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Off-season (that's not the right term, what is it?) elections are being held in the US today. One of the more important ones is that for governor of Kentucky. Boy howdy, if any of y'all in the US who listen to the news and didn't know how to pronounce LOU-uh-vul before, you sure do now! (Assuming the reporter is pronouncing it right )


n.b. this is NOT a political post

Posted By: Jackie Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/04/03 01:49 PM
Well, there you go, Anna! Just what you've been waiting for to fulfill your life, has finally appeared! Oh yes--don't forget to swallow the uh.


I used to hang out with this disreputable group, among whose members were included this urbane doctor and his wife. I wrote essays for the group which I read aloud, ending each message with the address and contact info. It drove the doctor and his wife mad that I always used this pronunciation rather than the "correct" one. I'd never realized before that there was any other way to pronounce it, and being the thick sort of fellow I am, it took me some time to realize that there was a reason they wanted to end all messages with a stock reading of the address - presumably by someone else.

I remember one of my favorite guys, Steve Allen, admonishing people (I think it was in his book "dumbth") to pronounce words correct, but saying "Loo EE Vill" doesn't sound "proper" to me - it just sounds ridiculous.

k


Posted By: of troy Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/04/03 08:07 PM
i think the people fo Louisville get to decide how to say the name of their town. just as adults get to decide how to say their name.. so if Demi Moore says her name is Dim ee, then Dim ee it is.. (even if i think its stupid.) and if those people in texas want to call their city Hew stun, they can, but i know in NY its HOW sten Street. i don't think i know better than the good people of Kentucky!

Posted By: Faldage Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/04/03 08:12 PM
So, what about St. Louis?

Posted By: sjmaxq Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/04/03 08:38 PM
>St. Louis.

I allus thunk it was said "Lewis", but I stands willing to be correctified.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/04/03 08:41 PM
I keep hearing the pronunciation from the song: "Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie…"

Posted By: Capfka Re: Yeahbut©... - 11/04/03 08:59 PM
... the locals choose to call it St Lewis. By the Oftrojan Rule articulated above, that means that's how it's pronounced.

Posted By: Jackie Oftrojan Rules - 11/04/03 09:13 PM
Hey, Helen, lookit what you get to do: set rules! I love it! I can see us now, citing the Oftrojan Rule # 62, etc.!

Posted By: Faldage Re: Yeahbut©... - 11/04/03 11:20 PM
OK, St. Loois it is.

Incidentally, when Garrison Keillor was in Missouri he asked the audience how the state name was pronounced. They answered, "Missouree!" He then had the governor on and *he pronounced it "Missouruh."

Posted By: Jackie Re: Yeahbut©... - 11/05/03 02:20 AM
Actually, it's neither: it's Mizz-ER-(pick your own vowel). Hey--if I can get around Miss being Miz for the state, why can't I get around Aus being Auz, for Australia? I simply cannot bring myself to think of it that way. To me it is Aussssstralia, and that's that.

Posted By: sjmaxq Re: Yeahbut©... - 11/05/03 03:32 AM
>why can't I get around Aus being Auz, for Australia? I simply cannot bring myself to think of it that way. To me it is Aussssstralia, and that's that.


Don't worry, I think I couldcount on one hand the number of USns who say it properly. Of course, since your own hometown has just been the beneficiary of Helen's rule, you're going have to reorientate your views on the whole Oz/Ausss thing, else Hev and and Co. might get snakey.



Thing is, the doctor and his wife were both Louisvillians, so far as I know.

They just didn't pronounce it like anyone I know.

k


Oh yes--don't forget to swallow the uh.

I didn't forget... and had to be rushed to the emergency room.

Posted By: Jackie Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/05/03 04:11 PM


"... and had to be rushed to the emergency room."

The third syllable of that name is likely to be more "vl" than "vl". This is what I conclude from living in Naishvl, not far removed from Cookvl, Clarkvl, and Knoxvl.

more "vl" than "vl"

...A subtle difference, indeed, old friend.

"A subtle difference, indeed, old friend."

Well, you know how SUBTLE I always am. Of course I meant to write "more vl than vul".

Posted By: Jackie Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/06/03 11:47 AM
Speaking of switching: birdfeed, I noticed you said you were subtle with bustle. My cousin Ben went to college in Cookevl and married a girl from Knoxvl. He grew up on a farm outside Goodlsvl.

Posted By: wow Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/09/03 04:42 PM
Oh, please! Y'all have it easy.
Here's a few we New Hampshirites deal with daily:

Worcester = WUSS-Tah
Tewksbury = TOOKS-bry
Chelmsford = CHEMs-fd
Exeter = X-a-dah
Billerica = Bill-rika
and the real fun one :
Portsmouth = Ports-muth (or for real Yankees, Porch-mith)
always good for an extended conversation with order-takers.




Posted By: Bingley Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/10/03 12:33 AM
What's the problem? I mean how else would you pronounce Portsmouth?

Bingley
"pom~pee"

Posted By: Faldage Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/10/03 11:24 AM
how else would you pronounce Portsmouth?

Well, you could pronounce it the way it's supposed to be pronounced, Port-smith.

Posted By: wow Re: Correct pronunciation of Louisville (KY) - 11/12/03 01:20 PM
Right again, Faldage.

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