[ICrazyTeach]

OK. I live in Louisville. Nobody can pronounce it correctly I was just reading a FB post with heated arguments about it because even the natives can't agree. We tend to speak our own language around here--just ask a Kentuckian about Versailles or Athens or any other number of places you think you know how to pronounce
So I have 2 questions:

1. How do pronounce Louisville?

2. Do outsiders mispronounce the name of your town/city?

[Teacherbee_4]

My instinct is always Louie-vile with the Long e at the end but my parents always told me it was Lou-Ville, like the name Lou, but you say the Lou pretty fast and more connected to ville if that makes sense. I wish I could record myself saying it!

I’ve never lived in a place that was mispronounced.

[Sbkangas5]

1. I used to say "loo-ee-vill" and was corrected to kind of "loo-uh-vul" (with the loo-uh kind of mushed together). But I'm sure I'm not saying it correctly.

2. My town is easy and well known so it's very rare that it's mispronounced.

[PEPteach]

I like to say "Louie-ville" but I knew someone in college from the area who would say something like "Lull-vull". She said that's how it's pronounced. I've never been there, so I'm curious to hear if that's accurate!

I don't live anywhere difficult to pronounce.

My last name on the other hand is mispronounced by strangers 95% of the time. If it's pronounced correctly, I know they have a German background.

[CK2]

I say Loo uh vull with the uh barely there.

My town’s name is super easy to say, like Smith and Brown are easy to say. I can’t imagine how anyone could mispronounce it!

So how do you pronounce Louisville?

[GraceKrispy]

"Louie-ville" but done a little faster so it mushes together more.

Outsiders rarely mispronounce my current city. My previous location got mispronounced a lot. I used to live near Thoreau, NM also, which was always mispronounced.

[linda2671]

I live in a town that is a long Indian name. Nobody can even read it, much less pronounce it.

[Starr]

1. I would say louie-ville but I know from being an avid Babysitters Club books fan from back in the day, that a native person from there would say it lou-uh-ville, just like Logan Bruno would
2. Nobody would mispronounce the name of my city. It's just not the kind of name that has more than one way to pronounce it.

[hand]

I say pronounce it Loo uh vul.

I’ve never heard anyone incorrectly pronounce the name of my town.

[DiamondGirl]

Lou-ville...2 syllables

[suzyteach]

I have pronounced it Lou-ee-ville, which I see is wrong.


My town is always mispronounced, but it is a silly name.

[tia]

louie-ville

and I doubt i'll pronounce it differently as no one around here would ever correct me...

YES--people who don't live here mispronounce our (capital) city All. The. Time. it's Boi-See not Boi-Zee.

[PoohBear]

I say Louie-vil but I figure that's a west coast pronunciation My current town is extremely easy to pronounce.

[MKat]

I thought it was Lou-uh-ville? (with the emphasis on the first syllable and a deemphasized second syllable)

As a native, can you tell us how to pronounce it?

[Tiamat]

1. I say loo-ee-vill but I know that’s not what a native would say.

2. No. Five letters, phonetic, impossible to get wrong. However, we have a town not too far away (close enough for a shopping day) called Griffith The number of people who say “Grithiff” is unbelievable.

[lisa53]

I say Lou-i-Vill (short i in the middle) as I was trained by my sister.

Here in NH we have a secret way to tell if you are a “flatlander”—we just wait for you to pronounce certain town names.

LEB-a-NON is the country where Beirut is located. LEB-a-nun is a town on the western border of NH.

Ber-LIN is a city in Germany. BER-Lin is a town in northern NH, famous for its paper mills.

[javamomma]

3 syllables
Lou-e-vill

My town not so much but apparently many people (think reservations etc) think AR is state abbreviation for Arizona not Arkansas

[ICrazyTeach]

Louisville only has 2 syllables. Something like Luh-vull. Some locals will argue there's a 3rd very soft and fast one in the middle.

LEB-a-NON is the country where Beirut is located. LEB-a-nun is a town on the western border of NH.

We have one those here, too. My grandfather said LEB nun.

[liberty teach]

I usually say it with 3 syllables

We get our news from a large metropolitan area just across the state line. You can always tell when a new person comes from a different area to do the broadcasting when they mispronounce our city.

[h0kie]

1. I pronounce it like a Yankee...so, wrong.

2. The two towns I live between are both named after Italian cities.

The bigger of the two (and where my mom taught) is provinces pretty much the same as it is pronounced in Italian.

The smaller (where I went to school and our current district) is pronounced nothing like it is pronounced in Italian and people who don’t live here always mangle it. It’s such an Ohio pronunciation that it makes me laugh.


There are several FB videos of people trying to pronounce the names of different Ohio cities. It makes me laugh every time. I’ve seen them for many different states, too.

https://fb.watch/383gRn2y2W/

[Keltikmom]

I’ve always pronounced it “loo eh ville”.

I live in a two word town.outsourced customer service people often put the accent in the wrong place for second word.

[letsgomets]

I've pronounced it both ways, but I usually default to Loo -ee- ville.


My town is easy to pronounce.

[4leaves]

With the accent on the Loo. Around where I live we have Puyallup, Sequim, and other names from indigenous people. They are pronounced Pyew al up and Skwim. You can tell who is from here and who isn’t when they say them. It is funny (sort of) when our local news folks can’t say them correctly!

[MACMama]

Lou-uh-ville. The middle is slurred, and said rather quickly.

People botch my home town quite a bit!

[bGracie]

I've always said Loo-uh-vul too, with the emphasis on the first syllable.

[MKat]

4leaves, I used to live in Puyallup. The ones that I heard all the time were Pwee-a-loop or pooey-loop. In general, most of our relatives just knew I lived in Tacoma/Seattle area. When the wedding invitations went out, everyone had a heyday trying to figure out the pronunciation.

[Ima Teacher]

LOO-uh-vul

Although, sometimes I talk fast and it sounds more like LOO-vul.

That’s where DSS and partner live.

My town shares a name with a large city in California. Ours is pronounced differently, and people from other states say it wrong every time.

[bonteach]

I would pronounce it Louie ville.

My state is full of city names that are difficult to pronounce. This includes my hometown.

[T.A.R.D.I.S]

I pronounce it with three syllables. My mom, who is from Kentucky, pronounces correctly.

MKat, I have a friend of a friend who saw a sign for Puyallup when she was visiting from the east coast. She saw it and said, "poo-y'all-up."

My city is only one syllable, very easy to pronounce. My state, on the other hand, not so much.

[4leaves]

A news caster (Seattle!) said that. Have you not heard the Puyallup Fair song a bazillion times?

[4leaves]

They changed it a year or two ago (so sad) but every August and September, we’d hear “You can do it at a trot, you can do it at a gallop, you can do it real slow so your heart won’t palpitate, just don’t be late, do the Puyallup!” a dozen times a day in commercials. Pyew -al-up. Great state fair!

[Tiamat]

American indigenous names often trip me up. But we have our share too -

Goonoo Goonoo - pronounced gunna guhnoo.

Tharbogang - tar BO gan.

Gulargambone - actually phonetic.

And many others.