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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
This guide is not exhaustive and only intended as an approximation. It is intended mainly for a British audience. People in the USA and Canada may well argue with some of the entries.
This list includes a few other words in addition to place names.
| Amish | Armish |
| Appalachian Mountains | Appalachyan or Appalachun |
| Arkansas | Arc-an-saw |
| Baja (as in Baja California) | Bar-haa |
| Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts | Burk-sheer Hills |
| Butte, Montana (also a suffix to a number of other place names) | Beaut, to rhyme with mute (my thanks to Steve Francis for this entry) |
| Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona | Can-yon de Shay-ee |
| Cañon City, Colorado | Canyon City, Colorado |
| El Camino Real, the historic trails | El Camino Ray-al |
| El Niño, the climate phenomenon | El Neen-yo |
| Entrée, a main dish in a restaurant | On-tray |
| Fajita, the Mexican food item | Fa-he-ta |
| Filet, Fillet (as in a fish fillet) | Fill-ay (the final t is not pronounced) |
| Gyro | Hero |
| Herb | Some people in the USA pronounce this word as 'erb, with a silent H, when it refers to a plant. As a man's name the H is always pronounced. |
| Illinois, the state | Ill-in-oy |
| LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) | El-ay-ex |
| Lay-Z | Lazy (lay-zee) (from the American pronunciation of the letter Z as zee) |
| Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado | May-zer Ver-day |
| Mobile, Alabama | Mo-beel (and not Mo-bile as you might expect). The normal word mobile is pronounced mo-bile as in British English. |
| Mojave Desert |
For British readers: Mo-har-vay or Mo-har-vee
For US readers: Mo-hah-vay or Mo-hah-vee |
| Monticello |
Thomas Jefferson's house in Virginia: Mont-ee-chello
The town in Utah: Mont-ee-sello |
| Mount Rainier National Park, Washington State | Rain-ear, Rain-year or Ray-near |
| Mount Tamalpais, California | Tam-ul-pie-us (or just "Mount Tam"!) |
| ñ | When the letter n has a tilde (~) over the top then it is pronounced as "ny", for example El Niño is "El Neen-yo". |
| Natchez, Mississippi | Natch-ess |
| New Orleans | Often slurred into "Nawlins" |
| Oneida | O-nye-da |
| Oregon | Something between Ora-gern and Ory-gun, but definitely not Ora-gone |
| Overwaitea (supermarket chain in British Columbia) | Over-wait-tee (from Overweight Tea) |
| Potomac | Pertohmac (and not Poto-mac) |
| Puget Sound | Pyu-jet |
| Real | In Spanish place names: "ray-al" |
| Résumé (CV) | Rezz-ooh-may |
| Route | Root or rowt (pronunciation varies, perhaps with region) |
| Sacagawea |
For British readers: Sar-car-gar-wee-ah
For US readers: Sah-KAH-gah-wee-ah |
| Saguaro National Park, Arizona | Sa-hwa-ro or Sa-gwar-oh |
| San Joaquin Valley, California | San Wa-keen or San Wa-can |
| Sequoia National Park, California | See-coy-ya or See-cwoy-ya |
| Sioux | Soo |
| St Louis, Missouri | Saint Loo-ee or Saint-Loo-iss |
| Study Butte, Texas | Stoo-dee Beaut |
| Taco, the Mexican food item | I'm never sure - is it Tay-co, Tar-co or Tack-o? |
| Taiga (northern forest) | Tiger |
| Tortilla, the Mexican food item | Tor-tee-ya |
| Tucson, Arizona | Too-sohn |
| Vallecito Reservoir, Colorado | Vi-yeh-SEE-toe |
| Yosemite National Park, California | Yo-sem-it-eee |
| Z (the letter of the alphabet) | Zee |
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Most recently modified 20-May-04