Still catching up on my mail ...

On Mon, 28 Sep 1998, Pam Blythe wrote:

> There's a section of Monroe County, NY (where Rochester is), that's named
> Chili.  However, for whatever reason, the locals pronounce it "Chie-lie",
> both syllables rhyming with the word "by".  They are smart enough to
> understand, however, that the world doesn't revolve around Rochester, so
> they pronounce the name of the restaurant chain correctly (Chili's).  What
> a bunch of wackos I moved in with.

Southern Michigan was established and settled by migrants from Upstate New
York, and these folks brought with them their way of life, their system of
local government, and their place names.  Indeed, to a large extent
southern Michigan and upstate New York have all the same place names, just
rearranged.  Rochester, Ithaca, Utica, Saranac, Watertown, Romulus,
Lansing, Mount Morris, Genesee, Livingston, Bath, Monroe, Dansville,
Waterloo, Watertown, Oneida, Homer, Orleans, Delhi, Dryden, the list goes
on and on.

However, sometimes the pronunciation differs.  Here in Michigan, I grew up
with a TV station which frequently reminded its viewers that it had
"transmitting facilities in Onondaga": On-un-DAY-gah.  Later, one of my
fellow county commissioners (now a state senator) was from that area, and
she pronounced it the same way: On-un-DAY-gah.

So in 1988, I move to Upstate New York for grad school in preservation.
Not far away is Syracuse, which is in Onondaga County, presumably the
namesake of Onondaga Township back in Michigan.  In New York, though, it's
On-un-DAHG-ah, which to my Midwestern ear sounds highly affected.

Another New York place name which is pronounced in an unexpected way is
Lowville.  The place was named for Nathaniel Low, rhyming with "go".
But today, the first syllable of Lowville rhymes with "how".

There isn't any explanation for this.  Nor is it easy to imagine how the
New Yorkers and the Michiganders diverged in the way they say "Onondaga".

In one case I know of, a town's leadership decided to change the way the
town's name was pronounced.  Bourbonnais, Illinois, used to be called
"ber-BONN-iss"; a new mayor and city council about 25 years ago changed it
to the more French-ly correct "berbun-AY".  But old timers and exiles
(like two friends of mine) still lean to "ber-BONN-iss".

The story about Chili (the township) and Chili's (the restaurant) being
pronounced in different ways by the same people does not surprise me. Here
in Ann Arbor is an elementary school named Bach, which is pronounced "Ba"
(rhymes with "Ma").  Meanwhile, the same people refer to the classical
composer Bach as "bok" or maybe even "bakh" (that back-of-the-throat
softer K or harder ch).  It's easy to imagine an Ann Arborite referring to
"a <bok> concert at <ba> School."

All fascinating stuff.

                         Larry Kestenbaum