if I m ay say so ) sent in by my Ob server

We live in a village called Steiner.

We honestly Wish it were finer .

At least, it could hardly be cleaner

This place that is sometim es called Steener.

Obviously, the ci of German s tein i s preferred .


Stephan , S. Dak . Supposed to be a ccented on

the second syllab le , this is usua lly rhymed withdeafen. Don ’t be surprised if it comes to be pronounced , or even spelled,

“Steven .

”

Steub en , Ind . , Ma ine , N . Y . For no perceptib lerea son , a ll a ccent it like the first two syllables of“ stupendous .” Its German ance

’

stor is pronouncedshtoy

’ben .

” However , Steubenville , O . , a ccents thestoo ( and not

“stiu,

” plea se )

Stillaguam ish ( river , Wa shington , crossed bythe Pa cific Highway north of Everett ) : Can be il

lustra ted by this conversa tion , following a mild a t

ta ck O f sea sickness : “Have you still a qua lm or

two ?” “Well , I

’m still a -

qua lm-ish .

” Only changethe q sound to a g .

Stirum , N . Dak . As in Tha t speech will s tir’um up .

”

S tonega, Va . Same vowels a s Topeka . Em

pha size the“knee .

Stouchsburg , Pa . The mystery i s ea sily expla ined : this wa s “

Stauch ’ s b'

urg,”completely Teu

tonic , with the on o f ouch and the guttura l ch . Now

i t is usua lly Stou’

s burg” ( the first syllab le rhymingwith cows ) but a trend towa rd

“Stouksburg

”is evi

dent. The brakeman cuts the Gordian knot withStarch-burg.

”

Stough ton , Ma ss . , Wis . Always sto’tun .

Why doesn’t this give a s much troub le a s H oughton ?


seeing any O f Bob Burn ’s amaz ing uncles , or evenGrandpa Sna zzy .

Succa sunna, N . J. Accent on first and thirdsuck-a -sunna .

”

Suisun , Ca lif . ( Spanish spelling of an Indianvillage ; origina lly had an a ccent ma rk on the sun. )Webster would rhyme this with “Louie croon

(“You should hea r Louie croon l” ) but my ca rd says

tha t “ 3 0 0 rhyming with b lue m oon,”is the

loca l p ronuncia tion .

Sum erduck , Va . This is summer duck , asdistinguished from winter duck .

” The postma rkon my ca rd from there spells it with a doub le m , too ,wherea s the Officia l Posta l Guide prints i t a t lea stthree times with only one .

Sunol, Neb r . Taken from the word sunola ,

this still a ccents the o . Rhymes with “unroll .”

Svea, Minn . The upper crust likesBut the rest O f the popula tion , more completelySwedish perhaps , ca ll it

“svay

’

a”a s in this Jewish in

vita tion-to-dance : “Vill you svay a vile vith me , mydea r ?”

Sybia l , Va . This wa s named for the postm a st

er’ s daughter, Sybol ; but the Depa rtment in its inscrutable Wisdom , changed the spelling to Sybia l .The obedient litera ti try to make three syllab les ofi t, but everybody else rhymes it with

“nibb le”( just

the same .


Sylacauga , Ala . A common , though somewha tlowbrow , version rhymes with

“Kill a froggy.

” Theb etter element a lso a ccent the “

caw, but end witha mute a .

Sylva rena, Miss . Syl i s sill , and va renarhymes with “

a rena .

Syra cuse, N . Y . Rhymes with sheer abuse ,a ccent on the first syllab le preferred . But the university finds it cheers better on the la st . Even “Will

I”yums does this on occa sion .

Ta bem a sh , Colo . A merger b etween tabernacle” and

“haberda sh .

Tabiona , Utah . As the lady excla imed when shefound tha t her ca t wa s out singing duets with thesame gentleman friend every night : (Does ) Tabbyown a (Tom-ca t )

Taconite, M inn . Rhymes with B a ck a mite !”

Tah lequa h , Okla . Though “Sa lly Squaw would

rhyme with a pronuncia tion frequently hea rd , the approved version rhymes with “

H olly , Ma !”

Tahoe ( lake , Ca lifornia ) . The melodious tah’

ho of the Indians (meaning, probab ly,“deep and

blue” ) ha s been la rgely kept, and Should be .

Tahuya ,Wa sh . RhymesWith ( I’ll ) ca noe ya .

