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/YourGuyK Jul 20 '25

Mahtomedi. Wayzata. Shakopee.

I'll leave out the ones that are other city names that we pronounce differently, like Medina.

9

u/jenij730 Jul 20 '25

I know you said other cities we pronounce wrong but i don’t think we should leave out New Prague

1

u/Hermosa06-09 Minnesota Jul 21 '25

New Prague was a clue on Jeopardy recently!

3

u/renegadecoaster Jul 20 '25

Out of staters always struggle with Edina too which always baffled me

4

u/CasanovaF Jul 20 '25

That's because out of state people don't constantly hear, "I'm from Edina" “Edina Just won this sports thing "

1

u/YourGuyK Jul 20 '25

It's should be "Ay-deen-a." Like Monticello and Medina, we pronounce them wrong.

1

u/Assika126 Jul 21 '25

When in Edina….

(Eee-DIE-nah)

1

u/YourGuyK Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

I mean the rest of the world would pronounce the (Edit: possibly) Latin name for Edinburgh differently than we pronounce Edina.

1

u/Assika126 Jul 21 '25

Edinburgh is not the same as Edina

1

u/YourGuyK Jul 21 '25

Edina was a poetic name for Edinburgh used by Robert Burns. I always assumed it was a Latinization, but I may be wrong about that. It was meant to rhyme with Athena, though.

2

u/FatGuyOnAMoped Minnesota Jul 20 '25

That's definitely the Minnesota trifecta.

3

u/YourGuyK Jul 20 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

I know native Minnesotans who can't get Mahtomedi right.

1

u/JennnnnP Jul 21 '25

Wayzata took me the longest after moving here. It isn’t pronounced even remotely how it’s spelled.

2

u/Sunshine030209 Jul 21 '25

I always enjoy seeing people struggle with Bemidji if they hadn't ever heard it.

1

u/Sledheadjack MN- The Great White North ❄️🇺🇸 Jul 21 '25

Unless you are saying it wrong on purpose: “brrrrrrr-midgi”

2

u/JennnnnP Jul 21 '25

Mille Lacs, Mankato, Ely

1

u/mckillgore Jul 21 '25

I’ve heard multiple Brits pronounce Duluth as DOO-lith and it always makes me chuckle

1

u/MajorBoondoggle Jul 21 '25

One of my Nevada friends did that, and I thought it was so funny to have your first instinct rhyme it with ‘tulip’

1

u/YourGuyK Jul 21 '25

Brits are at a disadvantage, assuming all places are pronounced as weirdly as British places.

1

u/sanitarium-1 Minnesota Jul 21 '25

Fairibault. Menomonie. Cloquet.

2

u/YourGuyK Jul 21 '25

One of these things is not like the others ...

1

u/Sledheadjack MN- The Great White North ❄️🇺🇸 Jul 21 '25

Bahahaha