New Britain herald., 1926-03-08
HOW OUR TOWNS ARE PRONOUNCED

ARE PRONOUNCED
 Natives of Connecticut towns, like natives Of towns in other parts of New Ensrand, have . way Of pro- nouuclug 'ho names Of the towns 10 which they point with pride in o manner that slulHncs visitors and nuu1cs the rcosraphics,
 In our proud capital thc person who doesn't pronounce 1t "H1ht- ford" is readily mistaken for a more Naw Worker or a gentleman cattle dealer from North Dakota.
 Coming 10 tho hardware center of ta, visible univrso we find "Noo l}ru'rn" to he the most favored Main street pronunciation, The per son who pronounccs it differently is quickly spotted as from London or the la,a Of Nan.
 Tn Waterbury tho cultured pro nmciauou is "Wot,rbu'ry," or Homu,bmg like i'
 In Braol wc have it "Briath." nearly unanimously, Platnyille, how ever, js so plain and easy that al- most everybody gets 1t right. South inr,ou has nothing 10 do with the ! sou,h-ncucc f, is pronounced "&uh-ine' on."
 The rclcrcd and houorcd town of Berlin. from which New Brittcn spranr, is never mistaken for the city where the cN-kaiser once lived, 1 although Inc spelling is identical. i The Connecticut townsmcn give 1t a distinctive Berlin" compared with "Bcrin'" for the other. It de- pcnds upon whether one puts the accent upon the first or the second syllable; the natives take their ac. cents early, letting the second syl. liable be a little non- stressed tail tc
 the kite.
 The town that deserves the browr
 derby or the wooden nutmeg fol
 verbal peculiarity however, il
 Greenwich. The natives impress al
 newcomers that 1t is "Grin'ich"-
 and they usually grin copiousl.
 when correcting green strangers.
 Stamford boosters always say it.
 "Stam'fud."
 Bridgeport and New Haven resi- dents have failed 10 grasp oppor
 tunitics 10 locali4e their nomcncla f ture. although Bridgeporters wi s tell anybody willing to listen tha { the city is noted as the "pahk" city
 If some coal miner from Pennsyl I yauia visited Avon he would affron , the staid inhabitants of the town D , calling it Avon, whereas the towns
 men and all knowing Nutmeggei s call it Avon.
 A cultured college professor frol |, Cambridge Mass. arriving in Gla' V tonbury for the first time woul il wall it Glaastonhury-and he woul
 be right, according to the nativ' ,+ thereof But the yisitor from son Q less cultured center, who won I naturally pronounce 1t Glassto1 h bury would insult the inhabitan U gricvously.
 q The town Of Bozrah has pcculi;
 name, but one tincturcd with
 Yankee strain from early times. E,
 it isn't spoke the way it looks, II
 first syllable being a plain "Bo
 the "z" is completely gone, 'y There are other Nutmeg tow " that have more or less Of nati l- pronunciation, Canaan must 'd "Iaynan;" Coventry is "Kanvc TO try" Darion is "Dayrien;" Guilfo
 is "Gilford;" Norfolk is genera, ry "Norforh;" Thomaslon is alwa lh "Tomaslon," although Thomps or must be pronounced with the "t 'a well 10 Inc fore, Holland is "Ta l- lan1;" Wolco't is "Worcut;" a III Wm1ham is Wnd'Un.' 'f' This IS q free state; any town '' it can locaIiIe its namo, and tt '" quite as common 10 do so, a "- nearly quite as distinctive, as D "' srSsinE a nirE name.
 "0 And as for inc namc of tho sti
 is'lf, who doosn't pronounce "Connrirut?"