How do you pronounce Columbus?

Klumbus

whoa - nice return of a zombie thread!

 

columbis.

 

and i will throw in a sinDUSKy and a day-un.

 

People in Toronto generally say "Tur-on-oh". Outsiders pronounce that second "t".

I think that's generally true with cities with "T" somewhere stuck in the word.  For example, no one from Dayton says "DayTon" but instead says "Day'in."  Ditto with "Atlanna" and "Sea-ah-uhl."

Cuh-LUM-biss

Also, as a native of Sandusky, it's "sen-DUSS-kee" ("sin-DUSS-kee" is also acceptable).

Then there's Catawba Island....."kuh-TAHHH-buh"

On 10/17/2019 at 1:38 PM, ColDayMan said:

I think that's generally true with cities with "T" somewhere stuck in the word.  For example, no one from Dayton says "DayTon" but instead says "Day'in."  Ditto with "Atlanna" and "Sea-ah-uhl."

I agree with the other Dayton Seattle, but not Atlanta.  I pronounce the T.  The second "T" in Atlanta is soft with people with southern accents,IMO.  At the same time some Dixie Crats pronounce it At-lan-Ta.  When I work in the Atlanta office, I hear it pronounced both ways.

Clumbiss

Day'in

Clevelun

T'ledo

SinsiNati

D'Troeet

I aspire to ShihCAUWgoh, which is how AM radio announcers there say it. 

Edited October 20, 20195 yr by westerninterloper

31 minutes ago, westerninterloper said:

Clumbiss

Day'in

Clevelun

T'ledo

SinsiNati

D'Troeet

ShiCawgo

 

Never heard any of those

I have heard

Ka-lum-bis

Day-Ton

CleaveLand

ToeLeeDo

Sin-Sa-Nat-Tee

DeeTroit

ShaCaGo

9 minutes ago, MyTwoSense said:

 

Never heard any of those

I have heard

Ka-lum-bis

Day-Ton

CleaveLand

ToeLeeDo

Sin-Sa-Nat-Tee

DeeTroit

ShaCaGo

I speak Hoosier Apex, which might explain it. 

Date-in

kəˈlʌmbəs

Kuh-LUM-bis    -- I'm in Cleveland. How do you people in Columbus say it?

9 hours ago, MyTwoSense said:

 

Never heard any of those

I have heard

Ka-lum-bis

Day-Ton

CleaveLand

ToeLeeDo

Sin-Sa-Nat-Tee

DeeTroit

ShaCaGo

 

You have DEFINITELY heard of Cleve'lin from black folks.  Just like Day'in, Sin (or Sis)-suh-nat-ee, Toe-lee-doh, Dee-troy't, and Shi-cah-go is common on urban radio.  I don't know any black person from Cleveland that pronounces the D at the end and I work up there once every two weeks.

2 hours ago, Pugu said:

Kuh-LUM-bis    -- I'm in Cleveland. How do you people in Columbus say it?

 

Typical Columbusite will say that.  Some old timers, though, will say Clum-bis.

7 hours ago, smith said:

Date-in

 

Foreigner! 

On 10/17/2019 at 1:38 PM, ColDayMan said:

I think that's generally true with cities with "T" somewhere stuck in the word.  For example, no one from Dayton says "DayTon" but instead says "Day'in."  Ditto with "Atlanna" and "Sea-ah-uhl."

 

This would hold true for Mentor, which is always pronounced "Menner" by locals.

7 hours ago, mu2010 said:

 

This would hold true for Mentor, which is always pronounced "Menner" by locals.

That’s the one where I can always tell the “not from here” newscasters lol.

Cincinnat-uh is how my dad always sad it. 

 

In Philadelphia some old timers like to say Full-uff-ee-uh. Or even worse, Fluff-ee-uh.

3 hours ago, DEPACincy said:

Cincinnat-uh is how my dad always sad it. 

 

In Philadelphia some old timers like to say Full-uff-ee-uh. Or even worse, Fluff-ee-uh.

