The street/city pronunciation thread.....

[553 Bridgeton]

Dont forget Houston Street. Most New Yorkers pronce it (House-Ton)Street and not the same way as that famous city in Texas.

 

 

I pronounced that wrong for years! I member years back some lady asked me where House-ton st was an im like you mean Houston st. Lol long story short someone else jumped in an corrected me.

[VWM]

See for Schermerhorn, it's easy for me because in Italian the "Che" for us is pronounced as a "k" like the Spanish "¿Qué?"

 

 

I never really had a problem with that street, because there's a duplicate in Merrick.

[checkmatechamp13]

Alright, I got a couple:

 

* Brabant Street (is it Bray-bant or Brah-bant?)

 

* Simonson Avenue (Sim-on-son or Simon-son like the name?)

 

* Walloon Street (I'm pretty sure it's Wah-loon, but could it be Way-loon)

 

How about this one: Fteley Avenue in The Bronx

[Guest Lance]

How about this one: Fteley Avenue in The Bronx

 

Fuh-tell-ay?

[B35 via Church]

Alright, I got a couple:

 

* Brabant Street (is it Bray-bant or Brah-bant?)

 

* Simonson Avenue (Sim-on-son or Simon-son like the name?)

 

* Walloon Street (I'm pretty sure it's Wah-loon, but could it be Way-loon)

 

How about this one: Fteley Avenue in The Bronx

lemme do it this way, instead of bolding the answer in the quote...

 

1) neither... it's "brabbint".

 

2) depends which one you're talking about....

simonson pl in SI is simmon-son.... simonson st in queens is simon-son...

 

3) Walloon rhymes with balloon, so your first one is right....

 

4) fuddalay/fuhdalay (say it like it's one word, don't stress the syllables)

[checkmatechamp13]

lemme do it this way, instead of bolding the answer in the quote...

 

1) neither... it's "brabbint".

 

2) depends which one you're talking about....

simonson pl in SI is simmon-son.... simonson st in queens is simon-son...

 

3) Walloon rhymes with balloon, so your first one is right....

 

4) fuddalay/fuhdalay (say it like it's one word, don't stress the syllables)

 

 

1) I've never heard it said that way before, but I guess...

 

2) I was actually thinking of Simonson Avenue in Mariners' Harbor. Simonson Place is in Port Richmond. When the B/O on the S46 announced it, he pronounced it like the Queens one.

 

3) Gotcha.

 

4) Makes sense.

[MHV9218]

"Foch Blvd"... is it pronounced "foke" or "fotch"?

"Vesey st"... is it "vess-see" or "vay-z"

 

 

Neither! Friend of mine lived on it for years, locals always called vee-zee.

 

Basically, Schermerhorn is prounced "Skermerhorn." I believe some folks say Skimmerhorn though.

 

 

Lol, that street still makes me chuckle. Thanfully I say "sker-mer-horn" now, but my mispronunciations over the years...Shmemhorn street, Skermeehun street, etc. etc. I must have gotten some odd looks. As for the Kosciuszko, the best I can do is Koz-key-oos-koh, that's it. Wrong, but I can't do it.

 

Here's one, Loisaida Avenue. For me it's always been Loh-ees-ai-dah Avenue, but then I hear people saying Lou-ees-ee-ai-da and it messes me up...it's loh-ees-ai-dah, right?

[B35 via Church]

Neither! Friend of mine lived on it for years, locals always called vee-zee.

 

ok, so how is Foch Blvd pronounced ?

 

 

Here's one, Loisaida Avenue. For me it's always been Loh-ees-ai-dah Avenue, but then I hear people saying Lou-ees-ee-ai-da and it messes me up...it's loh-ees-ai-dah, right?

 

not sure, but I tend to hear ppl. go "low-sidah"....

[MHV9218]

ok, so how is Foch Blvd pronounced ?

 

not sure, but I tend to hear ppl. go "low-sidah"....

 

 

My bad, only meant to quote the second. I've never figured out which it was myself, went with Foke though. Yeah, low-sidah is another one I hear.

[checkmatechamp13]

Lol, that street still makes me chuckle. Thanfully I say "sker-mer-horn" now, but my mispronunciations over the years...Shmemhorn street, Skermeehun street, etc. etc. I must have gotten some odd looks. As for the Kosciuszko, the best I can do is Koz-key-oos-koh, that's it. Wrong, but I can't do it.

