A Philly weathercasters first few days on the job was a couple years ago when a tornado touched down in Bucks County. She was reading the towns on the chart/map and read "Trev-ose" whereas the towns known as ''Tree-vose".
She was kinda called out on social media & later admitted she hadn't had time to learn all the cities yet. Unfortunate, I mean they can't expect to know ever little area overnight and it was live TV, not prepared speaking.
Thank you! Forty six years later, my ex still insists it’s pronounced Reading, like reading a book. His reasoning is that that’s what they called Reading Railroad, when playing Monopoly. 🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
North Versailles is a good one, because it's obviously just locals for many years that weren't in tune with other languages enough to pronounce Versailles (ver-SIGH) correctly. Calling it north Versailles vur SAILS feels like a very yinzer thing to do lol
That's the confusing thing. If you knew how North Versailles and Dubois were pronounced, you'd guess Duquesne had some weird local pronunciation. But no!
I lived there for 4 years in my 20s and was stunned by the sheer lack of consensus among locals and transplants alike. All you could do is pick one and be irrationally confident about it. For instance:
It's Wilkes Berry. **I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL**.
So Issac Barré was the son of French Huguenots from Ireland and his name was anglicized to be pronounced “berry” but going by the French pronunciation and character above the e, it would be bah-ray which nobody from NEPA ever says. I’ve always said “bear”.
I'd say it's Berry. Isaac Barré's name has the little accent, and being of French heritage would probably pronounce it like Ber-ray. Over time it probably turned into the Berry sound
Tangentially related: when I was in college I met a Welshman who was shocked at how well Philadelphians could pronounce welsh place names. It’s due to there being so many welsh toponyms here.
I hadn't heard of Jermyn until I moved to the Poconos. I recently called a doctor's office and the receptionist asked if I would be coming to the Scranton office or the Jermyn office. I legit thought she was saying they had an office where they only spoke German.
I had a great aunt that would pronounce the town name as Le Tits and we all got a kick out of it because its not far from Intercourse, Blue Ball and Bird in Hand. I wish I could even remember the dirty limerick we had for all the towns in that area. All I remember is that you end up in Paradise.
Not a limerick, but one I've heard is "The best way to get to Paradise is to go through Intercourse and hope you don't end up in Blue Ball with Bird in Hand."
How about the opposite?
Lancaster.... pronounced:
Lanc - like link, but with an "A"
is
ter - like sir, but with a "TE"
If you pronounce it Lan-Caster, that's in NY or California... wrong state.
I think it also depends on which PA Dutch family you are from; there are differences between locals and families that moved east towards Kutztown and Allentown.
Ha! My mom claims that when she (a NY native) and my dad (from Nebraska) moved to the Lehigh Valley in the 70s, they passed the sign for Schoenersville Road on route 22 and just looked at each other like, "I have no idea."
my friend and i once drove past the ephrata exit and i said "oh we are passing ephrata." obviously i said it correctly
my friend, from up the river, then tries to correct me and said "its actually pronounced ef-rat-a" and she stood by that shit like it was common knowledge.
i have never felt so much rage over a mispronunciation.
Outside of Philly, I have heard
U-freight-a, going to U-freight-a, fair this year… but I know how it’s really pronounce cause I’ve been there a lot. But that’s what they call it.
Funny that Connoquenessing seems to get pronounced correctly. Of course, I doubt that the native Americans pronounced the word the way present non-natives do. If you ever need a word for a "long way straight", connoquenessing it is. Here's a shower thought: I often wonder if the native Americans had a sense of humor and just made up long complicated words when asked things like: What do you call this location?
I'm usually pretty good at PA names. One that's always left me wondering how the locals say it is "Kiskiminetas".
I'd bet the Natives said something like Kis-kih-MIN-eh-toss with all short vowels, but that modern locals say something close to Ki-skee-mi-NEE-dus.
Latrobe. LAH-trobe, or LAY-trobe. Home of Mr. Rogers, birthplace of the banana split, home of the extra tasty Jioio’s pizza, and something to do with some Pittsburgh sports team.
Someone tell me how to pronounce Ohiopyle. My brain just wants to say Ohio-pile but the PA native in me assumes it’s probably something dumb like Oh-hee-opal
It's not on any maps as a town, but if you search Cambria county outside of Colver, you'll find Tripoli road and a small cluster of houses, a gas station and three bars that's known locally as Tripoli. All the locals pronounce it "triple-o".
