That's NOT how you say it !!!

[bikehikeskifish]

Take a bow in Bow, NH

or

Tie a bow in Bow, NH.

So which is it?

Tie a bow. I have never heard this mispronounced myself, but I don't actually live there (two towns south in Bedford.)

Tim

 

[1ADAM12]

Born there!!

That explains everything

 

[Hillwalker]

Moose Hillock

I have an 1860 map of Grafton County, NH That shows Moose Hillock as the name for that hill. Interesting map as it also shows the names of the families whose houses and farms are shown on the map.

 

[dvbl]

Thanks forestnome and Chip. Two down, five to go.

 

[smitty77]

Mt Watatic.
I thought it was wa- tay- tic.
I think locals call it wa-tah-tic.

IMHO, you have it right. In my defense:
Mom's side of the family lived in Ashby on one side of the mountain
Dad's side spent summers at a camp in Ashburnham on the other side
Dad skied there religiously in it's heyday
I've climbed it at least a dozen times
My wife grew up in Ashby

It's Wah-tay-tic. Which is all I've ever heard. I'm guessing your "locals" haven't been local for too long??? Of course, I also say Kang-ah-mang-us and I'll never change. So there!

BTW, while we're on pet peeves of names done wrong: There's no "s" at the end of Mt. Wachusett

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Kancamagus
Moosilauke
Coos (as in the county)
willey (as in the mountain)
Scaur (as in the ridge)
Pemigewasset
Nauman (as in the campsite)

Try Wikipedia -- they offer the pronunciation of some of these. Of course you need to know the International Phonetic Alphabet to really read it, but it's pretty clear for certain ones.

ˌpɛmɪdʒəˈwɑsət - pem-ee-djeh-WAH-set
Kancamagus - no IPA, but it does state "Often mispronounced, the correct pronuciation is Kancamawgus"
Moosilauke - not in Wiki with pronunciation, but see here: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3104
(Moose-I-lock is preferred.) (I also noticed that the Wiki article links to hikethewhites.com... Dave would be the local authority on Moosilauke...)
Coos - ko-as

I couldn't find references for the rest, but I've often heard "Scar ridge" and "Willy". What's a Nauman?

HTH,
Tim

 

[SteveHiker]

this is fun!!!! If we all just agree on " the kanc" and "the pemi" then that solves the problem....but its soooo much more fun to add more names to the list....
how about these....Barre

Fred Tuttle (RIP) made a big deal out of that one and these:
Charlotte (shar-lot)
Athens (Ay-thins)
Calais (callous)
Pico (Pie-ko)

Then there's the capital of NH:
Concord (conquered)

 

[Jay H]

Gotta add some Catskills things...

Willowemoc
Cairo (like the city in Egypt or "Caaaaaayyyyro")
Catskills or Kaatskills

Jay

 

[lumberzac]

How about the Boquet River or is it Bouquet? The maps can’t decide on the spelling.
I’ve heard it pronounced bO-kA, bO-quet, and bO-ket.

Back to the Tripoli Rd question. In Washington County, NY, there is a Tripoli Rd that I’ve heard the locals pronounce, trI-pOl-E road

 

[David Metsky]

Moosilauke is pronounced both ways, Moo-si-lock and Moo-sil-ay-key. The latter is probably more similar to the original native pronunciation and still has may proponents, the former is in more common use by locals and the Dartmouth folks who've owned chunks of the mountain since 1920. I use the first one, except when singing "My Moosilaukee Sweetheart" cause it doesn't scan otherwise.

Nauman is Now-man.

Clough is Cluff.

Guyot is Ghee-oh.

Coos is Koh-os.

I agree with the others on Tri-poh-lie

 

[rocksnrolls]

Warning: Controversial topic ahead (or so I've heard)...

What is the correct pronunciation of the following:

willey (as in the mountain)

That's will-E as in 'a case of the willies', right? I believe I've heard somewhere that that phrase came from a story about the slide that wiped out the Willey family. I used to always pronounce it like Why Lee (as in the cartoon coyote) until I heard that story

 

[KayakDan]

Another Massachusetts one that I hear a lot:

"Billerica" (Bill - Rika) -- I work there, oh god all the names we hear! My company used to get these packages addressed to "Bill Ricker". It took everyone a while to realize people were misunderstanding the town name when being instructed where to send packages!

That's "Berrica" to the locals,right next to "Chemsfd" and "Tooksbry"

And of course there's "Reykjavik"

 

[TJ aka Teej]

Some faves:
Newsowadnehunk (Maine - Baxter)

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=1091

Say "sow der hunk".

 

[grouseking]

My favorites...one in the Whites...one in MA

Skoocumchuck

and Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (Lake Webster)

Have fun with that one

grouseking

 

[blacknblue]

Carrigain CAIR-uh-ghin
Chocorua cho-KOR-ru-uh
Cöos CO-hoss
Guyot GHEE-oh
Kancamagus KAIN-cuh-MAIN-ghis
Moosilauke MOO-suh-lock
Pemigewasset PEM-uh-geh-WHASS-it

 

[Jay H]

To-May-Toe

 

[nartreb]

Tripoli should rhyme with "sea", as in
"From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,
We will fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea."

It's Greek for "three cities", referring to the Carthaginian towns of Sabratlia, Oea, and Leptis. I expect Greek/Arabic/Italian/Berber pronunciations would be close to "tree pole E". In English it sounds closer to "triple E" or "trip oh lee".

 

[Mad Townie]

and Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (Lake Webster)

That's easy, Grouseking. It's Lake You-fish-on-your-side-I-fish-on-my-side-and-nobody-fishes-in-the-middle!

I and the Millinocket area people I know have always said "sow-da-hunk".

Didn't realize there was only one "n" in Kancamagus! The word "magus" by itself is pronounced "MAY-gus", so I'd be tempted to pronounce the last 2 syllables of the Kanc that way, too. Doesn't mean it's right, though.

 

[nartreb]

>The word "magus" by itself is pronounced "MAY-gus"

Only by English speakers, who have an inexplicable habit of assigning fanciful sounds to Latin and Greek. {Actually "magus" is Persian in origin, but entered English via the Bible.}
But "Kancamagus" has nothing to do with "magus", it's the name of a Penacook chief. On some maps (old and new) it's spelled "Kancamaugus". "Kancamangus" may be the result of mis-reading that first U as an N.

This Iroquois says it's "kank -a- mog -us".

 

[David Metsky]

In English it sounds closer to "triple E" or "trip oh lee".

But that's not what it is named for. The stuff mined (dredged?) from the lake bottom was called tri-po-lie (with a long I).