 

Here's one, Loisaida Avenue. For me it's always been Loh-ees-ai-dah Avenue, but then I hear people saying Lou-ees-ee-ai-da and it messes me up...it's loh-ees-ai-dah, right?

 

 

When I was a little kid, I never even bothered pronouncing it. Then I heard my dad say it, and I realized it was fairly easy to say.

 

In any case, I would pronounce it Low-iss-eye-da Avenue.

[BZGuy]

what about Copley Square, I hear that theres like the Boston way to pronounce it, and liek the non boston way

 

 

Boston Way: Cope-Lee Square

 

Non Boston Way: Cop-Lee Square

[B35 via Church]

since I was out in suffolk yesterday...

 

 

* speonk - spee-onk

* quogue - kwogg (rhymes with fog)

* quiogue - kwee-ogg

* aquebogue - a-kwee-uh-bogg

* hauppauge - hopp-ogg

* cutchogue - cutch-ogg

* patchogue - patch-ogg

* napeague - nappy-ogg (lol)

 

ok, enough of the "ogg's"....

 

* babylon - bab-ba-lon (not baby-lon.. lmao)

* copiague - co-paygg

* islandia - eye-lan-dee-uh

* islip - ice-lip (some lady on the train yesterday said "central iss-lip".... then a man that was helping her out w/ directions [and everyone else in the area about to disembark @ jamaica - myself included] corrected the incorrect pronunciation of this one).....

* commack - co-mack (rhymes with throw back).... (not cum-mack or comm-ack)

* wyandanch - wiine-danch (2 syllables, not 3.... saying it like wy-ann-danch might make you a target out there by the riff raff)

* centereach - cenn-a-reach (the "ter" is not stressed)

* ronkonkoma - ron-conn-kuh-muh (not ron-conn-coma)

* moriches - muh-rich-iss

 

connetquot (not a town/city, but I'll include this one anyway) - conn-uh-quo ("quo", as in, status quo)

[Astoria Line]

Neither! Friend of mine lived on it for years, locals always called vee-zee.

 

 

 

Lol, that street still makes me chuckle. Thanfully I say "sker-mer-horn" now, but my mispronunciations over the years...Shmemhorn street, Skermeehun street, etc. etc. I must have gotten some odd looks. As for the Kosciuszko, the best I can do is Koz-key-oos-koh, that's it. Wrong, but I can't do it.

 

Here's one, Loisaida Avenue. For me it's always been Loh-ees-ai-dah Avenue, but then I hear people saying Lou-ees-ee-ai-da and it messes me up...it's loh-ees-ai-dah, right?

 

 

I lived in LES for 16 years and always pronounced it as loh-es-ay-duh, but i've heard low-sidah and low-es-ah-da. I think it is loh-es-ay-duh tho.

[yardlet6]

My bad, only meant to quote the second. I've never figured out which it was myself, went with Foke though. Yeah, low-sidah is another one I hear.

 

Foch rhymes with watch. I live in there.

[Joel Up Front]

since I was out in suffolk yesterday...

 

 

* speonk - spee-onk

* quogue - kwogg (rhymes with fog)

* quiogue - kwee-ogg

* aquebogue - a-kwee-uh-bogg

* hauppauge - hopp-ogg

* cutchogue - cutch-ogg

* patchogue - patch-ogg

* napeague - nappy-ogg (lol)

 

ok, enough of the "ogg's"....

 

* babylon - bab-ba-lon (not baby-lon.. lmao)

* copiague - co-paygg

* islandia - eye-lan-dee-uh

* islip - ice-lip (some lady on the train yesterday said "central iss-lip".... then a man that was helping her out w/ directions [and everyone else in the area about to disembark @ jamaica - myself included] corrected the incorrect pronunciation of this one).....

* commack - co-mack (rhymes with throw back).... (not cum-mack or comm-ack)

* wyandanch - wiine-danch (2 syllables, not 3.... saying it like wy-ann-danch might make you a target out there by the riff raff)

* centereach - cenn-a-reach (the "ter" is not stressed)

* ronkonkoma - ron-conn-kuh-muh (not ron-conn-coma)

* moriches - muh-rich-iss

 

connetquot (not a town/city, but I'll include this one anyway) - conn-uh-quo ("quo", as in, status quo)

 

 

I'm from Long ****ing Island and I just WTFed at the -ogue places. I still put my own spin on pronunciations ("Mo-rich-ess," CenTEReach to name a few...) I invite those bros to come at me if they're going to get mad at how I pronounce their city...