(Yes , it can be a transitive verb . )

Ta iban , N . Mex . Tie’ ban , rhyming withMy m an .

”

Ta lia ferro (Georgia ) . Still Tolliver or Tulliver ,

”but m ay succumb to our cra ze for pronounc

ing a s spelled— unless the radio saves it. Just a s1 90


pletely abandoned the aw for the logica l long a

( rhyme with A letter from Forsyth,while recognizing the prob ability tha t the former iscorrect, insists tha t everybody now uses the long a .

Tangipahoa , La . (By deriva tion , m ay have hadsomething to do with corn-on-the-cob ; but the pa rishis now the strawberry center of the South . ) T an

je-pa

T a opi, Minn . Some pra ctica l j okers make thistwo syllables , like

“dopy another pra ctica l j oker ,the brakeman , puts

“

pic on the end . - But the moresober element rhyme it with “ stay soapy.

”

Ta os , N . Mex . Rea lly two syllab les ; but to allintents and purposes rhymes With louse ( house wa smy first choice , but then I should have had to explaintha t I meant the noun , no t the verb )

Tarkio , MO . Rhymes with (Where did )Pa rky go ?

”a s in an Al Jolson broadca st .

T a toosh ,Wa sh . ( Island Off Cape Fla ttery ; re

puted to have the heaviest ra infa ll in the U . S. )Ta ck an

“sh

” on

T augha nnock Fa lls ( 21 5 foot ca scade , nea rItha ca , N . Y . )

“T aw gan

’

uk, rhyming with “raw

b annock ,” which , a s everyone knows , is a Scotch

pancake . It is b elieved by competent authorities to

be the same Indian word represented by Ta conic

and , previously , by Taghka nic .

T aunton ,Ma ss . It i s hopeless for any but Down


Ea sters to render B a th or H a rva rd or Ta unton theway the na tives do . Ta unton nea rly rhymes withSta unton, Va . I t is nea rer “ tahn” than “ tawn .

”

T ava res , Fla . Rhymes quite a dequa tely withthe berries .

Ta zewell, Va . (Also county in Illinois . ) Traditiona lly, rhymes with Caswell (

“a s

”a s in a s ) .

But “ tra ditiona lly” doesn’ t mean “ forever” in spelling-conscious America .

T choupitoula s , La . (Also street in New Or

leans . )“Chop a too

’

las ,”

rhyming with “Stop a

shoe-less (person ) . Professor Rea d delica tely dismisses the “

chap” pronuncia tion by saying tha t tha tis hea rd only in a section Of New Orleans known asthe “ Irish Channel .”

T eanaway ( river , nea r Cle Elum , Wa shington ) .

Rhymes with she ran away.

”

T eha chapi, Ca lif . Rhymes with the hot-chatree ,

” though I never hea rd of one .

Tehama , Ca l i f. Empha size the hay . ( SeeTEKAMAH . )

Tehua cana , Tex . Accent on wock . Rhymeswith “We rock on a ( rocking The Mexican-sounding “

tay”a dvoca ted by Webster is losing

out,chiefly b ecause Mexico is so fa r away. Mexia

is , however , Tehua cana’ s next-door neighbor .

T eigen , Mont . Rhymes with pagan .


T ekam ah , Ncbr. Rhymes with Be gay, Ma !

( See MEHAMA . )

Tellico , N . C .

A young fellow once went to T ellicoAnd cla imed to be Adm iral Jellicoe.

A chop-suey cookCashed checks for this crook.

Now Ching wants to know where the hell-he-go.

Telogia , Fla . Rhymes with he show’

ja ,”a s in

He showed ja how to pronounce it , didn’

t he

Temecula , Ca lif . Rhymes with “th e neck you

luh , a s in “ the neck you love to touch .

T enaha , Tex . (Another spelling, Tencha , ap

pea rs a s a street name . ) Say“Ten ! Aha !” The

third-syllable a ccent is recommended , but the first isga ining , in line with the na tion-wide tendency

T enino , Wa sh . Pronounce the figures 10-9-0

( the la st like“Oh” ) Accent the

“9 .

Tensed , Idaho . Ten sa id , a s in Two men onthe jury sa id ‘Innocent,

’ but ten sa id‘Guilty .

