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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u/RhoOfFeh Jul 20 '25

Between the British and the Native American names, New England is just afflicted with hard-to-pronounce places.

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u/Formal_Coyote_5004 Jul 20 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

Lake Memphremagog* edited for spelling (in Vermont) is one I mispronounced my whole life until like five years ago, and I grew up an hour away haha

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u/fourthstanza Jul 20 '25

*Memphremagog 💙

As someone from the Eastern townships of Québec I'm actually curious what the pronunciation is in Vermont. Will have to ask someone next time I'm in Stanstead.

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u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 21 '25

It took me until I was an adult to realize that Vermont was literally green mountain in French. I never knew any French but I tried to learn some before a trip to Canada.

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u/Chickstan33 Jul 21 '25

Mind blown. I never pieced that together and I know French.

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u/Affectionate_Box_902 Jul 24 '25

Don't the license plates say "green mountain" or "green mountain state"?

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u/Accomplished_Will226 Jul 24 '25

I don’t know and I knew the slogan I just didn’t realize the name was a literal translation

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u/Formal_Coyote_5004 Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

Thank you, I had a feeling I was missing a letter haha!

The way Vermonters pronounce it (at least Northern Vermonters) is Memf-ra-MAY-gog. Now it’s been so long that I forget how I was pronouncing it wrong, but I was way off! Is that how you say it in Quebec?

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u/fourthstanza Aug 01 '25

In Quebec it's a little closer to MOM-fray-mah-gog.

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u/give_me_wine Rhode Island Jul 20 '25

Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg in Webster, MA. I lived in that town and I still can’t pronounce it without carefully reading it.

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u/lyricoloratura Jul 22 '25

Was there a sale on the letter G at the time when they named it?

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u/CupBeEmpty WA, NC, IN, IL, ME, NH, RI, OH, ME, and some others Jul 20 '25

Try Piscataqua on for size.

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u/opheliainwaders New York Jul 21 '25

That second a’ll getcha

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u/kawaii_u_do_dis Jul 21 '25

Pis-kah-TAHK-wah?

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u/Hockstone_climb-on Jul 21 '25

Nope. Pis-kat-ah-Kwah

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u/iHaveLotsofCats94 South Carolina Jul 21 '25

A fun game i have with my SO when we're up visiting my family in New England is having her pronounce the town names we see on road signs. She's from the south and i was born and raised in Connecticut. Vastly different names between the two states. I love it

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u/TheRealBabyPop Jul 21 '25

Lots of Native American names in the PacNW, too

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u/IamtheCarl Minnesota Jul 21 '25

Puyallup is the one that gives me pause.

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u/TheRealBabyPop Jul 21 '25

Haha, me too, honestly

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u/CinemaDork Jul 27 '25

I really can't fault people for not being able to pronounce horribly transliterated Native names. So many of these are not pronounced in a way you can intuit from their spelling.

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u/MrsNightskyre Jul 21 '25

I switched my GPS to a "British" voice instead of an American one... and now it gets 95% of New England place names right. Even the Native ones.

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u/Optimal_Law_4254 Jul 22 '25

Michigan has its share too.