I've long assumed the U.S. to be the worst offender when it comes to pronunciation of place names. I still remember picking up our French foreign exchange student at the airport and asking about her flight. She said they went through customs at Day-Twah'. It took me a minute to realize that she was using the correct pronunciation for the city we know as Dee-Troyt (Detroit).

Examples off the top of my head include…

• Maa' drid (Madrid)


• Tra po' la (Tripoli)


• Ver sales' (Versailles)


• My' lun (Milan)

I'm sure the complete list is very long.

      - Mark