’

Teresita , Okla . Littlei

Theresa is fa r fromMexico , here . I regret to report tha t this genera llyrhymes with

“Sa rah light a ,

”a s in “Will Sa rah light

a ( ciga rette )

Terre H aute, Ind . , Ill . Don’ t venture on Terry

Hut ,” even if residents a ssure you tha t it well repre

sents the loca l version . Rhyme it with “wear a


Thonotosa ssa, Fla . The “th

”is a s in thorn

and the rhyme is “No hoe , no m a ssa ,” explana tion

given by former slave for his unwillingness to work .

Thoreau , N . Mex. The French a ccent both syllables about the same . But when an American triesto do tha t he a lmost inva riably stresses one or theother. In NewMexico it’s a lways the la st . Almostlike “Thaw roe !

”a s the fish merchant excla imed

when he found the fish eggs had frozen solid .

T iburon , Ca lif. (“Sha rk . Across the b ay

from San Francisco , but still approxima tely Spanish.

Rhymes with “cribber known.

”

T idioute , Pa . Fa i r View or fa r outlook .

With pa rdonab le pride , my observer writes :“So fa r

a s we know there is no other pla ce in the world withthis name . It inva riab ly b rings a smile to a the

faces of those who hea r it the first time , so it mustbe somewha t unique .” Anyway, it rhymes withDid he shoot ?”

T ieton (dam , nea r Mount Ra inier and the Ra ttlesnake Preserve , Wa shington . And why preservera ttlesnakes ? ) Strike a happy medium between“tie it on” and Tita n.

T ioga (County, N . Y . , Pa . ) Rhymes“ with “my

Toga .

” Bolton reports tha t Tioga , Tex . , sta rtswith “ tee I take tha t with a gra in of sa lt, ina smucha s the little town is 470 miles from Mexico .

T ippecanoe ( river , Indiana ) . This b ecame


famous in the Ha rrison campaign Tippecanoe andTyler too .

”It

’

s just “ tippy canoe .

T ivis , Va . Rhymes , not quite , with Give

T ivoli, Tex. Nea r the University of Chicagothere wa s a movie pa lace ca lled this , and it rhymedwith “privily .

” But Texasrhymes it with “ the folia s in “

the foliage .”

T oadlena , N . Mex. Flowing wa ter , in Na

va jo . )“To-adda -leen , rhyming with

“so sad a

scene . But tourists say toad-Lena ,”and why not ?

T oano , Va . First-syllab le a ccent . Rhymes withRoanoke” if you lop off the “

ke .

”

T ob ique , M inn . Do you rhyme ob lique withno pee/e” ? Then you have a perfect rhyme , spelling and everything, for Tob ique .

Tohopeka l iga ( lake , Florida ) . Preferably , thevowel sounds and a ccents of

“No soapy sa liva .

”

Webster ’ s second choice ends in lee’ga ,”

a s in“Lee’ga Na tions .

T olstoy , S. Dak. Rhymes With “M oll’s boy.

Tom a les , Ca lif. ( Spanish corruption o f an Indian word for “

hay i.e . , San Francisco bay . ) Inpronuncia tion it sti ll resembles the Spanish : “ to m ah

’

liss ,” rhyming with “

no s ola ce .

” Web ster ha s , Imight say in this connection , given up the una ccentedlong a ( a s in chaotic

”

) tha t he used to recommendfor the la st syllable of sola ce , pa la ce , furna ce .


Tom ato , Ark . In the words o f Tin Pan AlleyYou say

‘to m ay’to

’

and I say‘to mah’ to . But

Arkansa s ca lls the whole thing off by saying m a t”

(fla t a ) .

T ona sket , Wa sh . Sounds like this ungra ciousanswer to the question : “May I a sk a favor of you ?”“Tona sket .

T onawanda , N . Y . For an a ccurate rhyme , puta mute a on the end of Don a b lond !”

T ooele , Utah .

“To Ella ,

” which might be thename of a poem . Toole County, Montana , is just“ tool .”

T opinab ee , Mich . Science speaks : The top ,in a bee , is not so dangerous a s the bottom .

T oreva , Ariz . Rhymes with “ show E'va .

T ornillo , Tex . About a mile from the Big River— so rhymes with for Leo .

”

T ouisset , Ma ss . Rhymes with You miss it , a s

in the"H it-the-nigger-baby-and-

you-get-a -five-cent

ciga r” ra cket .

Toulon , Ill . Rhymes Wi th rule on,

Wha t i s the rule on this point ?”

T outle, Wa sh .

A girl there is learn ing to tootleA trumpet , but really it

’

s futile.