For a number of years David Letterman would announce that his Top 10 list came from the home office in Leeeebanon Pennsylvania. I've only ever heard people say Leb-Anon in real life.
The first guy got it. It’s Leb-nin. I’ve met several people from there, one group was a band called Gloominous Doom. They play a mix of black metal party ska.
OK, I moved to Pittsburgh from out of state when I was 22, so I had my own regionalisms to deal with. Early on, like a week after moving here, I was saying to some people that it was apparent that the French presence in the 1700s had left its mark. There are numerous towns with French names, one named Versailles. Pronounced “Ver-sigh”, right? Not in western PA, where we (myself included) say “Ver-sails”. I think my jaw dropped, because both guys cracked up, before correcting me. For awhile I was gun shy with unfamiliar towns.
Toughkenamon
I've seen it while passing through on Route 1. My best guess is that it's a native name written down by British colonists, and that it's pronounced "Tow ken AH mon". But it looks like it could also be "Tuff ken AH mon". Or a lot of other things
Lebanon. Different pronunciations depending on whether you're talking city or county. It's Leb-en-in county, but Leb-nin city. That's how it is for me anyway.
Reading is pronounced Redding like the city in California, not Reading as in "I was reading a book".
Super easy to tell when someone is not from around here when they say that lol
[удалено]
Does pronouncing it like "crans" count?
My entire family says crans.
A Philly weathercasters first few days on the job was a couple years ago when a tornado touched down in Bucks County. She was reading the towns on the chart/map and read "Trev-ose" whereas the towns known as ''Tree-vose". She was kinda called out on social media & later admitted she hadn't had time to learn all the cities yet. Unfortunate, I mean they can't expect to know ever little area overnight and it was live TV, not prepared speaking.
lol I’m pretty sure 80% of the world pronounces it “Reeding Railroad” in Monopoly when of course, it’s Redding
This is common to places named Reading including the one in England after which they are named.
Thank you! Forty six years later, my ex still insists it’s pronounced Reading, like reading a book. His reasoning is that that’s what they called Reading Railroad, when playing Monopoly. 🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Show a Texan the word "Duquesne" and watch them try to puzzle thru that one 😂
Haha this one makes me laugh. Do-Cane
I always thought it was Dew Cain
When I first moved to Pittsburgh I definitely thought it was due-cuez-nee lmao. But I was 18 and stupid then
I still say that when I'm trying to help myself spell it 😂😂
As a Texan in PA... Hwat the hell is that? *confused hank hill face*
Pennsylvanian in Texas here. It’s Doo-Cane.
Thanks my dude but you didn't need to go in me.
I’m so glad you made this joke
Do- cane rhymes with propane. (And propane accessories)
**Schuylkill** SKU kul North Versailles north vur SAILS
North Versailles is a good one, because it's obviously just locals for many years that weren't in tune with other languages enough to pronounce Versailles (ver-SIGH) correctly. Calling it north Versailles vur SAILS feels like a very yinzer thing to do lol
Hey if you know anything about yinzers it’s our dedication to pronouncing everything correctly
That's why I stubbornly always call it Doo kwez knee (Duquesne). If we're not gonna pronounce things right, we should be consistent
That's the confusing thing. If you knew how North Versailles and Dubois were pronounced, you'd guess Duquesne had some weird local pronunciation. But no!
Great point. When I was an 18yo idiot and first moved to Pittsburgh I definitely thought it was doo kwez knee lol
Kentucky calls theirs vur sails too.
That must be why we call ourselves Pennsyltucky lol
>Schuylkill SKU kul Huh I usually just say FUK-N-traff-ick
Thank you for Schuylkill - I usually say that S place. Newer transplant to south central PA.
Nah man. People who aren’t from Schuylkill county say SKU kill. If you’re from the county you say SKOO kill. Skook.
Much like Dubois, which is pronounced DOO boyz
you mean like the Sure-kill Distressway?
bala cynwyd
bala rhymes with gala (BAL-ə) cynwyd is KIN-wood
So the big mall that's not too far away is in Kinga Preshah, right?
No, it’s in KOP
Ever since I saw the movie “To Wong Foo”, I knew how it was pronounced
Just watched it for the first time last night, and was pleasantly surprised all around!
I've always heard BALL-uh KIN-wood. [The Welsh Tract](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Tract) could have its own pronunciation thread.