Ooh, was never a fan of "Cincinnat-uh" lol. 

 

"K-LUMbus" 2.5 syllables. 

 

p.s. Newark NJ is "Nork." One syllable. And NJ is "Juhhh-zee" not "Joisy." 

in binghamton, ny i know a lot of the old timers say bing-un.

And yes, this is true.

 

Appalachian folks in the area pronounce "Piqua" as "Pick-way."

 

While the pronunciation of "Versailles," Ohio has been notoriously anglicized, somehow the french pronunciation of the nearby village "Russia" almost survives (pronounced "Roo-shee").

Yeah, the Miami Valley has some doozies of names.  Russia, Versailles, Wapakoneta, Piqua, Arcanum, and Celina are all fun ones to hear non-locals try to pronounce. 

Mantua = manaway

Mentor on the Lake = Men are on the lake

I once had a professor at an out of state school insist Cuyahoga was pronounced kai-ah-HOG-ah. I've always pronounced it kai-ah-HOE-gah like Randy Newman.

Edited October 23, 20195 yr by scorpio

^ he was probably a commie lol!

 

i just remembered from my texas traveling days that boerne, a cool little place between austin and san antone, is pronounced bernie.

 

also, that one of my bg roomates from pittsburgh used to call elyria elly-rye-ah (its E-lear-E-ah).

Lank-a-stir or even Lang-stir. NEVER Lan-caster. Instant outsider status for saying the latter. It's not a guitar.

On 10/20/2019 at 11:59 PM, ColDayMan said:

 

You have DEFINITELY heard of Cleve'lin from black folks.  Just like Day'in, Sin (or Sis)-suh-nat-ee, Toe-lee-doh, Dee-troy't, and Shi-cah-go is common on urban radio.  I don't know any black person from Cleveland that pronounces the D at the end and I work up there once every two weeks.

I will give you "Cleve'lin".  Moost of the people I know have parents that stressed enunciation and pronunciation.

 

I don't know what hood rats you hangin' wit, but my people don't get down like that!

 

  

 

 

in ny town -- probably most famously houston street is howston street, because unlike the big texas city its not named after sam houston.

 

and then maybe some of the dutch stuff is a little hard to say, like schermerhorn street in downtown brooklyn is skemerhorn and the van wyck is van wick, not whyk.

 

for the bronx the heavy duty italian neighborhood of throgs neck is still very definitely an old school ny trogs neck pronounciation. ha.

 

 

 

How has no one brought up Bala Cynwyd (Bala Kin-Wood) outside of Philly

1 minute ago, YABO713 said:

How has no one brought up Bala Cynwyd (Bala Kin-Wood) outside of Philly

 

It's a little more like Kin-Wid. 

 

Then there's Manayunk (Manny-Yunk), Passyunk (Pa-Shunk), and Schuylkill (Skoo-cool). 

 

And also Moyamensing Street, which is pronounced just like it is spelled but means "pigeon droppings" in Lenape. Pigeon Sh*t Street.

27 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

maybe some of the dutch stuff is a little hard to say

As someone who knows how to pronounce Dutch syllables, I assure you it's no easier to decipher how NYers are going to pronounce things with Dutch names. I guess the exception might be something like Schermerhorn, where I would know that the CH doesn't just merge with the S to make an English SH sound. The closest thing to an SH in Dutch is actually SJ (as in the 'hasj' you can buy at one of the Netherlands' famous coffeeshops). The CH makes a throat-clearing K sound (so like KHH?), which is the same sound a G makes ('Gouda' (the town and the cheese) is pronounced khhowda). Extra fun when they appear next to each other, like in the word 'gracht' (that's what a canal is called). All the UYs you see should be pronounced more like OW (as in the English word 'cow'). So Stuyvesant should be more like Stowfvesant than Stivesant. Also of note is that the Dutch OE is always like the OE in the English word 'shoe'. Guess what 'poep' is. Another one Americans consistently mispronounce is OO, which is a long O sound; 'boot' in Dutch means the same and is pronounced the same as the English 'boat'. Remember that one the next time you purchase some stroopwafels, which I recommend you do ASAP because they're delicious.

