Mispronounced place names in Virginia....

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Virginian names can be difficult. There are a number of towns, cities, and counties which seem to get a sour treatment in how they are pronounced. Even roads, for example. There is the "Powhite" Parkway here in Richmond. Many out of towners would say "po white" as in 'poor white'. Of course it is really pronounced "Pow-hite". as in Powahatan. Which brings me to another issue: "Powhatan". I was watching The Weather Channel not long ago and the tv news anchor called it "Pow hat'n" county" Yikes! Let's remember, it is  named after the great Powhatan Indians. It's properly pronounced "Pow- a-tan".  And what about Botetourt County? Named after Lord Botetourt this county is pronounced "Bo-tet-tort" . Yet some people say it "Bot - it tort". As in botanical... Ouch.

I laughed when someone called my home county "Looden" (Loudoun). Its pronounced Low-den" as in "ow" "dun". .And the perhaps the most mispronounced Virginian town is "Staunton".  How many times do we here people refer to "Staunton" as "Stawnton". When its really "Stanton" ..... I know it gets confusing, but any time people make these mistakes, we must correct them. 

Other runner uppers:

-Norfolk (Its Nawr-Fuk, not Nor-folk")

-Fauquier County (Its Fawk-year, not Fa-queer)

-Aquia (Its Awk-quia not Ack-weea)

-Patawomeck Indian (Its Pat-owmeck or Pato-mack,, not Padda-wo-mick)

-Appalachian Mountains  (Its Appa-latch-un not Appa- lay-schun)

-Luray  (Its Loo-ray, not Lurr-ay)

-Tappahanock/Rappahanock (There is no broad A in either of these names. Its Tappa-haa- nock and Rappa-hannock)  

Hopefully this will help! 

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Comments

  1. RichmondhokieAugust 11, 2021 at 2:14 PM

    Wrong...it's po-wite...the majority rules...."Should" it be pow-hite...maybe, but it isn't

    ReplyDelete

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