Skip to main content

When trains traverse varying regions, the pronunciations vary too.  How many ways are there to say "Kanawha"?  Only one.  But you almost have to be from there to know.  

Here in New England we have the Berkshire Mountains.  People from other parts of the country say "Berk-ShIre"... like Hobbits live there.  But it's pronounced: "BERKshear"  or "BERKshur".  NEVER "Berk-ShIre".

There's a railroad in the Midwest that was called the Pere Marquette.  I recently heard it called the Pierre Marquette!  WHAT?!

Pere Marquette was named for the French Jesuit missionary "Father Jacques Marquette".  There's no "Pierre" in there.  Anywhere.

"Pere" is pronounced like the fruit: "pear".

Jon  

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Not long after the breakup up of Conrail; I can recollect a conversation with a former NS account manager who referred to the “Juanita” shops in Altoona.  Of course; it’s spelled Juniata and pronounced “joo-nee-atta.

In a similar vein and relevant to this topic only because it involved a railroad man; I had several Canadian Pacific people in Carlsbad, NM for a potash mine visit.  While having dinner that evening; the waitress asked if we wanted dessert.  One of the guys from Montreal said he’d like a piece of (and I’m spelling this phonetically) - peecan pie.  The waitress looked at him and said “huh”?  He repeated “a piece of peecan pie please”.  She said “hold on” and came back with two other waitresses; asking him to repeat his order for their benefit.  When he did; all three started laughing and our waitress told him “hon; around here it’s pronounced (again phoenetically) - peekahn.”

Curt

Some people study linguistics at the graduate level.  Funded studies provide expenses for students to travel parts of the US of A with a list of words and a voice recorder.  People from various parts of the US are asked to read aloud the words on the list in what could be referred to as their native colloquialism.  Those audio tapes are then reviewed at the end of the semester.  John in Lansing, ILL

Sometimes it depends on your local dialect as well. Here in Northern Illinois we used to have a horse farm / park called ShIreland.

We also add the letter "S" to every grocery store even if it doesn't have an "S". I'm going down to the Jewels to pick up some grocery.

Just don't pronounce the "S" in our state name.

 

Last edited by BNSF-Matt

Gary, I pronounce Worcester "WOO-ster" like boogie.  Andre, I have always said "WASH-i-ta".  Are those correct?

Railroaders on the D&RGW used a long I in Rio Grande: RY-oh-Grand.  Never pronounce the silent e in Grande.  Here are a few other local pronunciations for railroad locations:

Dalies, NM  =  Dal-EEZ     Waynoka, OK  =  Wye-NO-kuh or One-OH-kuh       Gallup, NM  =  Gallop (like a horse's gait)

 

Last edited by Number 90
RoyBoy posted:

Monon.

I'll not sit here and be called a Monon! Where's the uh-lurt button???

So, how does one say Monon?

superwarp1 posted:

How about Worcester Mass.   Is it WOR-Cester or is it WO-R-cester.  Only us who live in mass know for sure and the end of the line on the old B&A now CSX.

Huh. I thought it was something along the lines of WUH-stuh? Anyway, that's how I remember my college roommate saying it. Unless he was talking about some totally different place? I kid from Mizzuruh can have trouble with some of these things!

 

Tom:

Quite good!

"WASH uh taw" is the local pronunciation. I live in the Quachita Mountain region... in the town of (are you ready for another one?): Poteau.

Worcester:

Way back in my dark ages (when my hair was dark... yup, I had hair once) I was driving a truck headed for Armpit, MA or someplace. Was wondering how far I had to go, so while at a truck stop on on the western edge of MA I asked a local how far it was to "Wore ces ter". The guy looked at me funny... asking... "Where??". I pronounced it again "WORE CES TER". He explained there WASN'T such a place. I countered there was... so I produced my map Atlas and pointed to the place.

He burst out laughing at my hillbilly dialect and said "Oh! You mean WUSter!"... well WUSter is only about another (how ever many miles)!"

Guess I gave him a good laugh.

Andre

nickaix posted:
superwarp1 posted:

How about Worcester Mass.   Is it WOR-Cester or is it WO-R-cester.  Only us who live in mass know for sure and the end of the line on the old B&A now CSX.

Huh. I thought it was something along the lines of WUH-stuh? Anyway, that's how I remember my college roommate saying it. Unless he was talking about some totally different place? I kid from Mizzuruh can have trouble with some of these things!

Nickaix, you're correct. If you lack a Boston accent, as I fortunately do, then WUH-stir is allowable.

To Melgar's comment, grammar does not equal pronunciation and/or dialect.

