Dear People Recording Ads for Boston-Area Radio

[gnomi]

We appreciate the fact that you make radio ads to run in our market. However, it is sometimes painfully clear that you are not a local. Please note the following linguistic quirks:

1. It's "Wuster" (or "Wustah") (with a u like that in "put"), not "Wooster" (as it is in Ohio). Also, it's "Conkerd" (like "conquered"), not "Con-kord" (like the now defunct airplane). And even though we spell it Leicester, we pronounce it "Lester." I know it's weird; just go with it, OK?

2. There's no such thing as "the 93" in this area unless you're continuing with "tunnel" or "backup" or "cloverleaf." If you want to put articles with interstate route numbers, you're going to have to look west. Waaaaaaaaay west. Which is where you're probably from if you're saying "We're located right off the 93."

3. Related to 1, above, you can be "Right off the 93 in Woburn," but then you have to pronounce it "Wooburn," not "Woahburn."

These few simple hints can make it much easier for those of us who grew up around here to take you seriously as a local vendor. Please make a note of it.

Sincerely,
The Management

Comments

[madknits.livejournal.com]

It's Pea-biddy, not Pea-body
It's Sitch-you-it, not Shit-you-ate, or Skit-too-atty
It's Glos-tah, not Glau-ces-ter
It's Hah-vid, not Hah-vahd
It's Am-'erst, not Am-herst; Am-herst is in NH
And for the love of all that's holy, it's cah-ah. Two syllables. Long and drawn out. Not ca.

If one understands English orthography, one realises that the "ster" towns are actually two words: Leice + Ster; Worce + Ster; Glauce + Ster
The [E] after the [C] makes the [C] soft, and is [E] is itself silent.
These are basic rules of English orthography, and it's amazing how often people don't get it.

Also, I would contend that Woburn is actually Woo-bin. It's all about being non-rhotic.

;-)

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

It's also Am-herst in western NY. I got looked at funny out there for saying Am-'erst.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I *love* your icon.

[aunt-becca.livejournal.com]

seriously. I am envious of that icon

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I found in several years ago, and the person I grabbed it from had no idea who'd made it. Would love to know.

[introverte.livejournal.com]

And Quin-zee, not Quin-see.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's another one. We're an odd lot with our place name pronunciation.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Chemsfid. Swamskit.

Welcome to Slurvenia, ladies and gentlemen, where we speak fluent Slurvian. :-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I think Woburn is somewhere between Woo-burn and Woo-bin. It uses a random vowel elision that isn't quite a schwa but isn't anything else identifiable easily, either.

The British are notorious for not pronouncing their place names completely. The one I like the most is (and I might screw up the spelling here) Cholmondley, which is pronounced, I am told, "Chumley." There's an old joke that if the original settlers had been the ones to name Niagara Falls, we'd be calling it "Niffles."

[magid.livejournal.com]

There's a coffeehouse-y place at Brandeis called "Cholmondeley" (I think I have the spelling right; it's been a while), pronounced "Chumley."

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

If one understands English orthography, one realises that the "ster" towns are actually two words: Leice + Ster; Worce + Ster; Glauce + Ster
The [E] after the [C] makes the [C] soft, and is [E] is itself silent.
These are basic rules of English orthography, and it's amazing how often people don't get it.


Cool.

[beckyfeld.livejournal.com]

Waaaaaaaaaay west - west of Worchester or out even past Springfield? ;-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Pbththth!

[gem225.livejournal.com]

You wrote this so well! I'm glad that I haven't heard the radio ads with these mistakes. Ack! Say it right!

I have some exciting and wonderful news. May I call you to share it?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

*Exactly*! I cringe when I hear them pronounce it wrong.

And yay, again, on your excellent news! :-)

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

1. Oh, lordy. Remember that horrible fire in Worcester a few years ago? I was living in Toronto at the time, and while telling the story, one of the local TV announcers actually pronounced every syllable of the city's name. (Funny aside: Torontonians, as you and other readers of this comment probably know, mostly pronounce the city name as TrAHnna. It still sounds odd to hear someone say To-RON-to.)

2. Transplants in NYC do the same thing ("the 95"), and it's equally odd here. But then there are all the named roads like the Deegan or the BQE, and that's OK. Related aside: People in newyorkers sometimes refer to "The MoMA" when speaking of the museum, but as long as I've lived here, and listening to my elders and their elders, I've only ever heard people call it "MoMA," no article.

Funny how the little things will tip you off that someone hasn't been around someplace very long. I'm sure I've screwed up in various places I've lived!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I learned to say "Tronno" just like I learned to say "Orrig'n" and I'm learning to say "Nuh-vaa-da" (as opposed to "Nuh-vah-da").

