Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-23
HOW DO you SAY THEM
Names Of Cities Pronounced Differ
emily as Latitude and LonEi-
tude Change.

Prof Hart, IN his interesting article on
Oklahoma, admonished his New England
readers that II is pronounced Oak, not
Oklahoma. Prof. Hart did well. as an
editorial paragraph of the same issue
thereby noted. The same paragraph COM
mented on other RECOMMENDATIONS Of places.
used by their residents, that are quite diff
ferent from our usage. Now, this Is a New
York Bun field and the clerk enters upon
1t with some trepidation. but here goes:
The transcripts editorial notes Iowa, vir-
glna and Oregon among the other names
not pronounced here as at home Then
there Is Ohio, which the native jerks out
"Uhuh," disregardng our solemn New
Orleans" accent on the "Or." Down
there they stress the last syllable and
call II "leens." Omaha is ''Omahaw." not
"omahah." Los Vegas IL LOS Vaygs."
Missouri Is "Mizzoura." You arc more
likely to hear "Cooraydo" than "Colo-
rahdo" in that state. Spokane is as II
there no sc" I'm II. Manitoba is ao-
cented on the penult, not the ultimate.
quincy QlL@ Is not "Quinzy." Galveston
stresses the yes rather than the Gal.
Terra Hut" the natives call IT, More say
''Loosiana" than "LoueEiana. Tucson
is 'Tooson," accent on the ultimate, and
so on. You have perhaps heard of the
Frenchman who came TO America to see
the city Of Winona, Mimi. attracted by
its beautiful name. which he pronounced
''Weenonah." Landing at New York, he
scarcely gave any attention to the me-
| tropolis but pushed on TO the west. Chi
| cago was seen only in changing ears and
as the train glded along the Mississippi
and approached what is beautiful city,
surrounded by the rich verdure and re-
mantle bluffs of the upper Mississippi the
| Frenchman was enchanted. The train
slowed up before stopping at the station.
the Frenchman half rose from his seat in
! feverish anticipation, when the brakeman
| opened the door and yelled. "Weinony.'
The Frenchman collapsed in his seat, heart
broken. and did not leave the train at
! Winona.
What queer pronunciationsH exclalm
my New England readers. IndeedP Here
l let my neighbor. an Iowa man. take his
pen in hand and put in type the glowing
words ne has often emitted in my pres
ence This is what he says:
Yes. / am from Iowa and / never heard
any other than the pronunciation Iowa
accent on the first syllable) until came
east. Oh. yes; occasionally the older and
more rural people would call Il T-o-way
which is really the original Indian pronun-
!
Lowndes or anybody else In the Hawkeye
state. Yet no one here calls it anything
else When ! go TO register and am asked
where l was born, the solemn clerk puts
Il down Ireland and asks II l have my
naturalization papers Now, how do you
folks get such a pronunciation It isn't
found in any cyelopedia or gazetteer that
ever saw. II Is incorrect and TO me sounds
| stilted. Nor do your own pronuncia lions
convince me. Why on earth do you say
Quinzy when that sylls BILE begins with \
C. never pronounced other than s. or X?
Why do you say 'Waltham' and Wren
Iham' and slam out that than so roundly
Used TO those prOnunciatiOns and tn,
dwelling on the last syllable In Newbury
port, etc, once innocently pronounced IN,
name Of that Cape Cod town as II il
spelled. 'Barnstable. thinking stable a
good word as barn and as well wOr;l
dwelling on, and the once roared AZ me
Why say 'Wooburn' when you spell Il Wo
burn7 But worst OF all is that pretty It'll