She blows out her cheeksAnd wa ils, or just squeaks .

H onest, it’

s perfectly brutal.


Unfortuna tely, Tre‘vor , Wis . ,commonly lines up

with “beaver .”

T rezevant , Tenn . Accent on “trezz . Rhymes

with “hesitant, and ( a lmost ) with“president”

the mute a and the mute e being very simila r .

T ridell, Utah . Rhymes with “Slidell”

Tha t is , with“I yell .

T rier (New Trier high school , Wilmette , Ill . )It rhymes with “pier” and beer ”

Tua la tin , Oreg. Twa l’ e-tin represents sa tisfa ctorily the present-day pronuncia tion .

Tucapau , S. C . Might have been spelled Tuckapaw .

” Accent “tuck .

”

Tucson , Ariz . Rhymes with Shoe D on l a s

the bla cksmith sa id when he wa s a sked to shoe a

ferocious horse named Don . Pronuncia tion o f the cis a sign either of ignorance or humor . The a ccent ,like scores of others , is receding to the first syllable .

Tucum ca ri, N . Mex.

“Two come ca rry .

Tukwila , Wa sh “TuckWilla ( into bed ) . Besure it’s Willa and not some other girl .

Tulalip , Wa sh . Rhymes with “ shoe may slip .

Tulia , Tex. Rhymes with “Julia .

”

Tunica , M iss . It seems to come fa irly na tura lfor folks in the Deep South to say

“ tiu” ; so thisrhymes with “Punic a , a s in “Wa s Punic a synonymfor Ca rthaginia n


Tuolumne, Ca lif . (By deriva tion , probab lysomething to do with stone “

Twahl’

um

nee ,” rhyming with “

folluh me .”

Turin , Iowa . Much like “tourin Rhymeswith “

Van Buren .

Tuskegee , Ala . Ha rd g a s in geese . Rhymeswith “

Gus Greeley .

Tutwiler, M iss . Looks like a rela tive of theIndian name , Tukwila , But Tutwiler rhymes with“nut piler ,

” which makes it sound German .

Twodot , Mont . Yes ,“two-dot .” Gra ce Stone

Coa tes writes me tha t, the morning a fter a disa strousfire there ha d wiped out ha lf the buildings a longM a in Street , the Milwaukee brakeman sang out,“One dot l”

Tygh Va lley, Oreg .

T here once was a fellow from T yghWho was most infernally slygh.

H e m arched off to war

But found it a bore,So got himself shot as a spygh.

Tyrone , Ga . and Pa . In the old country ( Ireland ) it rhymed with

“We ’re known I” ; but a t lea sttwo of its namesakes over here rhyme it with “mybone” ( accents about equa l ) .

Uinta (Utah , Wyo . ) Pronounced you in’ ta ,

a s in “It gets you inta troub le .”

Um apine, Oreg . ( Ca rd from Wa lla Wa lla . )The city slicker b ids the fa rmer ’s daughter fa rewell :“You m ’ pine , but I sha ll not.

”

Um atilla, Oreg . Stress the till . It’

s the sameas “You , Ma tilda , with the trifl ing exchange o f a dfor an I.

Um tanum , Wa sh . ( Is sepa ra ted from Ahta numby Uma tana Ridge . ) Rhymes with “Come fa n?

em l”

Unaka, N . C . Rhymes with You ba ke a

Uncompahgre Peak ( Colorado ) . Agood example o f phonetic spelling . Accent the pah . Thela st two syllables rhyme with the ordina ry pronuncia tion of

“padre” ( a common nickname for an a rmychapla in ) .

Upsa la, Minn . (Swedish province . ) Rhymeswith “cups Al a ,

”a s in “The doctor comes in and

202

Vade Mecum , N . C . My ob server seems to bewilling to have us use the La tin version ,

“Wah’

day

May’ cum , a s he writes ,

“ I understand it is a La tinword ; you should understand the pronuncia tion .

”

However,the fellers a -settin ’ on the curbstone in

front of the genera l store rhyme it with “Wa de lSeek ’um ,

” like the Indian ’ s a dvice to the trout fisherm an .

Valatie, N . Y . Look out for this one . Rhymeswith “p a la tia l , with the second Iknocked off.

Val le j o, Ca li f . Not Va lley Joe . Say eitherva l lay

’ho” or“va l lay’o .

” One with strong Mexican leanings would put a “y” in pla ce of the double 1,while a Spania rd would get guttura l on the j.

