Saying them right
The Legal Genealogist is headed to Iowa later this week for the Iowa Genealogical Society‘s Annual Fall Conference.
On Friday and Saturday, October 20-21, at the Toad Valley Golf Course in Pleasant Hill, we’re going to talk about researching those hard-to-find women in our families, about figuring out clues from the ages people had to be, about copyright and using court records and legal lingo and those wonderful scoundrels in our families.
And we’re going to hear about homesteaders and their records from Robert Marcell and what’s new at the State Historical Society of Iowa & Archives from Shari Stelling.
It’s going to be a great conference.
And it creates a real problem for this East Coast resident.
I mean, do you know how to pronounce the county in Iowa where my third great grandparents lived?
It’s Louisa County.
And — because I spent summers as a kid on a farm in Virginia where the nearest town was Louisa (Loo-EE-zuh) — every time I try to say it, I get it wrong.
Because it’s not pronounced that way in Iowa.
In Iowa, it’s Loo-EYE-zuh.
The city of Madrid in Boone County is not pronounced like the city in Spain.
It’s not muh-DRID. It’s MAH-drid.
And the county seat of Story County, Iowa, may be spelled like the state Nevada… but it’s not pronounced that way.
It’s neh-VAY-da in Iowa.
So… if we’re researching our ancestors there, how do we figure out how to pronounce the places where they lived the way they did… and the way the locals do?
We trot ourselves over to the wonderful website of Iowa Public Radio and check out its feature called “Pronouncing Iowa Place Names: An Audio Guide (expanded to 100 entries)”… and we listen in.
That’s where we can find out, quickly and easily, that Amish, Iowa, isn’t AH-mish. It’s AY-mish.
And Camanche isn’t Cuh-MAN-chee. It’s Cuh-MAANCH.
And East Peru doesn’t sound anything like the country in South America. In Iowa, it’s PEE-roo.
Thanks, Iowa Public Radio.
Now to practice.
Loo-EYE-zuh.
Loo-EYE-zuh…
I hope no one was ever shot in a dispute over how to pronounce the name of this county, unlike this case involving “Newfoundland”
http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-strange-tale-of-the-man-who-was-shot-point-blank-for-mispronouncing-newfoundland-in-the-old-west
Oh my…
Are you going to attempt any of the river names? Or any of the county names that are Indian names? That’s how we know the natives;-) And woe to the new news person or weather forecaster. It’s hard to watch them stumble and fall.
I know better than to claim to be a native — or even a resident! I’m sure folks will refrain from throwing tomatoes when I mess up! Um… you won’t bring any tomatoes, will you? 🙂
I did know about Nevada – my ancestors are from Story and Marion counties, primarily. It created all kinds of fun pronunciation issues among my cousins when my family actually lived in the state of Nevada.
I’ll bet it did! 🙂
In southern Illinois is a county seat named “Vienna” which is properly pronounced VY-enna. Turns out not to be a mangling of the name of the famous city in Austria but rather the name of the beloved daughter of the town’s founder.
The city of Joliet, IL became so irritated with mangling of its name that it made mispronunciation officially illegal to the tune of a $5 city fine. (The right way is Joe-lee-ETTE; the typical misdemeanor crime is Jolly-ETTE.)
Teheran IL is properly pronounced Tuh-HAIR-uhn. Always has been, that’s not a recent change in response to overseas events.
Oh my… a pronunciation fine! 🙂
Thanks for the heads up. I have work to do in Iowa and this may save me some embarrassment. As long as we are on the topic of place names, Washington state, as you may know, has some doozies. A visiting relative once asked my daughter how one pronounced the name of the town “Puyallup” on her map. Without batting an eye, my daughter answered “Just like it’s spelled.” H
And it actually is. 🙂
Hmmm… I see a Y in “Puyallup”, and I don’t hear it when residents say it. So I’d have to dissent from the “as it’s spelled” rule.
Try Meagher county Montana.
There’s actually some logic to pronouncing the names of the towns differently than the names of the larger, well-known cities or states. If I say I’m going to neh-VAY-da everyone knows I’m going to the town near Ames, and not to Las Vegas. (And see you at the conference!)
Google maps had a hard time with Ottumwa and Wapello last weekend. Google kept saying AUTUMN-wa instead of a-TUM-wa. And wa-PELLO instead of WA-pello. Gave us a laugh every time.
Also, Sigourney is SI-gurney not si-GOR-ney like the actress.
I’ve heard people not know how to say Des Moines.
You will do great.
Hope so! 🙂