What Would You Say?

Although I consider myself to be a fairly good reader,some words give me pause. There are some words that people say whatever way they choose. For example, beloved. Is it two syllables or three? What about caramel? In the northeast you drive on Route 6, pronounced root 6. In other parts of the country, you drive on Route 6, but it's pronounced rout. If your last name is Joaquin, and you live in New England, it's pronouced Jo-quin. Here in the south it's Wa-keen. Yes, I'm serious. Down here, the name Montague is 2 syllables...Mon-tage with a long "a" and hard "g" sound. In New England, it's 3 syllables...Mon-ta-gue, the last syllable being pronounced "gew". Up North, I celebrated Thanksgiving...that's "Thanks GIV ing." Down here in the South, I celebrate "THANKS-giving." Up there, I had "in-SURE-ance." Here, I have "IN-surance." As opposed to "outsurance," I guess. Children in the south drink water from a water fountain. Children in New England drink from a bubbler, and don't bother pronouncing that pesky "er" on the end of the word. It's "bubbla", got it? People up north have a love/hate relationship with the letter "r". You won't hear it in words like car, park, yard. We save it for words like idea (idear) and Rhonda (rhonder). People in south also have an interesting way with the letter "r". They don't "wash the oysters", they "warsh the irsters." And then they might ask you, "How you durn?" (That's "how you doing?" for the rest of us.) And while I'm at it, let me take a second to let all my wonderful Southern friends know that "pin" and "pen" do NOT RHYME! Neither do "tint" and "tent". And for all my northern friends, people eat jalapeno peppers...that's "hala-pay-nyo." not "hala-peen-o." The hotel chain is La Quinta, pronounced "La Keenta". It's Spanish, not english. When you say Mississippi, don't worry about those middle letters. It's Missippi. The middle "iss" will just slow you down let everyone around you know that you are not from here. And folks in the south, lets get this one cleared up as well. Say this with me... "Mass-a- CHU-setts". Notice the "t"s come at the end of the word, not the middle.


Love y'all!