The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1907-03-29
HOW DO you SAY THEMr
Names of Cities Pronounced Differ
entity as Positions Change.

Names of Cities Pronounced Differ
emily as Positions Change.
Prof. Hart, In his Interesting article
on Oklahoma, admonished his New
England readers that 1t is pronounced
Oak, not Oklahoma, says the Boston
Transcript Prof. Hart did well, as
an editorial paragraph of the same is
sue, thereby noted The same paragraph
commented on other pronunciations of
places, used by their residents that are
quite different from our usage. The
editorial notes Iowa, Virginia and Ore
gon among other names not pronounced
here as at home Then there is Ohio,
which the native jerks out "Uhiuh."
disregardlng our solemn "Oh-hi-oh." We
and the gazetteers say New Orleans"
accent on the 'Or." Down there they
stress the last syllable and call 1t
"leens." Omaha Is "0mahaw," not
"0mahah." Las Vegas is LAS Vayas."
Missouri is "Mizzoura." You are more
likely to hear "Coloraydo' than Colo
rahdo" In that State. Spokane Is. as
If there was no "e' in 1t. Manitoba is
accented on the penult, not the ulti-
mate. Quincy (Ill) Is not "Quinzy."
Galveston stresses the 'ves" rather
than the "Gal." TERRA Hut" the ma
tives call 1t.
More say "Looslana" than "Louez-
iana," Tucson" is 'Tooson,' accent on
the ultimate, and so on. You have per-
haps heard Of the Frenchman who
came to America to see the city of
Winona, Mimi. attracted by its beauti-
full name, which he pronounced Wee
nOnah." Landing at New York, he
scarcely gave any attention to the me-
tropolis, but pushed on to the west.
Chicago was seen only in changing cars,
and as the train glided along the Mis-
sisslppi and approached what is beau
tiful city, surrounded by the rich ver-
dure and romantic bluffs of the upper
the Frenchman was en-
chanted. The train slowed up before
stopping at the station, the Frenchman
half rose from his seat In feverish an
ticipatlon, 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 pronunciations! ex-
claim my New England readers. In
Iced Here l let my neighbor, an Iowa
man, take his pen In hand and put in
type the glowing words he has often
emitted in my presence. This Is what
he says:
Eyes, | am from Iowa and never
heard any other than the pronouncia-
tion Iowa (accent ON the first syl-
labie) until came east. Oh, yes;
occasionally the older and more rural
people would call 1t I-o-way,' which Is
really the original Indian pronuncia-
tion. But this sI-oh-a' was unknown to |
I0wndes or anybody else in the Hawk |
eye State. Yet no one here calls 1t
else When go to register
and | am asked where I was born, the
solemn clerk puts 1t down Ireland and
asks If / have my naturalization pa
pers. Now, how do you folks get such
a pronunciation? 1t isn't found In any !
cyclopedia or gazetteer that ever saw.
Nor do your own pronunciations con- |
vince me. Why on earth do you say
Quincy when the syllable begins with
a C. never pronounced other than s. {
or *? Why do you say 'Waltham' !
and 'Wrentham' and slam out that !
tham' roundly? Used to those pro-
and the dwelling on the
last syllable in Newburyport, ETC., l
,nce innocently pronounced the name of /
that Cape Cod town as 1t Is spelled,
'Barnstable,' thinking stable as good
4 word as barn and as we'll worth
dwelling on, and the Office roared at
ne. Why say 'Wooburn' when you
spell 1t Woburn? But worst of all is
hat pretty little Middlesex town, whose
name | rather liked until | heard 1t
over and over again blared out Bill
Kicker"
| am afraid my Iowans case Is a
one. But confess some SYM
pathy for him, don't you?