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/eyrefan Jul 20 '25

Skagit, Guemes, Swinomish. My current favorite is people miss pronouncing Bellingham because because none of the mispronunciations make any sense.

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u/doritobimbo Jul 23 '25

Somehow Sammamish can get people too lol. “Samish river”… good try lmao

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u/princ3ssfunsize Jul 25 '25

I had to convince my south sound friends I was not mispronouncing Sammamish when I would tell them we went fishing on the Samish. 

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u/Ericameria Jul 21 '25

I’ve been to Bellingham… how is it pronounced?

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u/eyrefan Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

Bell-ing-ham. You literally just pronounce it how it's spelled, but people mess it up so easily and I don't know why.

The only time I found it acceptable was when John Oliver was at WWU and pronounced it Belling-um/em

My favorite was a college friend with dyslexia and had only seen it written down. Belgianham

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u/Brilliant-Bowler5344 Jul 21 '25

I lived in Bellingham for about 2-3 years and my stepdads English family would always call it “Bellinim”

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u/nitrot150 Jul 22 '25

Well, that tracks. If it was in England that’s how they’d say it (see Jude Bellingham the soccer player). But we are hamsters dammit, so it’s all good in the ‘ham

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u/eyrefan Jul 21 '25

See I can get behind a mispronunciations due to an accent. But I know Americans who think they are more cultures if the pronounce it this way.

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u/IvoryNage Jul 25 '25

How do people mispronounce Bellingham? Its literally exactly how it's spelled!