Va lois , N . Y . (Namedl

for a Frenchman , whoseca stle here burned down a few yea rs ago . ) Rhymeswith “ a choice .

” Evidently the French influence ha svanished too .

Valpa raiso , Ind . This rhymes with “Ga l ab la ze ,

oh l” a s the sma ll boy excla imed when he set his sister’ s dress on fire . South o f the Rio Grande , the“ra iso

” rhymes with “Why so ?”

204


Va lrico , Fla . (From the Spanish for rich valley If this sta rted with a G instea d of a V, i twould sound like an Ita lian ’ s concise transla tion of

Life Buoy a dvertisements : “Ga l reek-o .

”

Van H outen , N . Mex . (About feet high . )Though there were a t lea st two more Dutchmenhereabouts , a s shown by Van Bremer creek and Van

Diest peak , the ra cia l a ffilia tions of the settlers ofthis section clea rly va ried : we find Koehler and Swastika , Ra ton and Meloche , Yankee , Brilliant , andHeck Canyon . The out of H outen i s “

out”— I

mean it’s in— I mean it’s right , in New Mexico .

Va rina, Iowa . This rhymes with “ a D ina h . I f

wish , though , the Va rinianswould get together withtheir North Ca rolina cousins , who rhyme it with“a rena” -why, I don

’t know , in“Ca rolina .

Va rnado, La . Accent the la st syllable , says myobserver . Can this be French influence on a Spanishname ? Anyway, wha t with radio and new concretehighways , ten yea rs is the outside limit , in my estimation

,before tha t la st-syllable a ccent gets wiped out

by tornado . The town is off the b ea ten tra ck , northo f Boga lusa .

Vashon , Wa sh . Only a few miles from eitherSea ttle or Ta coma ; so I prophesy tha t the ra therfancy a ccent on the “ Shawn” will not long persist.However , for the present , it rhymes with

“ a dawn.

Veb len , S. Dak. Rhymes with “deb when ,

” as inshe wa s a deb when I knew her .


Verdigris ( river , Kans . , Okla .— flows right by

Nowa ta ) . Curiously enough,the a ctua l pronuncia

tion appea rs to be the same a s tha t advoca ted by”

Webster for the green drug : “vur’ de grea se .”

Vergennes , Vt . (Named by Ethan Allen . )Vur rhyming with “her hens .

”

Versa illes , Ohio . Just a s the British do with theFrench origina l, we rhyme this with

“her pa ils .

Veyo , Utah . Rhymes with M ayo ; i.e. with theinitia ls , a ccenting the first .

Vienna , Ga . and Ill . The a ccent remains on theen but, sad to rela te , these people rhyme theirtown with “dye henna .

”

Vincennes , Ind . As with Versa i lles , anglicize .Rhyme “

Vin-senz” with “ in tens .

Voth , Tex . Rhymes with “both .

Vredenburgh , Ala .

“Vreden” rhymes with redden , and

“burgh” is pla in “

burg.


Wahkiakum ( county, Wa shington , a t the mouthof the Columbia . Fa rther up the river there is a

Wa hkia cus . ) Webster gives a choice , and Thorpchooses the second, a rhyme for

“Ma , try a drum .

Wahkon , Minn .

“Wa lk on.

Wahpeton , N . Dak. As in Uta h, the ah i saw.

” Rhymes with “Claw the mon l” a s the Scotch

ca retaker sa id to his pet lion when the burgla rentered

Wakarusa, Ind . Accent on the roo rhymeswith “Ha

,canoe , suh l Affectionately shortened to

“wah-ka -roos'

Wakita, Okla . Wah kee’ ta , rhyming withJuanita”

Wakpala , S. Dak. Beautiful creek . Thebest rhyme for it appea rs to be “

Sock M olla l”

Walla Wa lla, Wa sh . Not necessa rily a ccentedheavily on the first

“waw. Empha size equa lly both

ha lves of the famous “Echo City.

” Note a lso tha tWa llula and Wa llowa a re nea rby, indica ting tha tthose pa rticula r Indians were grea t fellows for saying “Waw l”

Wa ltham , Ma ss . Britishers think of this andof Gra ntham a s Wa lt H am and Gra nt H am . ButAmericans say

“Wa ll’thumb

”

( remembering, perhaps , the la zy hitchhiker who pa inted a la rge thumbon the wa ll behind him ) or— pa rticula rly in Ma ssachusetts— a clea r tham ,

” rhyming with


Wam ego , Kans . Usua lly rhym es with Aw, we

go ,” though the “

aw m ay be shortened to“ah.