And to Alan's comment, surely you're joking.

The once great Bill Cosby had a good bit comparing Europeans' ability to speak multiple languages vs. Americans'. "I speak Mississippi."

OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

nope...for real....

Uh, Alan, AP style calls for a space before and after the ellipsis (space period period period space), therefore:
"nope ... for real ..."

(FWIW, the Chicago Manual of Style calls for: space period space period space period space, therefore: "nope . . . for real . . ." Since you're in the publishing world, I assume that you use AP style.)

:-)

Back to the original topic. Tripoli Road in northern New Hampshire is pronounced "triple-eye," because it is named after the mineral Tripoli—again, triple-eye—which is also known as diatomaceous earth. If you follow that link you will see that the Livermore Tripoli Company was service by the Woodstock and Thornton Gore RR.

Last edited by Matt_GNo27
Matt_GNo27 posted:
OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

nope...for real....

Uh, Alan, AP style calls for a space before and after the ellipsis (space period period period space), therefore:
"nope ... for real ..."

(FWIW, the Chicago Manual of Style calls for: space period space period space period space, therefore: "nope . . . for real . . ." Since you're in the publishing world, I assume that you use AP style.)

:-)

We use "FREE Style" GHEEEZZZZ. 

said.  I missed my stop at that English town that made the news for the Russian poisoning (the closest railstop for Stonehenge) because the Cockney accent of the conductor might as well have been Swahili.  (I have also heard Stonehenge argued as ponounced "stone HEDGE") Those local yokel waitresses should have been politer to Canadian guests in our country.  Although l got rude treatment at a Quebec visitor center back in the "French power" era.

juniata guy posted:

Tom:

i went to college in “Picksburg” as some of the locals called it so I’ll try to give you Monongahela phonetically.

Muh-non-ga-haaluh 

Curt

Muh-non-ga-hay-luh    which meets the Ohio and Yock-uh-gainey rivers at Picksburg.   Where you can get a bottle of pop, tie things up with gum bands and one time they painted up the jolly trolley in purty kellers.    And when you spill pop in the Frigidaire  you wipe it up with towel papers. 

Too few people understand that the sounds come first and the spelling--often imperfectly--comes afterwards.  For one thing, there are 40 or 42 discrete phonemes in the English Language, but there are only 26 letters in the alphabet (and 3 of them are more-or-less useless).  For another, pronunciation changes as the years pass, but spellings tend to fossilize.  Finally, the vocabulary of Modern English stems from a large variety of languages, many of whom have entirely different phonetic/phonemic patterns.  And the icing on the cake is that different dialects of English change in different ways at different times (though modern broadcast media are leveling the process somewhat).

superwarp1 posted:
OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

Just be nice guys...already have had an alert....

Really, some people need to give it a rest and you can report me if your that vain.

How about Worcester Mass.   Is it WOR-Cester or is it WO-R-cester.  Only us who live in mass know for sure and the end of the line on the old B&A now CSX.

I always thought it was: 

Paak da ca  in Wooosta, 

Take da train ta Havad Yad.

Number 90 posted:

What's the correct pronunciation for the Monongahela Railroad?

In Monongalia County you will find the Monongahela River that passes between Morgantown & Westover, West Virginia.

As stated above Monongahela is pronounced Muh-non-ga-hay'-luh.  Monongalia would be pronounced like Muh-non-ga'-le-a.  I live in western Pa., so I have a bunch of words that are messed up.

D.

Hartman posted:
Number 90 posted:

What's the correct pronunciation for the Monongahela Railroad?

In Monongalia County you will find the Monongahela River that passes between Morgantown & Westover, West Virginia.

As stated above Monongahela is pronounced Muh-non-ga-hay'-luh.  Monongalia would be pronounced like Muh-non-ga'-le-a.  I live in western Pa., so I have a bunch of words that are messed up.

D.

what're yinz talkin abaat?

hokie71 posted:

Can't believe this one has not come up yet: how is Norfolk and Southern pronounced?  

(Of course you know that there is actually no "and".)  I keep hearing it pronounced Nor-fork-n-Southern by my fellow Texan railroaders, including many who have a lot of education.

In Virginia, they surely pronounce it differently.

Last edited by Number 90
Number 90 posted:

(Of course you know that there is actually no "and".)

There used to be: History of the Norfolk & Southern

"Owners of the EC&N soon formed plans to extend the line southward. They changed the name of the company to Norfolk Southern Railroad Company on February 1st, 1883 to indicate this. The company entered receivership in 1889 and emerged as the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Company in 1891. At the same time, the Ablemarle and Pantego Railroad became part of the new company. That railroad ran from Mackey's Ferry, NC (now known as Mackeys) through Pantego to Belhaven, NC. It also operated a ferry service from Mackey's Ferry across Albemarle Sound to Edenton, where it connected with the N&S."

