Pronunciation of Piscataqua

Subject: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: SussexCarole
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 02:17 PM

Help! Is this pronounced in the obvious way pis - cat- aqua?

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 02:24 PM

I would separate it a bit differently into pis - cata - kwa

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Raedwulf
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 03:32 PM

Errr... I'd have have said pis-ca-tak-wa myself...

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 03:38 PM

Just curiousity - WHY?
Although curiousity may have killed the cat - it just makes us ducks Quack-up!

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Raedwulf
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 03:50 PM

Because she needs to say it, that's why!

(Though the gods only know why...)

Although curiousity may have killed the cat - it's Mr Fox you ducks need to watch out for... ;)

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 03:53 PM

Or even pis ca taw wah, big IF, though!**bg**

Where are all of our New Englanders? Charley, Kendall, Jeri, Night Owl, Bat Goddess???

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 04:27 PM

I forgot I was married to someone from NH!**bg** I found this on the net and asked him what he thought. He says it sounds like what he grew up hearing, with the second ending):


Piscataqua [piskat'ukwu, –kwA]
Pronunciation Key

Piscataqua , navigable river, 12 mi (19 km) long, formed by the junction of the Cocheco and the Salmon Falls rivers, SE N.H., and flowing SE to Portsmouth harbor, forming part of the N.H.-Maine border. The tidal harbor from Portsmouth to the Atlantic Ocean is one of the finest in the United States and is the site of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (est. 1800).

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: SussexCarole
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 04:34 PM

Thanks for the help Kat - I'll go & practice.....to satisfy your curiosity Geoff & RW it's in a song about Mary Baker & her 'girls'.
Carole

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 08:55 PM

Try Piss cu taw kwa. That's how the Maineiacs I know say it.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 09:05 PM

Emphasis is on the "cat."

So its "piss-CAT-ah-kwah," if it's the river. Been in it - cold and salty.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 09:09 PM

Hear it pronounced correctly in this audio talk- History and Lore of the Piscataqua Region: Pis-CAT-a-qua

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: curmudgeon
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 10:18 PM

Now that you have the correct pronunciation from Jeri, please let us know why you need it. thanks -- Tom

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Cluin
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 02:41 AM

I prefer the more proper form of Yoo-rinn-CAT-a-kwah in mixed company....

especially if Aunt Mabel is listening (don't wanna go there again).

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: SussexCarole
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 03:14 AM

Brilliant - thank you all - have listened to the clip 'Q' & realise that it was a good job I asked - I would have got it wrong without you guys!! Curmudgeon - I need it 'cos it's in a song about that wonderfully colourful character Mary Baker & her girls. LOL Cluin........            Thanks Carole

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 08:19 AM

Q, good going, finding someone actually saying it! It's one thing to try to explain how to pronounce something. It's a bit more helpful to demonstrate. I wonder how you WERE saying it Carole!

Rhymes...lemme see. "As a flat rock I sat upon, watched the Pisquataqua, New Hampshire ...yada yada." I'm wondering about the song as I'm not familiar with Mary Baker.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Noreen
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 08:41 AM

Great clip, Q!
Look forward to hearing the song, Carole.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 12:45 PM

A Canadian connection: á Monsieur Jacques Haggert, Brompton, Canada,
"Sur le Piscataqua Waltzes [sic]," George Willmuth Thompson, published in Boston, 1874. Valses mis-spelled intentionally(?) on the cover to the sheet music, but spelled correctly on page one of the music.

Put Piscataqua in American Memory and look at item 4. Looking through the other items, found that George Washington mentioned Piscatawa in his diaries.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 01:45 PM

Oops! Piscataqua! Piscatawa also indicates well-known localities.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: curmudgeon
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 08:10 PM

We still don't know who Mary Baker is, was. More information, please -- Tom

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Jun 03 - 12:19 AM

Don't 'spose she means Mary Baker Eddy, do you?

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: SussexCarole
Date: 08 Jun 03 - 05:50 AM

No Kat...not Mary Baker Eddy !!   Mary Baker was the first madam to set up a Bordello in Water Street, Portsmouth New Hampshire in 1900. She was a flamboyant character & her 'girls' (and others in Portsmouth) were renowned for their beauty.
www.seacoastnh.com/20th/prostitute.html
Carole

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Clifton53
Date: 08 Jun 03 - 09:00 PM

There is a town in New Jersey named Piscataway, hard by the mighty Raritan River and next to New Brunswick, home of Rutgers Univ.

The Lenni-Lenape were the original inhabitants of this area and I believe the name comes from them. Interesting how the name appears in two areas somewhat far apart.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Jun 03 - 10:59 PM

Well, I didn't really think it was her, SC! **bg** Thanks for the info!

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 09:57 AM

Sorry -- Bat Goddess (moi) just got back from two computer-less weeks visiting Mom in Milwaukee; that's why you haven't heard my coupla pennies' worth.