”

Wam esit, Ma ss . The rhyme is with “Thaw the

Flit l”

Wam ic , Oreg. Rhymes with comic . But Ithink Nasty Peak, Cla ckama s Mea dows , PinheadButte , and B akeoven Creek a re funnier .

Wantagh , N . Y . As in I want a ll , with the l’

s

knocked off.

Wapakoneta, Ohio . The approved pronunciation ends in “ etta ,

”a s if there were two t’s . Rhymes

with “Papa go get a (ha ir-brush , or other weapon )

Wapato ,Wa sh Accent on the wah .

” Rhymeswith “

Chap a toe .

Wa ppingers Fa lls , N . Y . Stress the wop .

The g i s soft a s in“pa ssengers .

Wareham , Ma ss . Most of us suppose this is asin Does she wea r ’em But the fa ct is tha t loca llythe “

ham”is important . (See WALTHAM . )

Warwick “Wa rrick is hea rd in New York ,Connecticut

,Rhode Island , and Virginia , but is fight

ing a losing b a ttle . In most of the other sta tes andeven in Canada , where one might expect thesqua shed form favored by the British , a full

“Warwick” i s regula r .

Wasatch , Utah . Not a bad rhyme for cross

pa tch .

” First-syllab le accent is preferred .


Wa s eca , M inn . (According to H . R . Hamilton ,Wa tseca

”wa s the name traditiona lly given to the

most a ccomplished ma iden o f the There’smusic in this name , and yea rning too

“waw seek’ a .

”

Wa shoe , Mont . Nothing to do with footwea r .This is “

waw’

sho .

”

Wa sh ouga l ,Wa sh . Accent on the 0 0 ; rhymeswith “Ah , fruga l .

”

Wa shtenaw ( county, Michigan ) . H ave youhea rd the expression,

“ba thed in awe ?

” Well , thisis

“wa shed in awe .

”

Wash tucna , Wa sh . (All these wa shes remindme o f my “Waw

” theory— see WALLA WALLA . ) Accent the “ tuck .

”

Wa ta ga, Ill . Rhymes with agog a , a s in Iwas a ll a gog a while

” A simila r name , found inNorth C a rolina and Tennessee , is Wa tanga , withan a ccented “

taw”in the middle .

Wa tervliet, N . Y . The Dutch word fvliet, meaning “creek,

” rhymes with “fleet .”

Waubun , Minn . (Chippewa word for tha tlight which is just b efore the rising of theThis is “Waw

’

bun , wherea s Wa upun,Wis . , rhymeswith “Maw won I

”

Wa ukegan , Ill . Unlike the following name , thisa ccents the “

kee”

; rhymes with“saw Regan .

”

Waukesha , Wis . I have hea rd this mi spro


Weippe, Idaho . Accepting Bolton aga in : thisrhymes with free tripe .

”

Weir . In Kansa s , Texa s , and West Virginia

(Weirton ) , think of“weird” ; i.e . , rhymes with

here .” But in Mississippi the rhyme is “their .”

Welles ley, Ma ss . Only two syllab les : “Well’

s

Wellpinit, Wa sh . Rhymes with help in it ,”a s

in My a rithmetic’ s too hard need help in i t .”

Wenasoga , Miss . My observer says this sta rtswith “Winnie” ; but discreet outsiders will stickcloser to the spelling , and rhyme the name with“henna toga .

”

Wenatchee, Wa sh . Rhymes with the scra tchy(pen ) 3

’

Wequetonsing , M ich . Weak tonsils i s hea rd,but is , I believe , erroneous . Make “we-que” two syllables , and rhyme the whole thing with

“meeklydahncing

”

( for the informa tion of those who do notunderstand the qua int Boston dia lect , this is theirword for wha t I have humorously nicknamed “tripping the light fantastic

Wesla co , Tex. Not Spanish , though it’ s only a

rifle shot from Mexico . Rhymes with the fine Christian maxim ,

“B less a foe .

Westm oreland, N . H . As in Newfoundland ,the a ccent possib ilities : here a re almost too numerousto mention . Bolton says tha t New Hampshire


stresses west and land ;rWebster empha sizes

“more” in Pennsylvania ,“west” in Virginia .

