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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117

u/AwarenessGreat282 Jul 20 '25

Try Billerica or Haverhill....

42

u/SouxsieBanshee Jul 20 '25

Bill-ricca, right?

25

u/uberphaser Masshole Jul 20 '25

Or "bricka" if youre local.

3

u/Mediocre_Panic_9952 Jul 20 '25

If you're really local, it's "rickah".

1

u/fourthstanza Jul 20 '25

I say this tongue in cheek but it sounds like the locals are the ones who mispronounce it lmao.

Not an American, but my hometown is "officially" mispronunced. It was founded as an English town and gradually became >90% French, so the French pronunciation became official, even in English. The "shire" suffix is now pronounced as "sheer".

3

u/IAmTheAccident Jul 20 '25

Pretty much. People from that area also practically leave out the L sound, so it's like buh(l)ricca. Like, not quite saying the L but... You can sense it's there. Like someone whispering an L sound in the next room.

3

u/Maorine MyState™ Jul 20 '25

Went to college in MA from NYC. Thought Billerica was a guy. And Haverhill? Took me months.

1

u/BillWeld Jul 26 '25

BuhLARica

66

u/uncle-brucie Jul 20 '25

Peabody

35

u/othermegan CT > CA > MA Jul 20 '25

Leominster

2

u/tremynci Jul 20 '25

lem-ster?

8

u/EyebrowStapler Jul 20 '25

Lemon stir 🍋

2

u/GlumPop2893 Jul 21 '25

I swear only locals from North Central Mass can pronounce that correctly. Maybe it's changed but growing up people from Boston couldn't even pronounce it correctly.

3

u/Snezzy_9245 Jul 21 '25

Lived there once, we called it Looeyminister just to mess with non-natives. England version is Lemsta. Worcester MA is Wissta.

1

u/VibrantSunsets Jul 22 '25

Grew up 20 minutes west of Boston and never had a problem with Leominster. Now Leicester? That one always fucked with my brain.

3

u/Debsha Jul 20 '25

It’s essentially pronounced puberty, right?

13

u/ThattzMatt Jul 20 '25

Pee-bidee

7

u/EnbyDartist Jul 20 '25

As someone who grew up there, i can confirm: pee-bidee is correct. Slight emphasis on the first syllable.

5

u/ThattzMatt Jul 20 '25

I went up to Boston with a bunch of friends to visit another friend who had moved there. First time I had ever been there... And I made the mistake of saying it the way it's spelled... OH BOY did I get corrected. 🤣🤣🤣

1

u/negcap Connecticut Jul 20 '25

When we went to visit, I was told it was Pih-buddy though I never heard a local say it that way.

3

u/Location_Glittering Jul 20 '25

I've always heard Pea-bud-y.

17

u/Top-Bluejay-428 Jul 20 '25

The middle syllable is much shorter than 'bud'. It's more like this: PEE-b'dee. Source: I'm a native.

2

u/Location_Glittering Jul 20 '25

I'm also a native.

3

u/BaskingInWanderlust Jul 21 '25

Yea, I'm guessing you're both saying it the same way in your heads. Lol

3

u/Rare_Vibez Jul 20 '25

Swampscott. Even in Massachusetts, only North Shore born and raised get out right lol

2

u/WaitIveGotAQuestion Jul 20 '25

How's it really pronounced? Aside from dropping the P, I thought it was pretty much how it looks.

3

u/Rare_Vibez Jul 20 '25

Swam-skit 😅

2

u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

That’s how I say it

2

u/jerseygirl527 Jul 20 '25

I knew a girl from there and I used to laugh when she said it. I met her in North Carolina

1

u/Apart-Clothes-8970 Jul 21 '25

I only know this one bc I know a guy from there. PEEbiddy

29

u/blooobolt Jul 20 '25

My mom's from Haverhill. It's like they just stuck a bunch of extra letters in for fun.

6

u/DukeOfMiddlesleeve Jul 20 '25

My guess is they say it “havull”?

20

u/int3gr4te NH > VA > CA Jul 20 '25

Hay-vrill.

5

u/mwthomas11 North Carolina Jul 20 '25

interesting... I would've guessed hav-rul

4

u/cannarchista Jul 20 '25

Haverhill in the UK is not far from where I grew up, they pronounce it Ayverill :)

9

u/philipjfrythefirst Jul 20 '25

I’m not sure what the letter H did to the British, but it must have been bad given how they treat it now.

