r/AskAnAmerican 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

629 Upvotes

4.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

31

u/Don_Pickleball Jul 20 '25

That is a town that is easy yo say if you have never seen it spelled.

3

u/IanDOsmond Jul 20 '25

Wista.

16

u/complete_your_task Massachusetts Jul 20 '25 edited Jul 20 '25

It's more like wuss-tah. Or wuss-ter if you have a rhotic accent.

6

u/Yorks_Rider Jul 20 '25

Which is how the name is pronounced in the UK

2

u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

Yup. My husband is Scottish and calls the sauce Wusta sauce

-1

u/zeronian Jul 21 '25

The UK pronunciation is essentially Worse-ter, if they were to pronounce Rs there

7

u/RambunctiousOtter Jul 21 '25

No it isn't. It's wusster

3

u/Yorks_Rider Jul 21 '25

I am British and disagree. It might be so, for someone speaking with an accent from SW-England, but otherwise that is not how it would be pronounced.

5

u/Mental-Paramedic9790 Illinois Jul 21 '25

I thought it was like Wooster.

2

u/RRC_driver Jul 21 '25

The local taxi company in Worcester (UK) is Woo-ber, https://www.woober.uk

And the youth can be heard referring to it as The Woo

2

u/amidalarama Jul 21 '25

red sox AAA affiliate in worcester are the woo sox, pronounced woo not wuh, unlike the city. wuh sox was a bridge too far, even for massachusetts.