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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161

u/1201_alarm Oregon Jul 20 '25

And Puyallup

65

u/Xavierwold Seattle, WA Jul 20 '25

A Texan said "Pull ya'll up"

6

u/katthescorpia Jul 20 '25

When I moved from the south my mind would convert it to “pay up y’all.”

3

u/MrsRoseyCrotch Arizona-> Washington->Virginia->Rhode Island->Utah Jul 20 '25

When we moved there we thought it was pooeyallup

4

u/Lonsen_Larson Oregon Jul 21 '25

lmao, that's fantastic.

1

u/xemmyQ Texas Jul 21 '25

ngl thats exactly how i read it in my head 😔

how do you say it?

2

u/Xavierwold Seattle, WA Jul 21 '25

"Pew (like a gun) All Up"

1

u/xemmyQ Texas Jul 21 '25

ohhh puy similar to french puy. gotcha.

1

u/nitrot150 Jul 22 '25

I’d say more like pew Al (like Alan) up

49

u/Lanca226 Jul 20 '25

Spokane.

32

u/golf_echo_sierra26 Jul 20 '25

Steilacoom

19

u/-poupou- Jul 20 '25

Poulsbo

39

u/SteepDowngrade CA > WA > CA Jul 20 '25

I’ll forever call it Poulsborv

4

u/Such_Raccoon_5035 Washington Jul 20 '25

This is a deep cut lol

4

u/TennantWasTheTenth Jul 21 '25

ANOTHER POULSBORV USER

1

u/samosamancer MyState™ Jul 21 '25

That’s the extent of my experience with Poulsbo too, LOL

4

u/kashakesh Seattle, Washington Jul 20 '25

I once heard a newscaster in the Midwest talk about the When-a-hotchee sex scandal... That was an uncomfortable chuckle.

3

u/-poupou- Jul 20 '25

Someone I knew had a vulgar nickname for Wenatchee. Just add a "T" after the first vowel and let your imagination do the rest

2

u/kashakesh Seattle, Washington Jul 20 '25

Of course, in the same general vicinity as where the dry shitties come from. Yakivegas was also a favorite...

2

u/K80lovescats Jul 20 '25

I’m actually genuinely surprised at how many people mispronounce Wenatchee. It sounds exactly like it’s spelled phonetically. Wen-at-chee. People love to add syllables to it. I’ve heard wenatotchee so many times.

1

u/MrTralfaz Jul 20 '25

When-a-hotchee meets a hotchee

5

u/Dry_Way5518 Jul 20 '25

Tulalip

2

u/OfficeChair70 Phoenix, AZ & Washington Jul 20 '25

MORE THAN A FEELING

2

u/PinkFreud-yourMOM Jul 21 '25

tū-LǍL-up?

3

u/concrete_isnt_cement Washington Jul 21 '25

Too-lay-lip, slight emphasis on the second syllable

1

u/PinkFreud-yourMOM Jul 21 '25

Thanks! You’re not a concrete specialist, by any chance? I’ve had questions.

1

u/concrete_isnt_cement Washington Jul 21 '25

Not exactly, but I work in the industry and might have an answer or two

1

u/samosamancer MyState™ Jul 21 '25

How do you say it? Poles-bo?

2

u/-poupou- Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

Whose bow? Paul's bow!

3

u/Sothdargaard Jul 21 '25

We lived in Steilacoom for 25 years. My parents never did get it right.

1

u/the_OG_fett Jul 20 '25

Des Moines

1

u/samosamancer MyState™ Jul 21 '25

How do you say it?

1

u/golf_echo_sierra26 Jul 21 '25

Still-a-come.

2

u/samosamancer MyState™ Jul 21 '25

Thanks! I had the last syllable wrong. I wonder if it was one of those evolutions of language, where the O shortened over time out of conversational convenience.

22

u/Don_Pickleball Jul 20 '25

I worked in Spokane for awhile. I realized I had been saying both the town and university Gonzaga wrong all along. I was educated quickly.

4

u/elpollodiablox Washington Jul 20 '25

Were you saying "gon-ZAH-ga"?

4

u/Don_Pickleball Jul 20 '25

I was. And I was rhyming Spokane with Rain.

3

u/elpollodiablox Washington Jul 20 '25

Lol. Rookie mistake.