 

"Copiague" is closer to "koh-pee-yaig" but that's just me. I don't live in Suffolk so I wouldn't know.

 

"Houston Street" is.. well, it's obvious to any New Yorker but until I was 16 I thought it was pronounced like the Texas city.

 

"Van Wyck" is "Wick." I don't care if the guy was Dutch or whatever, half the city was named after something Dutch and look at how we fooked up their names. What's one more mispronunciation?

 

As for "Brooklyn," it's "Brook-lyn." I've had plenty of Brooklynite instructors throughout my school career and they all pronounce it the same way... never heard the (more closer to the original) "Bruke-len," but where the hell do people get "Bruck-len" from?

[B35 via Church]

As for "Brooklyn," it's "Brook-lyn." I've had plenty of Brooklynite instructors throughout my school career and they all pronounce it the same way... never heard the (more closer to the original) "Bruke-len," but where the hell do people get "Bruck-len" from?

Brooklyn as we know it today, derived from the dutch name of Breuckelen.....

 

Currently though, there are projects out in Canarsie named the "Breukelen" Houses.....

That's what was being asked about, earlier on in the thread.....

[FamousNYLover]

Not only in city, but in Nassau and Westchester County also.

 

I forgot how to prounce:

Nassau County

Susquennaha Av (correct my spell)

Hewlett

Adelphi (correct my spell)

Hofras

[Trainmaster5]

I'm from Long ****ing Island and I just WTFed at the -ogue places. I still put my own spin on pronunciations ("Mo-rich-ess," CenTEReach to name a few...) I invite those bros to come at me if they're going to get mad at how I pronounce their city...

 

"Copiague" is closer to "koh-pee-yaig" but that's just me. I don't live in Suffolk so I wouldn't know.

 

"Houston Street" is.. well, it's obvious to any New Yorker but until I was 16 I thought it was pronounced like the Texas city.

 

"Van Wyck" is "Wick." I don't care if the guy was Dutch or whatever, half the city was named after something Dutch and look at how we fooked up their names. What's one more mispronunciation?

 

As for "Brooklyn," it's "Brook-lyn." I've had plenty of Brooklynite instructors throughout my school career and they all pronounce it the same way... never heard the (more closer to the original) "Bruke-len," but where the hell do people get "Bruck-len" from?

 

You're right, it's "Brook-lyn" although I believe they were talking about a housing development in the borough which carries a variation of the Dutch name. BTW, in the county I call Queens-East (Nassau) the residents of one town admired Brooklyn so much they named their town Lynbrook," Lyn-brook". So much for originality,huh? Carry on.

[B35 via Church]

Not only in city, but in Nassau and Westchester County also.

 

I forgot how to prounce:

Nassau County

Susquennaha Av (correct my spell)

Hewlett

Adelphi (correct my spell)

Hofras

In order...

 

* nass-saw ("nass", rhyming with class)

* suss-kway-honn-nuh

* hew-let ("hew", rhyming w/ jew... which there are a lot of out there)

* uh-dell-phy (somewhat hard to do in text, but - ["uh", rhyming with duh..... "phy", rhyming with why])

* Hoff-struh

[MHV9218]

* uh-dell-phy (somewhat hard to do in text, but - ["uh", rhyming with duh..... "phy", rhyming with why])

 

 

Which Adelphi we talking about? The University? That's gotta be uh-dell-fee...

[B35 via Church]

Which Adelphi we talking about? The University? That's gotta be uh-dell-fee...

 

Yeah, the university.....

 

...and nah, the "phi" in adelphi doesn't have an 'e' sound... at all.

[MHV9218]

Yeah, the university.....

 

...and nah, the "phi" in adelphi doesn't have an 'e' sound... at all.

 

 

I just went and looked that one up. Well, count that for a couple decades of mispronunciation... whoops.

[FamousNYLover]

Nassau County was not part of prounanation I was asking.

[B35 via Church]

I just went and looked that one up. Well, count that for a couple decades of mispronunciation... whoops.

lol... hell, I've been sayin "foke" wrong for all these years....

 

Nassau County was not part of prounanation I was asking.

You had "nassau county" listed under the colon.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I asked in the NYC pronounciations thread about how to pronounce a couple of places, and I was wondering about a couple of streets. B35 answered them, but I figured you have more of a background with languages

 

* Brabant Street (I know this is Dutch). I originally thought it was Brah-bant, but then I heard a local pronounce it Bray-bant. B35 thinks it's pronounced Brabbint, but that doesn't really make sense that you'd stress the b.

