I've always pronounced the word "Southern" to rhyme with howthurn. I know most people say it like "suthurn" instead. I didn't realize that the way I pronounce it is considered weird until recently!

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[–] 23 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Living in Los Angeles as a white person, I refuse to pronounce street and city names that are Spanish the English-speaking way. Knowing Spanish since I was a kid from school and using it on a daily basis, my brain simply doesn’t butcher the pronunciation by default.

It’s caused confusion though for sure. I used to live near a street called La Tijera, but Americans pronounced it almost like Spanish “la tierra” which is a completely different word, and I couldn’t figure out where this street was that everyone was talking about.

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  • [+] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    That is a hilarious street name, omg

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Houston, Texas has a street called Kuykendahl (or something similar). People kept mentioning this 'kirkendall' street and I could never find it.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    But that's one where they're leaning much closer to the Dutch pronunciation

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Maybe there's some vestige there but I asked upwards of 20 people and no one could explain it. Texas did historically have german-speaking communities and even cities, but I wasn't aware of any Dutch nor had I heard anyone mention it. It's interesting?

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