[Dr. Sivana]

Always amazes me that most people pronounce both the first and last name of Whitney Houston correctly but when it comes to pronouncing our city, not so much.

On the NYers side, Houston Street, NY, was pronounced Hows-ten for over 25 years before the founding of the city of Houston, TX.

On the other hand, the spelling is a corruption of the original Scottish name (Houstoun).

Regarding Wisconsin, midwesterners seem to willingly and methodically adapt the names of existing cities, purposely changing pronunciation. Lima, Ohio; Genoa, Illinois; and Oregon in both Illinois and Wisconsin are examples. It really hurts my ears every time I hear the stress put on the long O in Genoa, Illinois. The real problem comes when they apply the same pronunciation to a perfectly innocent salami.

[Grams A]

That’s funny - thanks for the education.

My son went to college at the University of Kansas. Three of his housemates were from Chicago. He did pick up some of their dialect and every now and then it pops up - like cur for car. One of my past bosses when I worked in Lake Charles, Louisiana, had lived his entire life in Cajun country. Took forever before I could understand him - and the buy you is only blue in Louisiana, in Texas it’s buy oh - Cajun versus CW.