The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #107674   Message #2237503
Posted By: catspaw49
16-Jan-08 - 02:38 AM
Thread Name: MacPherson [how to pronounce?]
Subject: RE: MacPherson [how to pronounce?]
Of course then there's the great state of Uh-HI-uh (Ohio) where we too have Lah-fee-et (West Lafayette) and WOO-stir (Wooster)......as well as Vur-SALES (Versailles), LYE-muh (Lima), Bell-FOUNT-un (Bellefontaine), and the list goes on and on........................

The most screwed up one that I can think of anywhere is in Nashville, Tennessee. The below copied from Wiki since its easier to just use their explanation:

Jacques-Timothée Boucher, Sieur de Montbrun, anglicized as Timothy Demonbreun, (b. Montreal, Québec, Canada, 1747, d. Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 1826) was a French-Canadian fur trader, an officer of the American Revolution, Lieutenant-Governor of the Illinois Territory and is known as the "first citizen" of Nashville, Tennessee. Because French orthography was so fluid at the time, and because of widespread variations in English orthography, Demonbreun's name is of some debate. The preferred use today is Timothy Demonbreun, though the first name is sometimes rendered in the French as Timothé, Timothée or Timothe. As for the last name, it derives from the French words for from brown mountain, and is also rendered variously as Demontbrun, de Montbrun, Demontbreun, de Montbreun, De Mont-Breun, and others. Descendants of Demonbreun (it is a very common surname in Middle Tennessee) spell the name with and without the middle "T," as one word or two, with a "U" in place of the "O," with and without the "E," and with an "N" or an "M" at the end. In addition, other variations such as Demumbrine and "Demombrum" also exist. Demonbreun Street in Nashville shows the preferred spelling. The proper local pronunciation is IPA: /dəˈmʌmbriən/, and rhymes with "Northumbrian."

Spaw