Chiff and Fipple Forums

walrii wrote:...we Texans long ago planted our own linguistic land mines:

Hobart
Montague
Iowa Park

Okay, I'll bite:

Hobart = HOBB-ert
Montague = MAWN-tag
Iowa Park = CORN-field

How did I do?

If ever you plan to infiltrate fair Minnesota's stronghold, do pronounce Ely as if it were full of eels: "Eel-ee" (as in, "Yep, that's a pretty eely hovercraft you've got there, Bill."). "Eel-eye" will only get you laughed at and shown the border. Here are a few more of our own shibboleths:

Wayzata
Mahtomedi
New Prague
Cretin (yes, unfortunately that's for real)

Nanohedron wrote:Okay, I'll bite:

Hobart = HOBB-ert
Montague = MAWN-tag
Iowa Park = CORN-field

Well...

HEE-bert
MON-TAIG. (same emphasis on both syllables)
i-o-WAY Park

Iowa Park is indeed surrounded by fields but they’re mostly winter wheat.

As for Nano’s towns, I’ve hung around MIN-ee-SO-tah-doan-cha-no to know what I don’t know.

walrii wrote:HEE-bert

Good Lord.

walrii wrote:As for Nano’s towns, I’ve hung around MIN-ee-SO-tah-doan-cha-no to know what I don’t know.

I'll forgive your pronunciation, there, because the caricature is too nationally entrenched to fight.

Wayzata = wye-ZED-a
Mahtomedi = MOD-a-MEE-dye
New Prague = rhymes with "vague"
Cretin = Say "Cretan", but instead of a T, make a glottal stop crashing right into the N, and you'll have nailed it.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the State of Iowa, my suggestion that Iowa Park would be pronounced "cornfield" is a very Minnesotan joke. We're always poking at each other.

benhall.1 wrote:A South Welsh sheep: Blorenge yowe.

Oh, now I get it: Blorenge.

So there is a word that rhymes with "orange"! Saints be praised at last.

That takes care of that. Now, what can we do with "purple"?

Hirple. If we can use Welsh names, we can use Scots words, too.

Oy, that gives me a cramp.

Bob