It just adds to people having trouble guessing where I'm from. Unless we're talking about my mother's brother's wife. Because for that? I'm totally identifiable as a New Englander.

[tygerseye.livejournal.com]

And it's "lole" not "Low well and "leech-meer" not "letch-mere".

I lived in Boston for a while, I was schooled.

At least they didn't say "Wor-chest-er". ;-)

[madknits.livejournal.com]

And it's Ale-wife, not alley-wife or alley-wifey.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Though I've been known to sing "Al-e-wiffy/Jaunty Al-e-wiffy."

I, however, am strange. :-)

[madknits.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, dear, you are strange. And that's why I like you.

;-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Awwww... you say the sweetest things. :-)

::blushes::

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

::sings words to sound them out::

::falls down laughing::

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

And north of Lole is Chemsfid. :-)

[tygerseye.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I had a college roommate from Chemsfid. ;-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I went to K-3 in Lole, so I had a couple classmates from Chemsfid.

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

that would be Dracut. Chelmsford is to the south and to a lesser extent west.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The town of Bill Erica is "Bell Rica".

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

And it's "Chemsfid" and "Swamskit," not "Chelms-ford" and "Swamp-Scott."

[autotruezone.livejournal.com]

It's Bill Ricka, from the well-known movie "Bill and Rick's Excellent Adventure".

And Chelmsford was named from an immigrant from Poland, who started an auto dealership. He named his dealership after his old home town, and then the new town that sprang up around it became known by the name of the dealership: Chelm's Ford.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Though my dad always calls it "Bill Rica." When I was a kid, I never understood why he always talked about that particular coworker so much....

[violetcheetah.livejournal.com]

I grew up in rural Kentucky, and my father would periodically talk about picking up something at Sizzrobuck. I was probably 7 before I made the connection to the Sears (Roebuck) catalog. He did not drop any other R that I remember.

I was also 6 or 7 before I realized that he was not getting car parts at Wester-Notto.

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

I most commonly have heard Bill-Ricka or Buh-Ricka.

[(Anonymous)]

Nope, it's "Bill'rica [short i]

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

::cackle::

I remember a commercial running here recently by a local business making fun of the out-of-towner vendors trying to pronounce local names they don't know:

Puyallup (Pew-al-up)
Sequim (Skwim)
Snoqualmie (not Snow-qual-i-me!!)

Etc.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

We went to hear Jasper Fforde speak, and he did a "Pronouncing Welsh Place Names" bit that was *very* funny.

Some day, ask me to pronounce the real name of Lake Webster. :-)

[beckyfeld.livejournal.com]

Hey! I know that lake! See this link or the Wikipedia entry. :-)

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

There's one of those running now. It's not places they don't know, but stuff like "Let's go to the North End for dinner! We'll drive, I'm sure there's plenty of parking!" and "Let's go see the Red Sox at Fenway! Nah, let's go bowling instead."

I wonder if you stay obviously-a-transplant in most other places after, oh, thirteen years.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I've seen those boston.com ads on TV. They make me giggle. "Let's go out to the Cape! There won't be any traffic!"

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Well,I've been in Seattle for almost 14 years and though I've been told by far-away friends that I've gone native, everyone who's a native here can tell that I'm from out of town. It's not because I can't pronounce names or don't know where things are. It's because when I get tired or angry, all my New York comes out and it's very hard to miss.

You can take the girl out of The City, but you can't take The City out of the girl. :-)

[half-double.livejournal.com]

There's a street in my town of provenance called Westnedge. We pronounce it "WES-n'j". A carpet company set up shop on it. It tried to pass itself off as "local," but its ad proudly informed us it was located on "West Nedge," like it was 2 separate words. That store didn't last long.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Heh. Of course not -- why would locals support the business of a local-wannabe-faker? :-)

[ron_newman]

Is that Provenance, RI?

[neverbeen2spain.livejournal.com]

This post and all these comments are exactly why:
a. my job is harder than it looks.
and b. I'm so so glad I don't do Boston traffic.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't want to do Boston traffic, anyway. It's a gigantic mess in predictable places and unpredictable places. :-)

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

The new book out by Mark del Franco (can't remember the name of it) has the protagonist as a passenger in cars driving around an alternate Boston (he doesn't have a car himself), with much the same geometry as Boston had pre-Big Dig. The character remarks to the reader about squares that aren't, it having had to have been a -drunken- cow that laid out some streets, etc.

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

There's some ad I keep hearing, dunno even what it's for because I'm so annoyed by the actor's *attempt* at pronouncing things the way we do in Boston. Surely there's someone in this city with a nice voice and who wants to make a buck reading ads.

[madfilkentist]

The commuter rail conductors generally announce Concord as "Con-kid."

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

It ranges from "Wister" to "Wistah" with no o or u sound.