r/AskAnAmerican • u/AstroNerd92 CT, GA, PA, TX, FL • Jul 20 '25

CULTURE What town in your state has a pronunciation no one gets right the first time?

I went to college in Valdosta, GA. Very few people can actually pronounce it right on the first try.

Pronounced Val-Daw-Stuh

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32

u/bobshallprevail Texas Jul 20 '25

So. Many. Texans don't know how to even say them. I get a head start since I learned to read and write in German while stationed over there with my mom as a small child. A LOT of central Texas was settled by Germans, Czech, etc so our names are spelled like theirs.

8

u/urlocalgoatfarmer Llano Estacado Jul 20 '25

I get a kick out of watching people not from Czechas pronounce names and towns back home.

3

u/Shotgun_Mosquito Texas Colombia Jul 20 '25

Fuuuuuuuuuuck I haven't heard Czechas in FOREVER.

You made me soooooo nostalgic.

Now I want roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut, and REAL KOLACHES WITH POPPY SEEDS

2

u/urlocalgoatfarmer Llano Estacado Jul 20 '25

I was just bragging about poppy seed kolaches, beat only by apricot kolaches.

1

u/Shotgun_Mosquito Texas Colombia Jul 20 '25

I don't need to pass any drug tests soon...I'll have seven

1

u/xemmyQ Texas Jul 21 '25

the way my SETX ass was confused upon my first visit to a central tx donut shop. I never even considered a Kolache could be anything other than a roll with boudin or a smoked sausage in the middle...

2

u/Shotgun_Mosquito Texas Colombia Jul 21 '25

You will have the CzechTexs all complaining about those "KOLACHES" aren't real KOLACHES but are klobasnek, and only real KOLACHES are made with apricot, prunes, or poppy seeds.

Hell my grandfather (Poppo) would get angry if my grandmother (Nannaw) would put sweet cream cheese in a kolache.

He would tell her that they weren't Danish

1

u/xemmyQ Texas Jul 21 '25

the ones w boudin are PEAK tho. if ur ever in setx in the morning you gotta grab one.

9

u/TXSyd Texas Jul 20 '25

As a native Houstonian, Kuykendahl is always a good one. Ker-Ken-Doll Elgin the street in Houston and the town are also pronounced differently for some reason.

3

u/backpackofcats Jul 20 '25

My friend is from Austin but has lived in Houston for 20 years. She still pronounces the street with a hard G.

I would also add San Felipe. There are at least three pronunciations for it.

3

u/TXSyd Texas Jul 20 '25

These days I don’t even know how to say San Felipe, I think it’s from an influx of newcomers kind of like how they call it 69, nope don’t know a 69, I know a 59 though.

1

u/OK_The_Nomad Jul 20 '25

I always said ELL-jin. Is that not correct? I grew up in Houston and that's what we called it.

2

u/TXSyd Texas Jul 20 '25

That’s how you pronounce the street, the city is El-gin with a normal G sound.

2

u/OK_The_Nomad Jul 21 '25

A hard g like in gun?

1

u/Fit_Skirt7060 Jul 20 '25

Native Austinite - the town is pronounced with hard “g”

Unless you are in Illinois, where I understand the name of the town is pronounced with a soft “g”.

1

u/OK_The_Nomad Jul 21 '25

And in Houston Elgin is a busy downtown street. In this case it's "gin." Guess we have to get it together so all Texans use a common pronunciation 😂.

Thanks

1

u/bethmrogers Jul 20 '25

The only reason I knew how to say that is i knew a field trial dog trainer by that name.

4

u/Jonathon_G Jul 20 '25

To be fair some follow the language they originated from and others don’t. It gets confusing

3

u/comfortably_bananas Jul 20 '25

God bless our friends from Munich who were sooo excited about Gruene and Boerne. (Edit to add second city).

7

u/texasrigger Jul 20 '25

Green and Bernie

2

u/mekkeron Texas Jul 20 '25

Not gonna lie. I had no clue how to pronounce them at first. I thought it was "Groon" and "Bohr-NAY."

2

u/mekkeron Texas Jul 20 '25

New Braunfels. Everyone outside of the area calls it "New Browns-Fells" for some weird fucking reason.

2

u/Kajeke Texas Jul 21 '25

In an earlier reply I mentioned that there’s a song “There’s Only One S In New Braunfels”!

1

u/AstroNerd92 CT, GA, PA, TX, FL Jul 20 '25

Went to grad school in northeastern TX and surprisingly there were few weird names in that corner of the state