 

* Simonson Avenue. I used to think it was Sim-on-son, but then I heard a B/O pronounce it on the S46 as Simon-son (like the name). B35 said it's pronounced "Simmon-son", but that was Simonson Place in Port Richmond. A lot of the streets in Mariners' Harbor are named after Dutch people/places, so which one of the three sounds more Dutch?

 

By the way, what is Arlington in the Netherlands? Is it like a region or a city, or what? Because I tried looking it up and nothing came up.

 

To answer your question, there are a variety of reasons for the naming of streets. While the Dutch discovered quite a bit here in the New York region (not just NYC and the outer boroughs), the English were also here as well and their presence is quite profound. One example of that would be "Hudson"... There's the Henry Hudson Parkway, Hudson Street, Hudson River... All probably named after Henry Hudson who was an English explorer. New York, both the state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, which goes back to England and Scotland. The "New" part comes into play when the English and Dutch settlers came here and begin establishing their own neighborhoods and such. It was like they were starting a new so to speak hence why you see "New York", "New England" and so on. There was also the desire to distinguish themselves from their respect mother countries as well.

 

There were also some very rich families here for which streets were named after. Here in Riverdale for example, the name "Delafield" as in Delafield Avenue was named after the affluent Delafield family and there were a few other wealthy families up here that streets were named after. They built large estates here and in fact some of them can still be found here which is pretty cool. There were several very wealthy families here in NYC like the Schemerhorns, the Dyckmans, the Nagles, and the Ishams and they have streets and such named after them because they were very well respected here and helped to develop large amounts of land which back then was basically either farmland or just land that wasn't being used at all. The Dyckman family owned large amounts of land in present day Inwood and the same is true of the Ishams and the Nagles. In short some of these families helped to develop NYC as we know it, so their influence on New York is quite profound. Back in the old days your wealth was shown not only by how much land you could buy but what you built on the land and how expensive the materials were as well. Wave Hill here in Riverdale was once part of an estate and you can see the elaborateness of it and the views that it offers of the Hudson River which was no mistake.

 

I think the smaller the town/city, the more attention that certain wealthy families received. In Florence, Italy, for example, the Medici family was very prominent and their name can be found throughout the city.... Palaces and other famous buildings were built by them so the city would in return name things after them to show their thanks since those families often gave large amounts of their monies for other things that helped those cities to prosper. I know all of this from my own personal research and interest in this crappola while traveling around in Europe in particular.

 

 

Hopefully that gives you some background on the whole street naming thing... To answer your questions, I believe that Bray-bant street sounds correct from my experience. Just think about the word "dry" in English which rhymes with the pronunciation "bry-bant". It's just like the "bry" in Bryant Park. I'm only going off of just seeing the word. Here is an audio clip of the word and it makes sense. Dutch has a lot of what I would call silent letters in it so there is a "y" sound that doesn't appear. Dutch, German and English are all related and are very close to each other actually, so the silent letter trend can be found in English as well.

 

http://www.forvo.com...alcolm_brabant/

 

 

As for Arlington, I'm willing to bet that it's an English Anglo-saxon name... Clinton, Princeton... All Anglo names to my knowledge...

 

http://www.houseofna...ory?A=54323-292

 

 

As for Simonson Avenue, I'm not sure, but I would be comfortable going with what the B/O used... Simon-son as in Simon the name and that too is probably an Anglo name based on the ending... The -"son" ending though could be Scandinavian also as in Norweigan for example. The Northern European countries (Great Britain would be included actually, as well as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, etc.) share much history together.

 

Don't think that everything is Dutch. The thing is you had the Native Americans here before the arrival of the Europeans and their presence can still be found with some of the streets as well such as Kappock St as I mentioned earlier, which was shortened from "Shorrack-kappock". What further complicates things is you had a guy like Hudson who was English but eventually decided to explore for the Dutch, but don't underestimate street names named after the English... Sussex St comes to mind as in Sussex, England. Columbus of course was named after the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo in Italian), but he sailed for the Spanish (hence Cristobal Colón), so you also have the issue of last names being translated and street names being given and finally another reason for some names is just the land around them. Some of the explorers decided on names based on what the areas looked like and I guess they felt that some areas resembled areas in their respective home countries.