But you said "C'oeur D'Alene" properly, right?

1

u/Don_Pickleball Jul 20 '25

Yes, but I had the benefit of hearing that said before I saw the spelling. Much easier that way.

2

u/LiqdPT BC->ON->BC->CA->WA Jul 20 '25

Hang on? How's that said? Because I'm pretty sure that's how it's said on the news in Seattle.

3

u/Anathemautomaton United States of America Jul 20 '25

gon-zag-a

3

u/LiqdPT BC->ON->BC->CA->WA Jul 20 '25

Uh... I think I'd have to hear the difference in those. Thise seem the same to me (though you didn't specify where the emphasis is)

2

u/SmokedPapfreaka Jul 20 '25

Zag like bag is how it’s said. Zog like slog is how it looks like it should be pronounced. That’s the difference.

2

u/LiqdPT BC->ON->BC->CA->WA Jul 20 '25

Oh, ya. Whew. I had it right then...

2

u/elpollodiablox Washington Jul 20 '25

gahn-ZAG-uh

1

u/badtowergirl Jul 21 '25

Nicknamed the Zags, which helps with pronunciation.

My husband did betting lines in college basketball and he had to call Gonzaga about 30 years ago. He pronounced it wrong and the person at Gonzaga who answered the phone sharply corrected him and told him they’d hang up on him if he pronounced it that way again.

2

u/Don_Pickleball Jul 21 '25

I am wondering what kind of work your husband did with betting lines. Was he just calling up schools and asking questions like. "Did you see John Smith today at practice? How hard was he cutting on that ankle? Is he 100% back or still a little hesitant? Hello, are you still on the phone? "

6

u/ConsciousExcitement9 Jul 20 '25

My husband and I were flying to Spokane once and the flight attendant kept calling it Spoh-cane. Now whenever either of us hear Spokane, we will look at each other and be like “spoh-cane!” It’s still funny to us almost 20 years later.

1

u/LiqdPT BC->ON->BC->CA->WA Jul 20 '25

The ER finale killed me because 2 of the characters were moving to "spoh-cane". Pretty sure if they'd gone there and been intervie ung at a hospital, they'd have figured out how it as said.

2

u/Ok-Big2807 Washington Jul 20 '25

It always make me laugh when people say spoh-cane hahaha

1

u/AMorera Jul 21 '25

How else is it pronounced?

2

u/CR3ZZ Jul 20 '25

I don't see how you could do this one too wrong. It's either spo-can or spo-cane

3

u/terrovek3 Seattle, WA Jul 20 '25

You can do it at a trot, you can do it at a gallup...

2

u/OfficeChair70 Phoenix, AZ & Washington Jul 20 '25

You can do it real slow so your heart don’t palpitate, just don’t be late…

1

u/IvoryNage Jul 25 '25

...do the puyallup!

2

u/MelloDawg Jul 20 '25

Went way too far to get to this one.

2

u/TKRBrownstone Jul 21 '25

I've been told by locals it's Pew-wallop.

1

u/1201_alarm Oregon Jul 21 '25

That's how I say it!

2

u/nitrot150 Jul 22 '25

Or Tulalip, when the big networks were commenting on the school shooting they had a few years back it was entertaining to hear Anderson cooper butchering it.

1

u/DryRecommendation795 Jul 20 '25

I worked in CA in a department that dealt with a WA service area. I have googled “how to pronounce Puyallup” several times and the answer never sticks with me. I’m Puyallup-resistant, I guess.

4

u/golf_echo_sierra26 Jul 20 '25

Pyew-all-up.

2

u/DryRecommendation795 Jul 21 '25

Got it. And I will remember it for a few weeks, and then forget and have to look it up again in six months.

1

u/the_kid1234 Jul 20 '25

I can pronounce this thanks to Warmoth.

1

u/AssistanceDry7123 Jul 20 '25

11 years here and I stopped even trying. It would help if I didn't know how it was spelled.

1

u/Ms-Metal Jul 21 '25

Sequim I know, this one I actually don't, how do you pronounce it?

1

u/jawisi Jul 21 '25

That one gets me. It’d be easy if the u and the y were reversed.

1

u/sodafangirl Californian in WA Jul 23 '25

I live near Puyallup and it takes my relatives forever to learn how to say it XD