Last edited by smd4
smd4 posted:
Number 90 posted:

(Of course you know that there is actually no "and".)

There used to be: History of the Norfolk & Southern

"Owners of the EC&N soon formed plans to extend the line southward. They changed the name of the company to Norfolk Southern Railroad Company on February 1st, 1883 to indicate this. The company entered receivership in 1889 and emerged as the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Company in 1891. At the same time, the Ablemarle and Pantego Railroad became part of the new company. That railroad ran from Mackey's Ferry, NC (now known as Mackeys) through Pantego to Belhaven, NC. It also operated a ferry service from Mackey's Ferry across Albemarle Sound to Edenton, where it connected with the N&S."

Yes, interesting history but, that doesn't have anything to do with the current Norfolk Southern, which was a result of the merger between the Norfolk And Western Rwy and the Southern Railway.

Hot Water posted:
smd4 posted:
Number 90 posted:

(Of course you know that there is actually no "and".)

There used to be: History of the Norfolk & Southern

"Owners of the EC&N soon formed plans to extend the line southward. They changed the name of the company to Norfolk Southern Railroad Company on February 1st, 1883 to indicate this. The company entered receivership in 1889 and emerged as the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Company in 1891. At the same time, the Ablemarle and Pantego Railroad became part of the new company. That railroad ran from Mackey's Ferry, NC (now known as Mackeys) through Pantego to Belhaven, NC. It also operated a ferry service from Mackey's Ferry across Albemarle Sound to Edenton, where it connected with the N&S."

Yes, interesting history but, that doesn't have anything to do with the current Norfolk Southern, which was a result of the merger between the Norfolk And Western Rwy and the Southern Railway.

I never said it did.

dkdkrd posted:
Richie C. posted:

And in Mass don't forget Peabody and Woburn.

Yepper.....and my Brother-in-Law is from Athol, Mass.!   

He has a lot of fun with that among his friends down in Foriduh ...where "Venice" (home) is, thankfully, pronounced consistently well....even by Canadians and Canadiens.

Actually, I was born in Athol about  - #$^())dh(*^$# - years ago (well, in the early '50's) and we moved out when I was 12.

Small world - was your B-I-L born there ?

J Daddy posted:

Well let us not forget these: 

Image result for bucyrus crane

Bucyrus... built in Bucyrus Ohio...

And the Cuyahoga RR

Image result for Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

And Schenectady NY...

 

 

Image result for schenectady ny station

Worcester Massachusetts: 

Image result for Worcester Massachusetts railroad pics

Kissimmee, Florida:

 

Related image

And let us not even talk about Towns and cities in Hawaii !

 

Times up !

 

1) Bew Ci Rus  Ohio

2) KY- ya -HOH - ga    Ohio

3) SKa Neck ta ti  New York

4)  Wuu - ster Massachusetts

5) Kas sim mee  Florida

Living in a major metropolitan broadcasting area, what can be even more surprising is sometimes hearing tv and radio personalities who are obviously transplants to the area, mispronouncing some of our local rail lines commuter stops. As professionals, it's hard to believe they wouldn't check such pronounciations beforehand since they're most likely aware that not all names can be pronounced phonetically, especially since here in S.E. Pennsylvania, many are names derived from various American Indian tribes who populated the area. At times, even the voices in GPS units mispronounce some street names and towns.

Last edited by ogaugeguy

I live near Rolla, MO:  that's Rah-Luh, thankyouverymuch ;-)

It is actually named after Raleigh, NC, which, when some of the original settlers in this area departed there to come here, was pronounced the same way, inherited from the English (as in England English) pronunciation.  But they warnt gud spellerz.

Andre, maybe I was wrong about Worcester.  It could be "Wister" instead of "Wistah".  As a lifelong Central MA resident, I can tell you for sure Worcester ain't pronounced "Wuuster",  "Wooster" or "Worchester" (at least, in "these parts").

Here's another brain teaser for you Forum members.  How do you pronounce the name of the town immediately West of Worcester, Leicester?

John

sxe60 posted:
ratpak posted:

 

Lawn Guylynn.

Lawn doesn't end with a g and  Guylynn doesn't end with a d

 

rat

 

 

Wonder how many realize you're quoting Brooklynese for Long Island?

Most New Yorkers (myself included, if I don't make a conscious effort to clearly enunciate my words) drop terminal consonants all together. Thus you get "a glass a watah" or a "hamburgah".  

