On Tuesday night, there was a debate in Las Vegas between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. NBC's Evening Newsman, Brian Williams, was host. He repeatedly called the state Nev-ah-duh, which any local knows is anathema. I heard it, chuckled that he didn't have the instruction that each candidate has clearly recieved.
I know that various states have local pronunciations of their state names, but no one seems to regard it more seriously than we do.
After his mispronunciation, evidently the Las Vegas NBC affiliate was "overwhelmed" with calls and e-mails denouncing Williams and threatening to never watch the network again after such an affront.
The result? Last night, the NBC evening news and Brian Williams ran a story about the proper way to pronounce Nevada, recalled the story from the debate, interviewed locals in Carson City about the state name, and showed that our pronunciation is also in the NBC official guide. They pribably said Nevada about 30 times.
It looked like Mr. Williams was having a fun time admitting his mistake. I laughed out loud at the broadcast, not at him but (I think) with him. It's a quirk of living in the Silver State. And I think Mr. Williams got the joke. Good show, sir.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
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6 comments:
I like to joke around with Katrina's family about this. They have the typical NE pronunciation, I will let them slide with Ore-gone instead of Ore-gun but I will have none of the Ne-vah-duh stuff. To annoy them I pronouce New Hampshire, New Hahmpshire.
When I moved to NC from NV, I took it as part of my mission to further educate the world on the proper pronunciation of NV. But for some reason, somewhere in the middle of my time there, I realized that the "wrong" (Nev-aw-duh) way is actually more accurate based on the letters and etimology (Spanish). Further, the "right" way to pronounce it is internally inconsistent: the first 'a' is a 'ah' and the second 'a' is an 'uh.'
I'm not saying a place doesn't get to determine how to pronunce it's own name, but when you choose an unorthodox pronunciation, I've decided it's silly to get mad at others for not getting that immediately.
The Spanish thing is true, but until we we call Texas Tay-hoss, New Mexico "New Meh-hee-co," and Florida "Floor-ee-dah" it's also a non-starter. That point was well made by the state linguist during the segment.
Furter, most Eastern pronounciations generally agree with us on the second syllable, which is inconsistend with the "ah" in the middle. "Nev-ah-duh" is what I generally hear, not "Nev-ah-dah"
It is silly. And I think, by and large, most Nevadans are simply those who are "in on the joke." We don't give outsiders a hard time because we're deeply offended - it's just a custom.
This is hilarious! I don't usually get too offended over the saying Nevada wrong...seriously there are bigger fights worth figthing for (poverty, Aids crisis, etc.)
What I enjoyed most about the news story was shots on national news of so many familiar places--the Reno Arch, UNR campus, the Welcome to Nevada sign.
I think Utah is very competitive as far as unexpected pronunciations:(Hurricane = Hur-ih-ken; Tooele = Too-il-uh)
It drove me nuts in WI. However, what drove me more nuts was as soon as I said I was from reno, they all would say, "oh, you are so lucky! You are so close to Vegas!! Did you go there a lot?"
Hello, Vegas is like another state. Or at least there is so much dessert in between Vegas and Reno it might as well be another state.
I do warn any out of state friends and family to pronounce Nevada the locals way. Unless they want to be the tourist. Or I start with Dontcha know and Hey dere, eh?
Every state must have their thing. The WI sayings are crazy and some are an insult to the English teachers out there.
"Hey, I can borrow you that book if you want?"
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