Weyauwega , Wis . Accent on the next-to-thela st syllable The name rhymes with “ Isaw Leega” a s in

_

I saw League 0’ Nations , but

tha t’ s a ll the good it did ,” in the words of the old

Ethiop ian-Chinese proverb .

Weyerhauser, Wis . (Lumber family . ) Rhymeswith “hire browser,

” shrewd advice to Ye BookeShoppe Proppe when business is slow .

Weymouth , Ma ss . As in Plym outh, the mouthgets slightly stepped on . Rhyme this with Am os , i f

you lisp .

Whalley . (Avenue inNewHaven . ) This Reg1c1de Judge” rhymed his name with da ily . It stilldoes . ( See GOFFE . )

Wibaux , Mont . Wee’ be a round home ; Wy’

box” by strangers .

Wich ita (Kansa s and Texa s ) . Witch’ it-aw— the “aw” drawled out a s in “Omaha .

Wicomic o (Ma ryland ) .

“Wy-comico , a s incomica l ,

” except for the fina l long 0 .

“Non-Ea stern-Shoremen ,

” writes my observer , have grea ttrouble with it .” Yet they hang the name a roundthe neck o f a hotel in Sa lisbury, and put up a hugeb illboa rd about it on U .S. 13 .

Wiconisco , Pa . Accent on niss same vowelsounds as “Chipso Crisco

”

( advt . )


Widener, Ark . (Appa rently named a fter thephilanthropist , whose name wa s , in the origina l Germ an ,

Weidner . ) Rhymes with “H ide , sir .

”

Wilawana , Pa . (Ob server says this is supposedto be Indian for “

riley Pronounced a s if

little Willa were hungry : “Willa wa nna p iece of

cake !”

W ilhelm ina ,

‘Mo . Rhymes with B il l , t e l lLena .

” However , Willum ina , Oreg . , rhymes , somewha t more ferociously

,with “

Kill a Dinah .

”

Willamette ( river, Oregon ) . Seeing a body ofwa ter in the distance , Meriwether Lewis , of the wellknown exploring firm , Lewis 81 Cla rk , sa id to William Cla rk ,

“Will , am i t a river ?” Made-to-order

or not, i t’s an excellent way to remember tha t the a c

cent is on the am . Unfortuna tely the ob scure a ca lledfor by the story is not authorized . Just “Will , amit River .”

W illa pa , Wa sh . Pronounced a s in Will a pacontinue to support his son a fter gradua tion ?”

Winder, Ga . Nothing t o do with windows .Rhymes with “

binder” and grinder .”

W inega r,Wis . Wy’nig

-er, a s i f vinega r werespelled with a w and pronounced with a long i. Butthere is no connectionwith vinega r . The source’ ofthe name wa s a lmost certa inly German Weininger

( rela ted to tha t of the well-loved trouper , Winninger )


(The g is ha rd . ) Another wildly-named golf courseis Wya ntenuck, in the southern Berkshires . Itrhymes , roughly , with I ran amuck .

Wynona , Okla . UnlikeWinona , this a ccents thefirst syllable , rhyming it with

“my .

”

Wyom ing . Va rious authorities a llow a first-syllab le a ccent , but i t

’ s not hea rd out in the Rockies .Nor is i t approved in Pennsylvania .

When you ’re tired of roam ingSettle in Wyom ing

( advt. )

! enia , Ohio . Zee’ neca , rhyming with the la stfew syllab les o f ga rdenia

Ya cha ts , Oreg . This sounds like ya chts in twosyllables : “yah’ hots .

Yacolt, Wa sh . Accent the Ya ck — about theway a Swede would say

“Ja ck Holt .”

Ya kim a , Wa sh . Rhymes with ba ck 0’ ma , as

in I landed on the back 0’ ma head .

”

Yalaha, Fla . Accent m the middle . Rhymeswith “a rah rah.

Yallo Bally (mountains , California ) . Kroebersays tha t this name comes from Indian words meaning “spirit of the snow .

”Sounds more like “ the

spirit of cowardice” to me , but don’ t pay any a tten

tion to that .

Ya lobusha ( county, M i s s i s s i p p i ) . Y a l orhymes with “ sha llow, and the accented bush

” is ,in short,

“bush .

”

Yaquina, Oreg. (A Sititz Indian name . ) Don’ t

confuse this with Yakima . The Oregon town a c

cents the Quinn .

” The two a’

s are not particularlydistinguished .