2 hours ago, DEPACincy said:

 

 

And also Moyamensing Street, which is pronounced just like it is spelled but means "pigeon droppings" in Lenape. Pigeon Sh*t Street.

 

 

good one -- and that reminds me -- rockaway is pronounced rockaway and it is a corrupted lenape neighborhood name -- from wiki:

 

The name "Rockaway" is the later corruption of a Lenape language word that sounded phonetically something like "rack-a-wak-e", and referred to the area. It may have meant "place of sands" (see: Toponymy of New Netherland and Metoac#Exonyms).

 

 

another one out here with an interesting history is broadway:

 

Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island.

 

The Wecquaesgeek (also Manhattoe and Manhattan) were a Munsee-speaking band of Wappinger people who once lived along the east bank of the Hudson River in the southwest of today's Westchester County, New York.

 

The Dutch then called it the Heeren Wegh or Heeren Straat, meaning "Gentlemen's Way" or "Gentlemen's Street" – echoing the name of a similar street in Amsterdam.

 

It was re-named "Broadway" after the British took over the city, because of its unusual width.

 

Originally, it was Broadway Street downtown from the Battery to Wall Street and then a patchwork of names above it.

 

On February 14, 1899, the name "Broadway" was officially extended to the entire Broadway / Bloomingdale / Western Boulevard / Boulevard / Kingsbridge route.

 

 

This video has probably been posted before in one of the developmental threads, as it thoroughly discusses the rise, decline, and comeback of Cleveland.  What struck me about it is the way it presents the range of Cleveland accents. From the traditional 'no accent Midwestern' too the newer mostly-white one with the flat and nasal A's and O's. (That's flat when pronounced FLAY-ut.) The range of Black Cleveland accents is also striking.  It made me homesick.  ?

 

 

 

Cuh-LUM-bis, CLEVE-lin, Cin-cinn-at-ee, Tuh-leed-oh, Day-tin (I pronounce the t but now that I think about it..not really. The t is extremely subtle. Duh-TROIT I bring that up because a lot of folks say DEE-troit with more emphasis on the Dee. Or like Ian from the forum whose from Michigan, says De-TRITE with more emphasis on the Trite. Northern vowel shift. The way I pronounce city words probably has to do with growing up around a lot of black people and going to Columbus and Cincinnati Public Schools.  I say a lot of words weird though and I have no idea why. I call coyotes, 'kai-oats" and call Carnegie Ave. in Cleveland, Car-NAY-ghee. No idea why. Doesn't seem the norm anywhere in Ohio. 

Edited February 20, 20214 yr by David

Car-NAY-ghee is correct (approximates how he pronounced his own name).  It's the New Yorkers who mess it up when they say CAR-ni-gee Hall.

Its really interesting how black people in Cincinnati pronounce the city. "Siss-a-nati." Im sure its not something linguistics professors will ever study. I noticed black folks in Cincinnati sound a lot like black people in St. Louis and have more of a southern drawl, I think those two cities probably have strong ties in the black community. Strong ties to Atlanta, too. Black people in Cleveland to me sound more like the white people in Columbus or Cincinnati. They definitely don't have any characteristics of the white Cleveland accent (an accent I wouldn't wish on anyone.) I thought it was a white trash West side accent at first but I I moved to Larchmere, Cleveland Hts and Shaker and still heard it everywhere.

Edited February 20, 20214 yr by David

9 minutes ago, X said:

Car-NAY-ghee is correct (approximates how he pronounced his own name).  It's the New Yorkers who mess it up when they say CAR-ni-gee Hall.

I argued about this with my New York colleague. I told him the New Yorker's were wrong.