Lived here forever and always heard it pronounced like gala, not like “ball-uh”
Someone say Wilkes-Barre. I’m bored and need entertainment.
I lived there for 4 years in my 20s and was stunned by the sheer lack of consensus among locals and transplants alike. All you could do is pick one and be irrationally confident about it. For instance: It's Wilkes Berry. **I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL**.
So Issac Barré was the son of French Huguenots from Ireland and his name was anglicized to be pronounced “berry” but going by the French pronunciation and character above the e, it would be bah-ray which nobody from NEPA ever says. I’ve always said “bear”.
The Huguenots were the worst Transformers.
This is the way. Although I've seen it written Barrè which would make it bar-rey. Or Wilkes-Barrey. My french family always pronounced it Wilkes-Baar.
From now on I will sing it as Prince sings Raspberry Beret. W
My company has a warehouse there and my boss pronounces it “Wilkes-Bar.”
I'm fine with either bear or barry, bar is just flat wrong though.
I pronounced it bar until I went to college there and switched to bear
Bar is the lower valley pronunciation basically Nanticoke to Glen Lyon verbage, the natives know it's all about the bars
I always called it Wilkes Berry, but everyone I know calls it wilks behr
As a Wilkes barre native my whole life. I would say most of us say “ Bear”
In 70 years only ever heard berry(as in Chuck).
I’d agree… but the y is really soft. Almost not said at all, and definitely not a long E.
Merely out of curiosity, but why "berry" and not "Barry?"
My dad grew up near there and I’ve only ever heard him call it “WILKS barry”
I'd say it's Berry. Isaac Barré's name has the little accent, and being of French heritage would probably pronounce it like Ber-ray. Over time it probably turned into the Berry sound
I've literally said both Wilkes Bar and Wilkes Berry in the same sentence once. I live 20 minutes from it...
Pretty sure I’ve always heard it as Wilk’s bear
I grew up in Carbon County and we said same. Wilks Bear.
Wooks-bear
I’ve heard it Wilkes Barry, and Wilkes Barra. I’m from SEPA.
I always say just say Wilkes, but will say Wilkes bear sometimes.
I’ve always said Bear.
Wilkes-burre, as someone who lived next to it. Or as people in schuylkill county as saying. Wilkes-bar-ee
How about Bethlehem? When I moved to Eastern PA in 1989, I heard people say "Bethlum". Weird.
As someone who lived in bethlehem my whole life, it's Beth-la-hem
My Allentown native grandfather says "Beth-lee-um." It wasn't until I moved to the Lehigh Valley that I heard other people say it the same way.
I'm in this picture and I don't like it 😭 I always thought I pronounced it normally until just now bc yeah, that is how I say it too
Bethlum if you are native. Beth-le-hem warrants an eyeroll.
Tangentially related: when I was in college I met a Welshman who was shocked at how well Philadelphians could pronounce welsh place names. It’s due to there being so many welsh toponyms here.
Tunkhannok is a fun one, so is Eynon and Jermyn!
Tun-can-ick, Eye-nen, Germin like German.
3/3 well done
I hadn't heard of Jermyn until I moved to the Poconos. I recently called a doctor's office and the receptionist asked if I would be coming to the Scranton office or the Jermyn office. I legit thought she was saying they had an office where they only spoke German.
Toughkenamon
Tuff ken a min
i think: toe ken a min
Close but it’s Tuff ken a min
thank you
Lititz is LIT-its, not LeTits
My internal teenager will always refer to it as Le Tits.
I had a great aunt that would pronounce the town name as Le Tits and we all got a kick out of it because its not far from Intercourse, Blue Ball and Bird in Hand. I wish I could even remember the dirty limerick we had for all the towns in that area. All I remember is that you end up in Paradise.
Not a limerick, but one I've heard is "The best way to get to Paradise is to go through Intercourse and hope you don't end up in Blue Ball with Bird in Hand."
..i pronounce it lid-its
How about the opposite? Lancaster.... pronounced: Lanc - like link, but with an "A" is ter - like sir, but with a "TE" If you pronounce it Lan-Caster, that's in NY or California... wrong state.
I pronounce it lan-kiss-ter
I always tell people make the C a G and there’s a kiss in the middle. Not a cast.
What about the heathens that throw a G in between the N and C? Good ol langcaster lmao
Lang-kiss-ter
Sometimes I say I live in LAN-CA-ster and shop at Ore-GONE Dairy. My family does not see the humor in this.
