A pretty spot-on look at ENC place names

{Thanks to @devinwooddd for sharing this!}

I stumbled across this on Twitter last week or so, and I about spit out my Cheerwine. I've long been a "student" of North Carolina place name pronunciations, but this was a new one to me. Among my favorites on this VERY technical map are:

• Wattvul  (Whiteville)
• Walss (Wallace)
• Lanic Ocean (Atlantic Ocean)
• Taybsitta (Tabor City)
• Surfsitta (Surf City)
• Clinnun (Clinton)
• Fedvull (Fayetteville)
• Wore-sall (Warsaw)

These are all pretty darn spot on. The only one I really take issue with is:
B'yoola-vull 

I have always heard the "-ville" pronounced as such, as in "Byoo-la-ville." Looking at Fayetteveill and Whiteville, that may be the only one, though.

What are your favorites?


Related: We Talk Funny: Place Names

More 'we talk funny' entries

WRAL's Bill Leslie wrote yesterday about pronunciation issues in the Tar Heel State. Today, just as he promised, he unveiled a "pronunciation primer" for those "furriners" who don't know that Angier is pronounced "AN-juhr," never "an-JEER." Hurumph.

Making Bill's list?

Bahama bah-HAY-ma (not like the islands)

Buies Creek BOO-ees Creek

Chalybeate Springs ka-LIB-ee-ut*

Cherryville CHAIR-ee-vil

Clinton KLINT-un (though some locals insist on KLINN-un)

(*Though I've always heard it pronounced "ka-LIB-ut.")

We did a similar list a while back. On our list were such places like ...

Conetoe (kuh-NEE-tuh)

Concord (CON-CORD -- not CON-kerd)

Etowah (EH-tuh-wuh)

Harnett (HAR-nit)

Mebane (MEB-in -- not muh-BAIN)

We talk funny: Place names

This is the first in what I think will be just a two-parter about the ways we "talk" in North Carolina. And by talk I mean the way we speak and the way we pronounce place names. I've always been fascinated with this subject, especially after reading Walt Wolfram's "Hoi Toid on the Outer Banks."

This first part is geared at the various place names in the state. North Carolina is lucky in that we have A LOT of places that have some interesting pronunciations. In fact, the N.C. Collection at the UNC-Chapel Hill Library offers a database, of sorts, on its website called, "Talk Like a Tar Heel." You can view it here. In fact, the list is organized by county, which is quite helpful.

Among my favorites are ...
Conetoe (kuh-NEE-tuh)
Concord (CON-CORD -- not CON-kerd)
Etowah (EH-tuh-wuh)
Harnett (HAR-nit)
Mebane (MEB-in -- not muh-BAIN)
Tyrrell (TERR-il)
Zebulon (ZEB-you-lon)

Of course, I don't necessarily agree with some of these; I've always heard Edgecombe as "EDGE-comb," not "EDGE-cum," as listed here.

Any other place names that don't necessarily sound like they look?