 

BTW...the best city pronunciation is Mentor on the Lake (men are on the lake)

Edited February 20, 20214 yr by freefourur

31 minutes ago, David said:

Its really interesting how black people in Cincinnati pronounce the city. "Siss-a-nati." Im sure its not something linguistics professors will ever study. I noticed black folks in Cincinnati sound a lot like black people in St. Louis and have more of a southern drawl, I think those two cities probably have strong ties in the black community. Strong ties to Atlanta, too. Black people in Cleveland to me sound more like the white people in Columbus or Cincinnati. They definitely don't have any characteristics of the white Cleveland accent (an accent I wouldn't wish on anyone.) 

Accents in Black communities are often Southern in nature. I assume due to their roots. it's my understanding that during the great migration Black people from certain towns in the South would go the same city(ies) in the North. Similar to immigration patterns from Europe.  That might explain the similar black accents in different cities.

Edited February 20, 20214 yr by freefourur

15 minutes ago, X said:

Car-NAY-ghee is correct (approximates how he pronounced his own name).  It's the New Yorkers who mess it up when they say CAR-ni-gee Hall.

Yeah. My grandma went to Carnegie Mellon so I probably got it from her. If its a Scottish surname it would definitely truly be Car-NAY-ghee over CAR-nuh-ghee. But...tomato tomato. If the majority of people are saying it the wrong way, is it really wrong?

12 minutes ago, freefourur said:

Accents in Black communities are often Southern in nature. I assume due to their roots. it's my understanding that during the great migration Black people from certain tows on the South would go the same city(ies) in the North. Similar to immigration patterns from Europe.  That might explain the similar black accents in different cities.
 

Yeah and there's also many, MANY different southern accents, rhotic and non-rhotic. You see the non-rhotic a lot more in Cincinnati and much, much less in places like Cleveland and Detroit. 

23 minutes ago, David said:

If the majority of people are saying it the wrong way, is it really wrong?

 

OK, duh-VID.

2 hours ago, David said:

Yeah. My grandma went to Carnegie Mellon so I probably got it from her. If its a Scottish surname it would definitely truly be Car-NAY-ghee over CAR-nuh-ghee. But...tomato tomato. If the majority of people are saying it the wrong way, is it really wrong?

Many a Scot would say car-KNEE-ghee

3 hours ago, X said:

 

OK, duh-VID.

Are you sharpshooting me? Throwing shade? "Duh" as in in "Duh, thanks Captain Obvious? If so, that was hilarious.

 

 

3 hours ago, freefourur said:

I argued about this with my New York colleague. I told him the New Yorker's were wrong.

 

BTW...the best city pronunciation is Mentor on the Lake (men are on the lake)

Well, they say it more like "MEN-ur," right? From the way you spelled it, it sounds like you're saying, "MEN-are." The former is the only way I've heard metro Clevelander pronounce it. My software engineering professor lived there and that's how he pronounced it. 

Edited February 21, 20214 yr by David

25 minutes ago, roman totale XVII said:

Many a Scot would say car-KNEE-ghee

I wonder if that's regional dialect dependent because I can't imagine my Scottish uncle pronouncing it like that.

I have a first and last Japanese name because my Grandpa is from Okinawa and I was named after him because we were born on the same day (David is my middle name.) The first name is Seisuke and it's only pronounced like Say-Skay as far as I've known. Japanese family members and friends of my Japanese family always pronounced mine and my grandpa's name like that. However, a lot of people I've met who study Japanese culture or are into Anime and are familiar with Anime characters names, pronounce my name like "Sauh-skay" often times. I wonder if that's due to a regional dialect difference in Japan or if they're just getting it wrong. 

I nerd out on linguistics. It's so unbelievably fascinating to me. I guess it is for a lot of people; this is like the third thread made on the topic. I think we live in a pretty unique state in that there's a plethora of accents. From southern/Appalachian, Standard American/neutral, Northern/Greatlakes/Northern Vowel Shift. Those three are just gross generalizations, too. There's many different subsets, just in individual cities of Ohio.

Edited February 21, 20214 yr by David