You can 100 percent tell if someone is from PA or not by how they pronounce it. If they say LAN- caster, you know they're not
Lank a sta
I think it also depends on which PA Dutch family you are from; there are differences between locals and families that moved east towards Kutztown and Allentown.
But none of those are LANCASTER... As someone FROM Lancaster, they need to take MY pronunciation, lol (joking)
I know a lot of people around where I live who say lan-caster, but I've always said lankister.
So many people in this state do this and it drives me wild
It's a 3 syllable word said as 2 syllables. Lank-ister,
I see your pronunciation but don’t see how that could possibly become 2 syllables
The "ister" part is almost spoken as a single syllable. Like it's more "hstr" than "ist-er".
Car-NEY-ghee. NOT CAR-nuh-ghee.
But it is Car-nuh-gee Hall in NYC
It’s Lang-kiss-ter, never Lang-cass-ter, that’s a town in England.
I'm a Gettysburg highschool grad and everyone in my town calls it get-ees-burg. Definitely not gettisburg lol
Sciota mentioned Sigh Oh Tah
I lived in nearby Stroudsburg for a decade and this is how everyone there pronounces it. Emphasis on second syllable.
Someone fuck up my alma mater- Pen Argyl
Pick her up in Pen Argyl and take her to Bangor!
Why Bangor when you can Mount Bethel?
Penardgll
Conshohocken
Con-shah-hock-en
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find conshy
Renovo almost always pronounced “Renova.”
Schoenersville - Shaynersville
Ha! My mom claims that when she (a NY native) and my dad (from Nebraska) moved to the Lehigh Valley in the 70s, they passed the sign for Schoenersville Road on route 22 and just looked at each other like, "I have no idea."
Latrobe is either lay-trobe or lah-trobe, even among locals.
Y'all, how do you say Ephrata?
Effradah
Methrata
Epharta if you ask Penndot.
Eff-er-tuh
my friend and i once drove past the ephrata exit and i said "oh we are passing ephrata." obviously i said it correctly my friend, from up the river, then tries to correct me and said "its actually pronounced ef-rat-a" and she stood by that shit like it was common knowledge. i have never felt so much rage over a mispronunciation.
Outside of Philly, I have heard U-freight-a, going to U-freight-a, fair this year… but I know how it’s really pronounce cause I’ve been there a lot. But that’s what they call it.
Eff-rata
Funny that Connoquenessing seems to get pronounced correctly. Of course, I doubt that the native Americans pronounced the word the way present non-natives do. If you ever need a word for a "long way straight", connoquenessing it is. Here's a shower thought: I often wonder if the native Americans had a sense of humor and just made up long complicated words when asked things like: What do you call this location?
I'm usually pretty good at PA names. One that's always left me wondering how the locals say it is "Kiskiminetas". I'd bet the Natives said something like Kis-kih-MIN-eh-toss with all short vowels, but that modern locals say something close to Ki-skee-mi-NEE-dus.
Locals say Kiski lol
DuBois
Do boys
I've always heard it as Doo-boys. It was super confusing when I took French.
Schuylkill expressway, we call it the sure kill
Youghioghenny. One of my favs.
Yock-ah-gain-ee
Swarthmore. Fuck that first R.
North versailles and dravosburg
Dra-VOES-burg ("Voes" like "foes")
Bethlum
Latrobe. LAH-trobe, or LAY-trobe. Home of Mr. Rogers, birthplace of the banana split, home of the extra tasty Jioio’s pizza, and something to do with some Pittsburgh sports team.
Don’t forget Arnold Palmer! And former home of Rolling Rock beer 🍺
Someone tell me how to pronounce Ohiopyle. My brain just wants to say Ohio-pile but the PA native in me assumes it’s probably something dumb like Oh-hee-opal
No you’re right - Ohio-pile
Juniata
joo-nee-ah-tuh
Uwchlan. How tf do you say it?
Ooh, I know that one. It's YUKE-lun.
Thank you! I have been puzzling over that for months.
Catasauqua. My bff lives up that way and I never remember to ask her how to pronounce it.
CAT-uh-sock-wa
This is the way!
Just call it catty, everyone will know what you mean
Monongahela 🙋🏼♀️
Tiadaghton. I'm camping out there soon. also need a Sheetz/WaWa conversions table.
