Name-calling

Ocqueoc
Topinabee
Mackinac

Northern Michigan folks love to hear the tourists try to pronounce those, and people know how long you've been in the area by your ability to do it correctly. (FYI Mackinac is ALWAYS maa-ke-naw, no matter how it's spelled, Topinabee has its accent on the first syllable, and it's AH-kee-ahk Falls pictured above.)

When you're the traveler, you have to guess how the locals pronounce their stuff: Lead, SD; Toronto, Ontario; Micanopy, FL; Lima, OH; Puyallup, WA; and many more. Sometimes even the locals don't agree. Presque Isle County is pronounced in the French way by some: presk eel, in an Americanized version by others: presk aile, and a confused few mash it up and say preskel aile.

What pronunciations do locals in your neck of the woods know the secret to that visitors don't?

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