But you got the pronunciation of the river that separates Strawbery Banke (ayuh, that's the spelling -- early name for Portsmouth, NH) from Kittery, Maine. The tidal Piscataqua's got some of the fastest and nastiest currents on the East coast of the US. If you head up river you end up in Great Bay, tidal, still somewhat saline sunken river valley. The Piscataqua and Great Bay is also the home of the historic flat bottomed rivercraft, the gundalow, used for hauling freight in the area.

Linn (still recovering from her trip)

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 01:23 PM

Looks like you guys have got it covered. I'll be looking forward to hearing the song, Carole. Maybe you could bring it to one of the Press Room 2nd Saturday Shanty Sings in Portsmouth, 3:30 to 7:30 pm.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: SussexCarole
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 01:34 PM

Thanks Charley would love to, I live only 20 miles from Portsmouth.....but unfortunately that's Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.....will be at the Getaway though & Camp Isabella Freedman with Shellbacks    Carole

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 06:11 PM

We've had other Portsmouth (England) people at the Friday night session (but not the shanty session -- yet), Carole -- hope you can make it sometime! (And Portsmouth is only 200 miles from Camp Isabella Freedman -- but it takes a little longer if you stop and say 'hi' to Professor Child who is buried in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.)

Linn

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST,Foe
Date: 10 Jun 03 - 10:29 AM

My family genealogy books, "John Meader of Piscataqua" tell of his arrival in the area in 1640 from Affpiddle in Dorset. Is there still a town of Affpiddle?

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 10 Jun 03 - 07:03 PM

Is your family genealogy published? Or is it available in manuscript from you? I may be "stranger in this town" (born in Michigan's Upper Peninsula) but I'm very interested in the history of my adopted New England and Seacoast New Hampshire.

Please answer me here, or email me at [e-mail].

Nothing like tweaking my interest! (Where are your ancestors buried? I might be able to do some research and gravestone rubbings for you.)

Linn

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Cluin
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 07:50 PM

He moved from Aff-piddle to Piss-cataqua, Guest Foe?

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Brían
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 10:03 PM

I've always said piss-tat-uh-kwuh but, then again, I'm dyslexic...

Aff-piddle to Piss-cataqua...thuffering thuccotash...

Brían

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 09:27 AM

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?ggpisc01.wav=Piscataqua

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Gurney
Date: 25 Jun 11 - 10:20 PM

Foe, there's a small river called the Piddle in Dorset. Most of the towns along have piddle or puddle in their names.

When I saw the header, I thought "Piscataqua? Fish water?"

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: SussexCarole
Date: 26 Jun 11 - 10:14 AM

Great to see this thread bounce back to life. Thanks to all the help given the song (Mary Baker) was written and recorded on our CD Characters. There's a clip on our website here

I was really lucky to be able to sing the song in the Water Street area of Portsmouth NH when we were at the Maritime fesitval in 2009

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Sep 17 - 01:06 PM

I pronounce it with the emphasis on the first and third syllables: PIS ca TOK wa, not with the emphasis on the second syllable only.

My high school's name, Masconomet, follows the same pattern: MAS co NOM et. People who are not from the area usually pronounce it with the emphasis on the second syllable only: Mas CON o met.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST,Marcia Palmater
Date: 08 Sep 17 - 09:18 PM

As a lifelong New Englander and New Hampshire native, let me weigh in: it's Pis-CAT-a-qua.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Jeri
Date: 08 Sep 17 - 10:18 PM

Right on, Marcia. Guest, you can pronounce it any way you want to. It's not currently against the law to mispronounce it. People up here will look at you funny, and correct you. Or they may just figure you're from Massachusetts, smile, and let it go.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: Cool Beans
Date: 10 Sep 17 - 06:26 PM

Well, then, how do you pronounce Teaticket? (Massachusetts)

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Piscataqua
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 10 Sep 17 - 09:22 PM

In the car, my radio is tuned to the AM station linked to CBS Broadcasting, the one out of Boston, MA. It is one of the more powerful stations by a long shot, and uncountable numbers of commuters do their daily round-trips listening to this station for traffic/weather updates.

This location figures regularly in the traffic updates concerning US Route 95 which roughly follows the coastline, and there is a bridge crossing the river of this name. This is especially true on summer weekends, when the New Englanders close to New York City head north for either cooler temps, or the beach, or both.

And the first time I heard the WBZ-AM announcer pronounce this name, I did not have a clue what I had heard him say. This was for two reasons. One, it was a traffic update, which is a soundbite of maybe a minute or more; so the announcer talks really really fast. The other was that I am not a native New Englander so I had no memory of hearing this elsewhere.

It sounded, and at top speed sounds, like

"p'SCADD-uh-qua."