Ya vapa i ( county, Arizona ) . Rhym e s w i thH ave a pie !

” There ’ s a Yavapa i Point a t theGrand C anyon , close to the Fred Ha rvey hotel .

Ya zoo ( river , Mississippi) . The a ccent is not

where you expect it ; the name rhymes with“ra zz

you.

”

Yda lpom , C a lif . This is wy da l’ pom , rhyming

with “my Ma lcolm .

Y erb a Buena ( island , Ca l i fornia , a lso known a sGoa t Island . ) Still pronounced a long m a lia na mu

cha cha lines : “

ya ir’

ba bway’

na,”

rhyming with“Where ’s a Dana ?” someone of tha t name ) .

Y oakum , Tex . Rhymes with hokum .

Y onges Island , S. C . (Nea r Cha rleston . ) Pronounced exa ctly like Young’ s .”

Y osemite (Ca lif . ) Rhymes equa lly well withOh Lem , agree !

”and

“No memory.

” The una ccented i is , in ordin a ry speech , a lmost indistinguishable fr om the a of

“agree” and the o o f memory.

Youghiogeny ( river, W: Va . , Md . , Pa . ) The

gheny”is the same a s in “Al legheny . The whole

thing rhymes with “Doc O ’Blaney

”!

Yps ilanti, M ich . Accent on the lant wouldrhym e with “

It’

s a panty” if so singula r an expression could be a llowed .

Y reka, Ca li f . (This is the pla ce where , It 18 s a id ,an ingenious sign reads "y-r-e-k-a -B-a -k-e-r The

Zapa ta ( county, Texa s ) . Spread right a long theRio Grande ; so ,

“3 51 pah

’ ta .

Zavalla, Tex . Surrounded by such Ca stiliannames a s Lufkin , Broaddus , Ja sper , Diboll , and Apple Springs , this Mexican crea tion ha s stayed prettyfa ith ful . “

Sé vah’ la” i s about where it stands a t the

moment . Far to the southwest , there is a Za fva la

( one l ) County, pronounced the same .

Zeigler, Ill . As this m ay have b een Zieglerorigina lly ( there

’s a Zieglerville in Pennsylvania ) ,the “ eye people and the “

ee” people have compro

m ised by sta rting with“zig

”a s in “

zig—zag.

”

Ziebach , S. Dak. According to Webster theGerman “

cc ha s been kept, but the guttura l ch”

sunk completely : “zee

’ bahl”

BIBLIOGRAPH Y

Ba rnes , Will C. : Arizona Pla ce Names ; Tucson ,193 5 .

Bolton , C . K . : Current Pronuncia tion of Names ofPeople a nd Pla ces ( in manuscript )

Century D ictiona ry and Encyclopedia , 19 1 1.

Hamilton , H . R. : The Epic of Chicago ; Chicago ,193 2 .

James , A. L. : Broadcas t English (BBC ) London ,193 6 .

Kroeber, A . L. : H andbook of Ameri ca n India ns .

Lewis , Harriet Jane and Francis A. : Stories ofPla cer County

— Tahoe ; Sacramento , 193 2 .

Lippincott’s Gazetteer of the World , 1922 .

Lloyd, C . A. : We Who Speak English ( in manuscript ) .

Ma ckey, M . S. and M . G. : The Pronuncia tion ofProper Names ; New York , 1922 .

Mawson , C . O . S. Interna tiona l Book of Names ;

New York, 193 3 .

M issouri H is torica l Review ; July, 193 2 , and July,193 5 .

222 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mott , Frank Luther , in Iowa I ourna l of H is tory a ndPolitics , July , 192 5 , and in The Pa limpsest

,

hd ay, 192 6 .

Phyfe , W. H . P. : Words Often M ispronounced ; New York , 1926 .

Read , Allen Wa lker , in America n Speech,Februa ry,

193 3 , and December , 193 3 .

Read ,William A. Louisia na Pla ce-Names of India nOrigin ; Ba ton Rouge , 1927 .

Sanchez , Nellie Van de Grift : Spa nish a nd Indian

Pla ceNam es of Ca lifornia ; San Francisco , 193 0 .

United Sta tes Officia l Posta l Guide ; July, 193 7 .

Vizetelly, F . H . : Desk B ook of Words Fre

quently M ispronounced ; New,York , 1929 .

Web ster ’s New Interna ti ona l D ictiona ry ; Springfield , 1934 .

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