This Post Brought to You by My Extreme Boredom, Wikipedia and Possibly the Chamber of Commerce.

[sisabet]

Did you know that the Jif plant right behind my house makes more peanut butter than any other factory in the world? And as heres_luck and I stressed during her recent visit, it isn't just any peanut butter. It is Jif peanut butter, the best peanut butter known to man. I'd say IMO there but really - it is the best peanut butter, hands down.

And they make more of it behind my house than any other place in the world.

And the Big Ass Fan store behind my house? They actually make big ass fans for, like, dairy barns.


And Lexington? Has a population of over a quarter of a million people and is the largest Lexington in the WORLD. I had no idea.

Did you know that Lexington has an average mean temperature of 54.9 degrees Farenheit? I didn't either.

Oh - back in 1820 Lexington was known as the "Athens of the West" cause of all of our freakin' culture. Yee-Haw. Of course, what Wikipedia does not tell us and I am here to impart now: they didn't pronounce it Athens. It was (and will always be) A-Thins with the accent on the a long "a". Kinda like how the town next to us is called "Versailles" and that is pronounced "Ver-SALES" and if you say if wrong (or right, depending upon your world outlook) everyone looks at you funny.

Hell, this makes Lou-ah-vul look downright simple, now don't it?

Although, to be fair, I once got laughed out of a room in New Orleans when, while reading from an article about Master P, I mentioned he was from the Calliope Housing Projects, and I pronounced it the way it sounds, except, no. It is kal-E-ope. Yeah. I know. But hey - at least I knew it was 3rd ward and not 9th.

Is it any wonder that to this day I cannot pronounce a DAMNED THING? I have a complex about this, I seriously do.

Comments

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

*joins you in this*

Pay-ru, Indiana. I shit you not. And Cay-ro, Illinois. The residents of vigo County can't decide whether it's Vye-go or Vee-go, and let's just not get started on Kosciusko. Which is a real man's real name, and is pronounced Ka-shoo-sko, except by everyone in the freaking state of Indiana who feel the need to make me grind my teeth down to the root and sound out Kos-kee-os-ko.

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I wonder if the jar of peanut butter in my pantry came from your neighborhood.

We have an A-Thins in Illinois too. And Cay-ro (Cairo) and Vienna (long I) and New BERlin. Plus? New Berlin's high school athletic teams are called the Pretzels; their gym is (or at least was, when I was in high school) the Pretzeldome.

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

See, I have a friend out here who swears whenever I say Louisville, it sounds like I'm trying to swallow my own tongue.

I've tried explaining the Versailles thing to people out here (we were discussing town names), and yeah, the weird looks just don't end.

And I will admit that when I saw you say Lexington was the "Athens of the West," I automatically heard it as A-Thins. Because...yeah.

[reboot-wlm.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I knew you would. Sigh.

[luminosity]

I mentioned he was from the Calliope Housing Projects, and I pronounced it the way it sounds, except, no.

When I was learning mythology in the 8th grade, I had to relearn how to pronounce all nine streets. In New Orleans, it's not "ka-lie-o-pee;" it's "kal-ee-ope." It's also Mel-po-meen, E-ratt-oh, Pole-him-nah, U-terp and Terp-see-kor. This is a disservice, especially from a culture that doesn't even blink over something like "Tchoupitoulas."

Also, as you already know, you *never ever* order "cafe au lait and beignets." It's coffee and donuts, dammit. hee hee

*snort*

[wisemack.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, I know, missy, and I'm also kinda proud that you can spell "Tchoupitoulas"! Hee!

Of course, down on the MS Gulf Coast, we had lots of strange names, as well. I mean, I love New Orleans (which, btw, may be the most mis-pronounced city name EVAH!) but it doesn't have a monopoly.

Fave example? Try that lovely river that runs up country from Back Bay in Biloxi - the Tchouticabouffa. Pronounced, I kid you not - Chew-ti-ca-BLUFF. I mean, seriously - do you even SEE an *L* in there? ;)

[kimera.livejournal.com]

I never really have a problem with pronouncing place names (like Osoyoos and Sechelt and Tsawwassen and Ucluelet, to name a few of the ones we have around here), my problem is with SPELLING them.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

There's a big street where I grew up called "Hugenot Avenue." I got a scandalized look once when I explained to someone that it was pronounced "Hyoog-eh-not."

Also, I am never sure where to put the emphasis on "bias" or "contradict."

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Because I read many words before I ever said them, I have a huge problem with where the emphasis lies.

For example - If I am talking to a person with a camera, and this is what they do for a living - I will know that I am talking to a pho-TOG-grapher.

If I see "photographer" written, in my head I hear PHOTO-grapher.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Because my parents could not find a buyer for our house the year I turned fourteen, we could not move 25 miles north to live down a dirt road in a double-wide trailer near the pastor and several families from their Pentacostal church, and thus I was spared the linguistic and scholastic indignity of attending Fort LeBoeuf ("LeBuff") High School, home of the Bison but not home to any AP classes.

Did your house come with one of those little...

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

...warning stickers? You know the ones...

WARNING: This house located near a factory that uses peanuts in manufacturing. May cause severe reaction in people with nut allergies.

Rae
just wondering

Re: Did your house come with one of those little...

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I didn't even notice the plant until a few weeks ago. It does not smell like peanuts around her (right now it smells like lilacs) which is good cause I once worked at a steakhouse in college and I really hate the smell of peanuts. I was the peanut hostess girl. It was horrible.

pronunciation

[retired-mom.livejournal.com]

I think it may be genetic or maybe because I taught phonics for so long.....no one in our family can pronounce words correctly as we read....we have our own code and as long as it works for you...you know what you mean, even if no one else does....hope this makes sense, am high on cough syrup at this time...so nothing makes sense or else too much sense...love, mom

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

South Caroline & North Carolina both have towns named Beaufort. In SC it is pronounced BU-furd(t). In NC it is pronounced bo-FORD.
Outside of Durham, NC there is a little town called Bahama - ba-HAM-a.
Clemson, SC is pronouced Clemp-SEN. People laugh at the national sports annoucers who say CLEMson.

I figure these things aren't meant to make sense, they just are.