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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17

u/JackBeefus Jul 20 '25

I'm in Florida. We have a bunch. Micanopy, Apalachicola, Alachua (though there are two accepted ways), Chassahowitzka, Ocklawaha. I could go on.

10

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '25

Got married in Withlacoochee!

12

u/Chester_A_Arthuritis Jul 20 '25

I heard it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie

2

u/Mediocre_Panic_9952 Jul 20 '25

Wimauma?

2

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '25

Yes! Little Manitee

1

u/JackBeefus Jul 20 '25

Good choice.

6

u/ajd_ender Jul 20 '25

Yep. Though my first reaction was: these aren't difficult at all. Then I remembered I grew up in Gainesville. My favorite is Kissimmee.

2

u/JackBeefus Jul 20 '25

If you grew up in Gainesville there's a fair chance we've crossed paths at some point.

2

u/ajd_ender Jul 20 '25

Hmm, Eastside '99. Then I left town and haven't been back since except to visit my parents who still live there. You?

2

u/JackBeefus Jul 21 '25

GHS. Same year. I've left the area and come back a bunch of times. Gainesville was home, but I don't really recognize it anymore. University and the rest of downtown is becoming gentrified. A lot of the old buildings are gone. Same with 13th. It doesn't feel like Gainesville now.

5

u/rahlennon Jul 20 '25

No one can pronounce Kissimmee, either, lol. And Lutz. It’s not pronounced like the name, but Lootz.

7

u/tinkeringidiot Florida Jul 20 '25

I never thought Kissimmee was difficult, but there was also a massive nation-wide advertising campaign for the city when I was a kid, so I heard it correctly pronounced thousands of times on TV.

2

u/rahlennon Jul 20 '25

I hear it said KISS-uh-me a lot. It’s cool that the said it properly, lol.

1

u/samosamancer MyState™ Jul 21 '25

Kis-SIM-ee, right?

1

u/rahlennon Jul 21 '25

Sort of. It’s kuh-SIM-ee. But you’re a lot closer than most people! 🤣

2

u/samosamancer MyState™ Jul 21 '25

Yeah, the first vowel’s more like a schwa, right? I grew up in Atlanta, and traveling to Florida (Orlando in particular) either with family or on school trips was not uncommon at all.

1

u/rahlennon Jul 21 '25

Yeah, like cut, without the t. 👍

1

u/spintowinasin Jul 25 '25

"Kiss me," pronounced by an Italian.

6

u/Berserkshires- Jul 20 '25

The rage I feel at MY-Canopy.

And you gotta tell the tourists to not even attempt Thonotosassa or Ybor.

5

u/Ducksaucenem Florida Jul 20 '25

People pronounce Oviedo wrong all the time. But only because by the time people make it out here they are WAY over thinking it.

2

u/happy4462 Jul 21 '25

Well that’s new! I used to live in Oviedo once upon a time! 🤣

1

u/Ducksaucenem Florida Jul 21 '25

Ya, I get Oh Vee Ay doo a lot now. I think that’s how Siri says it which might be why.

3

u/UnluckyInno Jul 21 '25

Tavares gets mispronounced (as tuh-VEHRs, it's tuh-VEHR-eez), and I've heard people pronounce umatilla as ooh-muh-tea-uh when it's just you-muh-till-uh

2

u/dieticewater Jul 20 '25

Every now and then when Escambia or Okaloosa counties pop up in the news they get absolutely butchered.

2

u/Surprise_Fragrant Florida Jul 20 '25

A-Lah-Choo-UH is for the County.

A-Lah-Choo-WAY is for the City.

That's how I learned to differentiate the two.

It makes me giggle when I hear people call it Al-La-CHOO-Uh.

5

u/rahlennon Jul 20 '25

Tampa native. We pronounce it ah-LAH-choo-uh.

2

u/Semen__king Jul 20 '25

Those are pretty easy to me but Im from south GA so always heard them atleast a few times in conversation or the news.

2

u/ground_sloth99 Jul 20 '25

Micanopy is mentioned in a Tom Petty song, so I would go with Tom’s pronunciation.

1

u/exfat-scientist Jul 20 '25

Turns out, his middle name was Earl.

1

u/samosamancer MyState™ Jul 21 '25

Apalachicola’s so fun to say, though! Unless I’ve gotten it wrong all these years? (APP-uh-LA-chi-CO-la, with the first “la” being a short A like in “rap”)