Which are the states where the natives pronounce the name of their state differently from the majority of other Americans?

41 comments

1. Nevada

2. Not a state, but the city of Louisville, KY is pronounced very differently by natives and most other folks.

3. Missouri

4. Oregon? Is that one controversial?

5. Alaska and Hawaii.

6. Illinois

7. Hawaii

8. Surprised that I haven’t seen Colorado on here.

9. Nevada. There’s also a lot of cities in Massachusetts that are weird. Why the hell is Worcester pronounced “Wooster”???

10. Flor’da

11. Minnesota. With our accents it sounds like we are saying Minnesoooodah.

12. Nuh-vah-duh vs Nuh-vaaaa-duh

    Call-uh-rad-oh vs Call-uh-rod-oh

    Or-uh-gun vs Or-gun vs Or-ee-gone

    Miz-urh-uh vs Miz-urh-ee

    Loo-ee-zee-ann-uh vs Looz-ee-ann-uh

    Huh-why-ee vs Huh-wah-ee

13. Louisiana is really loosiana, at least in some parts of the state

14. Oregon. Locals say it Oregun, others say Oregone

15. Some native Washingtonians say Warshington. There’s a suburb of Seattle named Des Moines and in Washington where you pronounce the S in Moines but you don’t pronounce it when talking about Des Moines Iowa.

    *edit

    How could I forget Willamette? Washingtonians say “wuh-lamb-it” but in other parts of the country they say “will-uh-met”.

    Not pronunciation related but some Washingtonians also get mad when newscasters call Washington state “Washington state” because just saying Washington in the news usually means Washington DC.

16. The amount of people who pronounce the S at the end of Illinois…

17. No one gets the nasally bit that’s required for Wis-cahn-sin. Except T-pain

18. Y’all say Mississippi…

    We say Mis-sip.

19. Wis-cAn-sin

20. Arkansas

    Not a state but Mackinac in Michigan, say it with me Mack-in-awe not Mack-an-nack. Also Mackinaw is the city, everything else is spelled Mackinac, both pronounced the same

21. In my home state of Missouri, people in the north of the state pronounced of Missou-Rah, the south pronounces it Missou-Ree, and in the winter time you pronounce it Misery.

    Interestingly, when politicians travel they typically will pronounce the state name like the locals do. Our last governor was famous for saying Missouree and Missourah depending on where he was giving the speech.

22. Loowivool=Louisville

    Nahlens=New Orleans

    Shithole=Oklahoma

23. Oregon, Its Ori-gun. not Ore-gone

24. You really want to ruffle some feathers? Skip the states. Let’s talk about Appalachia.

25. I’m from Tonawanda, NY. Say that 10 times fast!

26. Well, we don’t call it Cali but I don’t think anyone is listening.

27. Most people call it Washington. But here we call it Washington.

28. It’s not super common but people who say “mass-a-two-sets” can take a long walk on a short pier

29. Notice alot have trouble saying Arkansas for some reason. The word “Kansas” isn’t pronounced at all in it
    ARE-CAN-SAW

30. Nevada is not pronounced Ne-vah-duh (like Sierra Nevada) by the locals. The first “a” is pronounced the same as the “a” in “apple.”

31. We call it California. We know you’re a tourist when we hear “Cali”.

32. My family is from Biloxi, MS.

    Everybody from outside pronounces it Bih-locks-ee

    It’s really b’lucks-ee

    Nails on a chalkboard…

33. Not a state, but I’ve heard many people mispronunce Mackinac, an important part of our state.

34. It’s APP-UH-LATCH-UH not “app-a-lay-shuuh.” Atleast in the SWVA/east TN area.

    Source: lived 90% of my life in the heart of that poor, sad, oxy soaked situation.

35. Pennsylvania. The correct pronunciation is “Pee Ayy”

36. Pennsylvania its common to just say the 2 letter abbreviation P.A. It’s rare to hear anyone fully pronounce the full thing

37. Some say, “ORA-GONE.” It’s ORGEN, pronounced just like your innards, *organ.*

38. Don’t know if this fully counts, but most people from Pennsylvania don’t call it “Pennsylvania”, rather just the state’s abbreviation “PA”

39. Maryland is one too we always said Mrrrland growing up there.

40. I’m literally sounding out each commenters phonetics. Crack me up. Great quotation to OP

41. Not a state but a region.

    Appalachian / Appalachia are both mispronounced by almost everyone.

    My Dad grew up in Pennsylvania in that region, so we learned the correct pronunciation.

    App-ah-latch-an. Not app-a-lay-shun.