The most common pronunciation I ever heard is all run together as in  "lawngilynn", but with the "g" in the middle barely sounded out.

In my experience, "LawnGuylynnD" was almost exclusively used by my Jewish friends and neighbors. They tended to emphasize all consonants when speaking. Note that the terminal D is also stressed.

 

KOOLjock1 posted:

When trains traverse varying regions, the pronunciations vary too.  How many ways are there to say "Kanawha"?  Only one.  But you almost have to be from there to know.  

Here in New England we have the Berkshire Mountains.  People from other parts of the country say "Berk-ShIre"... like Hobbits live there.  But it's pronounced: "BERKshear"  or "BERKshur".  NEVER "Berk-ShIre".

There's a railroad in the Midwest that was called the Pere Marquette.  I recently heard it called the Pierre Marquette!  WHAT?!

Pere Marquette was named for the French Jesuit missionary "Father Jacques Marquette".  There's no "Pierre" in there.  Anywhere.

"Pere" is pronounced like the fruit: "pear".

Jon  

I love the Notch 6 Podcast but he is guilty of this in almost every episode.  It drives me crazy. 

Nick Chillianis posted:
Big Jim posted:
rattler21 posted:

How did JFK get Cuber out of Cuba?  John in Lansing, ILL

The same way NBCSN's Leigh Diffey got Chiner out of China and NFL announcers get Jagwires out of Jaguar!

I watch a lot of BBC and note that the Brits pronounce Jaguar like "JAG-you-are". Common American pronunciation seems to be "JAG-wahr"

Brian Redman will say Jag-you-wahr, 95% of US sports announcers say Jag-wire. The Brits and Aussies seem to put the "r" on words ending in "a".

As for Juniata, my friend that lived there pronounced it Joo-nee-at-ah.

Last edited by Big Jim

That's because Juniata is based off of an American Indian name and not a Latin based name... no silent J

Jag - that's the way we say it here in the motor city... non of the   jag - u - lar or shag - wire  stuff

Yeah Pierre is a buddy of mine but not the railroad that came through Plymouth Michigan when I was a kid...

Last edited by J Daddy
juniata guy posted:

Not long after the breakup up of Conrail; I can recollect a conversation with a former NS account manager who referred to the “Juanita” shops in Altoona.  Of course; it’s spelled Juniata and pronounced “joo-nee-atta.

In a similar vein and relevant to this topic only because it involved a railroad man; I had several Canadian Pacific people in Carlsbad, NM for a potash mine visit.  While having dinner that evening; the waitress asked if we wanted dessert.  One of the guys from Montreal said he’d like a piece of (and I’m spelling this phonetically) - peecan pie.  The waitress looked at him and said “huh”?  He repeated “a piece of peecan pie please”.  She said “hold on” and came back with two other waitresses; asking him to repeat his order for their benefit.  When he did; all three started laughing and our waitress told him “hon; around here it’s pronounced (again phoenetically) - peekahn.”

Curt

Southerners haven't come to a consensus about pecan pie depending on where you are from. The further south, it is peecan, closer to VA, it becomes peekahn. North Carolina, where I live, is split. I call it peecan, as they do in the east, but the piedmont and west prefer peekahn. Drives my wife crazy when I keep pronouncing it my way.

Another interesting NC town - Bahama, outside Durham. It is pronounced ba hame a. 

Dave:

"Lets talk about trains not how somebody mispronounced a word."

Not a problem:

1. Click to unsubscribe if subscribed: Problem solved.

2. Don't click to read if not subscribed: Problem solved.

As for me, I do like to know how to regionally pronounce a name within a region I'm interested in. So, there has been some helpful stuff herein.

Obviously, one's mileage may vary.

Andre

Dave, I'm sorry if anything I posted offended you.  I thought this thread was one of the most "light-hearted" I have ever read.  Just folks poking some fun at regional differences in dialect, no ill will intended.  Like some other members, I also have found this thread interesting and I like to pronounce words the way the locals prefer.  I think it's a sign of respect.

Wish I could count the number of jabs people have taken at my Yankee accent.  Gotta go now, to "pahk the caa" in the garage.

John

david1 posted:

Everybody here says certain words in a way they were taught and the culture they grew up in. 

 I don't  care how I say a word, it may be correct or it may not but if your offended again I don't care, keep your thoughts to yourself.

Lets talk about trains not how somebody mispronounced a word.

Dave

Curmudgeon = cur·mudg·eon kərˈməjən/

Sorry, too easy.   All in fun guys.

 

Add Reply

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×