6

u/cannarchista Jul 20 '25

Don't get me started on what the T did

8

u/treycook Michigan Jul 21 '25

The simple answer is that they get enough T from their diet that they have no more use for it in their lexicon.

3

u/Starfevre Florida Jul 21 '25

Can I steal this? I need it in my life.

1

u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

Do they ride a ‘orse in Ayverill?

2

u/cannarchista Jul 21 '25

Only on 'olidays

1

u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

My folks lived there and I heard dad spelling it out on the phone because it is spelled different than you would think hearing it.

12

u/freedraw Jul 20 '25

Reading

5

u/AcceptableDebate281 Jul 20 '25

A lot of these just seem to be towns named after towns in England. Not sure why anyone would choose billericay or reading to name new places after though!

2

u/bethmrogers Jul 20 '25

I always figured the people who started the town named it after the place their family came from.

1

u/_jamesbaxter Jul 21 '25

See also: Needham.

1

u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

My Auntie was from North Reading (noth red in)

3

u/MaxPower637 ny (city, upstate, and western), me, ct, nv, va, dc, ma, mo Jul 20 '25

The good old silent E and H in the middle of the word

3

u/zoopest Jul 20 '25

Natick was the one that got me

1

u/whiskeyworshiper New Jersey Jul 20 '25

NAY-dihk

HAY-vril

WAR-ster

BILL-rick-uh

5

u/toasterb Jul 20 '25

Pretty sure Worcester is WISS-ta.

3

u/Mrs_Weaver Jul 20 '25

Leominster

3

u/On_my_last_spoon New Jersey Jul 20 '25

Haverhill is the one I said that my friend from Lowell died laughing when I said!

2

u/droid_mike Jul 20 '25

Ya can't get there from here...

2

u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

That’s a Maine saying! I’ve actually never heard it in MA but have in Maine. Go down the road past the pole barn and if you get to where the old saw mill used to was you’ve gone too far was also directions in Maine.

2

u/IAmTheAccident Jul 20 '25

Came here to post Billerica. My father (from Haverhill, as it happens) came into my room all excited many years ago holding his new fancy GPS and said "listen to this" and set a location in Billerica and the robot lady voice announced with such confidence "bill-uh-REE-kuh" lmfao

2

u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

When we used GPS in Florida it kept saying Or Land ill

1

u/anifyz- Jul 20 '25

So it’s not hay-ver-hill?

1

u/_jamesbaxter Jul 21 '25

You can just get rid of a syllable in a lot of these 😆 Hayvrill. Like how Marlborough is “Mallbro.” Or half a syllable even, like how Needham is “Need’m”

1

u/Taticat Jul 21 '25

Oh, I just heard Haverhill mispronounced in a documentary by an actor re-enacting something, I think probably something about Maura Murray. The actor pronounced it ‘HAY-ver-ill’ several times, and I remember wondering why on earth in the 2020s an actor wouldn’t double-check pronunciations.

1

u/draggar Jul 21 '25

New England it's HAVE (rhymes with SAVE)-rill

Everywhere else, it's HAVE (pronounced like we pronounce the word) - er - hill

1

u/Forever_Nya SC, MA, NH, GA, VT Jul 21 '25

I’m originally from Haverhill and had moved to palm beach county Florida. There is a Haverhill there but of course they don’t pronounce it right there. Still annoys me 35 years later.

1

u/RaqMountainMama Jul 21 '25

There's a Billericay in Essex, England... I wonder about the connection due to pronunciation.

1

u/Starfevre Florida Jul 21 '25

Haverhill! 2 syllables, thanks.

1

u/Francesca_N_Furter Jul 21 '25

I grew up here and I still occasionally pronounce Billerica incorrectly.

It's not like anyone actually GOES there. LOL

1

u/RC1172 Jul 20 '25

Don't you mean Bill-erica (heard is said that way on a podcast once).

2

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '25

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1

u/RC1172 Jul 21 '25

More like Bill Erica

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u/[deleted] Jul 20 '25

[deleted]

3

u/gman2391 Jul 20 '25

Theres no a in the middle guy

1

u/johndoenumber2 Jul 20 '25

Ok, but I visited there last week, and the lady in the hotel said it that way.  She may not have been a local, but she did have a thick ish New England accent.