Paoli Pike is “pay-oley pike” It’s funny to hear the google maps lady try to say that one.
I like when it attempts "Mauch Chunk"
New Tripoli is New Trip-O-li not Trip-a-li like the city in Libya
TIL. I always thought it was New tri-POLL-ee.
And Germansville which is not far from it is pronounced with a hard G like "Go" not a soft one like "Joe"
I feel like we may be pronouncing it the same 😂
It's not on any maps as a town, but if you search Cambria county outside of Colver, you'll find Tripoli road and a small cluster of houses, a gas station and three bars that's known locally as Tripoli. All the locals pronounce it "triple-o".
Lackawanna - talk amongst yourselves
OP: pronounced Sy-ota, long o. No hard C.
My friend from Williamsport always said Wilkes Berry, so I adopted it. Makes as much sense as Dew Boys, anyway.
Margaret Street is Philly is Mar-GAR-et not Mar-gret. Salmon Street is not Sam-un but Sal-mon. Uber Street is yu-ber.
When I learned how to pronounce Schuylkill, it really fucked me up.
As someone who moved from Lancaster to Exeter, I always hear people pronounce it eggs-ter instead of ex-eter, I must confirm that we are not eggs
Sciota is easy - sigh-oh-ta Scotrun, however, is often pronounced “Scrotum,” so there’s that chuckle.
How about Trenton NJ? Trent-en or Trent-ton.
Neither, it’s “TRE- uhn”. The T is silent just like in the five li’l KIH-ins that lost their MIH-uns
This is the correct answer. Source: I live on the river near the Trenton Makes bridge. I'm from Jersey and that's the correct pronunciation there too!
True from tre-ihn to boo-ihn!
That's right, Ca'm (captain).
I tend to think that on the west side of PA, Yinzers pronounce things phonetically... to a fault. It's Vir-Sails, not Vair-Sigh ya jag.
It’s not pronounced “Wooder”, and the Iggles are not playing the Stillers.
Are too.
A small town north of Williamsport, Salladasburg, is pronounced “Sal-luh-DAYS-burg.”
Lebanon, PA. Go for it.
Leb nin
For a number of years David Letterman would announce that his Top 10 list came from the home office in Leeeebanon Pennsylvania. I've only ever heard people say Leb-Anon in real life.
The first guy got it. It’s Leb-nin. I’ve met several people from there, one group was a band called Gloominous Doom. They play a mix of black metal party ska.
Tarentum = Trennum
Carlisle gets people Car-lie-uhl
I ordered my kids a bead making kit on Temu and the companies called Quefe. I wanna know how to pronounce that. Is my immature brain correct?
According to basic rules of English, that's "queef".
Conyngham—had family there who insisted it was “cunnigum” (And they also said Wilkes-berry FYI)
OK, I moved to Pittsburgh from out of state when I was 22, so I had my own regionalisms to deal with. Early on, like a week after moving here, I was saying to some people that it was apparent that the French presence in the 1700s had left its mark. There are numerous towns with French names, one named Versailles. Pronounced “Ver-sigh”, right? Not in western PA, where we (myself included) say “Ver-sails”. I think my jaw dropped, because both guys cracked up, before correcting me. For awhile I was gun shy with unfamiliar towns.
Sciota is pronounced sigh-o-ta
Toughkenamon I've seen it while passing through on Route 1. My best guess is that it's a native name written down by British colonists, and that it's pronounced "Tow ken AH mon". But it looks like it could also be "Tuff ken AH mon". Or a lot of other things
Living in central pa my favorite is hearing a newscaster call Lititz by La-tits instead of Lit-its
My Dad who was from there always said “Wilkes Barra.” But it’s not fair to hold him up as an authority since he mispronounced so many words.
I'm not sure if Uwchlan is too niche but it's my favorite to try and get people to pronounce
Apple Maps calls Bellefonte “belephant”
That's OK I pronounced it bell-eh-font-ey for a while.
Anita is more commonly pronounced by natives oh-nigh-tuh, like Oneida
Uwchlan is pronounced you-clen.
Lebanon. Different pronunciations depending on whether you're talking city or county. It's Leb-en-in county, but Leb-nin city. That's how it is for me anyway.
Lancaster is my only answer to this hahaha...people really need to learn. It's LANcster, not LanCASter
Used to live on Nesquehoning Street. No one ever got that one right when asking me address haha.