Mansfield Fox

Law student. Yankees fan. Massive fraggle. Just living the American dream.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

You're From Where? Conk-Id?

Here's a great site for non-New Englanders struggling with Massachusetts place-names (a not-undaunting subject).

For example: I went to high school in Ahhn-Dovah and college in Amurst. The longest run I've ever been on took me through Tooks-Bury (which I actually think is pronounced "TOOKS-bree", but what do I know?) where I went for a swim in a state pond. I once got caught in a pretty bad fog around Bear-E on my way back from Loll (no pronunciation up yet).

The list isn't exhaustive (after seven years in Mass, and nine in New England, I still have no idea how to pronounce Scituate) but what's there is useful.

Massachusetts and America: two nations separated by a common tongue.

UPDATE: See, this is why I blog, to learn things. Brodie tells me it's pronounced "SIT-chew-it". Since he's from Newt-Un, which is only 40-odd miles from Sit-Chew-It, I'll take his word.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Another friend, also from Massachusetts (though I can't remember which town) says it's "Sitch-wit" and remarks
Seems clear enough to me -- I mean, just look at it. What other way COULD it be pronounced?
What other way indeed? I think we've stumbled onto a serious debate here.

EVEN MORE UPDATING: Bill from Byfield (pronounced, oddly, "Byfield") suggests that it's "si-tchew-it", which he says is
similar to Brodie, but with the "t" sound kicking off the second syllable
As I said, it's a serious debate!