Does the Way People Pronounce "Nevada" Ever Bother You? (population, accent)

[Exaday]

Up north where there are less carpet baggers it will get you ostracized more quickly.

This nation is obviously full of towns that are not pronounced the way outsiders would think, and that is just fine.

People keep bringing up the Spanish pronouncements, when I believe few of you are probably that anal about all words. Besides, Spanish uses a different phonetic alphabet essentially. Almost every word would be pronounced differently in Spanish.

Nevada is a Spanish word you say? Remember the Alamo I say.

It's TEXAS not Tejas

Half the towns in Texas are pronounced incorrectly if you want to get really technical about. Amarillo just for starters.

See where I'm going?

I'm biilingual as well and if someone who is actually from Mexico wants to pronounce it usuing the phonetics of their primary language that is understandable.

It's not really an issue that I am passionate about. You generally pronounce local names the way locals pronounce them. To do otherwise knowingly, well if that makes you happy. If you really didn't care, you'd just pronounce it the way you know locals do. Intentionally not doing so does not demonstrate a lack of care, it demonstrates a lack of respect for local mores. It's essentially the same to me as having a ethnocentric outlook on things.

The funny part is that these are the same people who probably get bent of shape when people don't follow their local traditions and customs.

Remember when the FLOTUS pronounced it wrong and caught flack from her campaign supporters?

I cut people slack if they've probably been pronouncing it a certain way their whole lives.

[JohnnyIllini]

There is only one legally recognized pronunciation of "Nevada" within the state, and that is "Nev ADD Uh."

You hear some of our transients insist on a wrong pronunciation, and there are generally two reasons given. One is due to Spanish origin. My counter to that would be that there a lot of city and state names based upon Spanish (among many other languages), and the vast majority of those are not pronounced as such.

The second reason that I hear is almost an aggressive display of ignorance, particularly from people out of either the Deep South or New England (i.e. "That's how I heard it growing up, and I ain't never changin' "). The irony in that, as Exaday referenced above, is that those bullheaded people are the exact same people to go crazy should you ever mispronounce their areas wrong.

[Buzz123]

Some Nevada brochures show it as Nevᾰda with the caron(?) mark (inverted hat) over the ᾰ.

Even my dictionary explains that is the way it is pronounced when talking about the state. It says only if you are speaking Spanish would you pronounce it Neväda.

Exaday, the Anglos also say Guad a loop Street in Austin, for Guadalupe. I think they are trying to insult Mexicans on purpose, but I know many of them are just ignorant.

[tonylu]

I do Ne-vah-da for two reasons. I'm originally from New Jersey. I don't want to get rid of my east coast accent completely and Nevada is a Spanish word. That's about it.

to answer the other question. I'm not bothered by a lot of things. This is one of them. I don't like when people mispronounce "Italian".

[Linda25]

Austin, Tx is the worst for wrong pronunciations. Louis Henna, they call Lew-is, I think it's Lou-ie, Burnett, they say Burn-it, I say Bur-nett.

Or Elgin TX, and Elgin, IL, both g's are pronounced different. There is a town near Greece, NY called Chilli, they say Chie-lie.

Lots of weird ways to say things.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Linda25

Austin, Tx is the worst for wrong pronunciations. Louis Henna, they call Lew-is, I think it's Lou-ie, Burnett, they say Burn-it, I say Bur-nett.

Or Elgin TX, and Elgin, IL, both g's are pronounced different. There is a town near Greece, NY called Chilli, they say Chie-lie.

Lots of weird ways to say things.

Maybe we ought to be grateful for the differences in pronunciations. It readily identifies the locals from the tourists.

[Linda25]

I guess I shouldn't have said "wrong" pronunciation, just different from what I would say.

I was working for a school district program and was new to the Austin area and I had to find a file for Dessau Elementary, so I asked my co-worker where the Dess-ow file was, well he made fun of me and it ticked me off pretty bad. I guess it's pronounced Dess-aw. Dumb me huh!

[NLVgal]

It doesn't irritate me when outsiders (visitors) mispronounce Nevada, but it bugs me when people who have moved here from California do it.

A. You're a local now. Get with the program.
B. You were right next door and you don't know how to pronounce it?

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by tonylu

I do Ne-vah-da for two reasons. I'm originally from New Jersey. I don't want to get rid of my east coast accent completely and Nevada is a Spanish word. That's about it.

to answer the other question. I'm not bothered by a lot of things. This is one of them. I don't like when people mispronounce "Italian".

You can keep your Joisey accent even though you'll get teased about it, and people will automatically believe that you must be rude just because you're from New Jersey or New York (we can't tell the difference). But accents don't mean it's OK to be rude, and it is rude to purposely mispronounce Nevᾰda when you know better. I wouldn't say Eyetalian when I know it's IT talian, except when teasing a close Italian friend, or making fun of myself. I've been Italian for about two years now. That's when I found out one of my great-great-grandfathers came from Eyetaly.

BTW: when somone says Eyetalian, ask them if they've ever been to Eyetaly.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by NLVgal

It doesn't irritate me when outsiders (visitors) mispronounce Nevada, but it bugs me when people who have moved here from California do it.

A. You're a local now. Get with the program.
B. You were right next door and you don't know how to pronounce it?

I agree as long as they don't do it again after I correct them as nicely as possible (sometimes ).