Reply To: Confused from the UK!

[fstopper89]

Worst Case Scenario… did you say you’re 50 miles north of Milwaukee? That should put you in my neck of the woods. And JC Findley, sounds like you’re familiar with my territory as well! Small world?

There are A LOT of French names for cities here, as well as Native American names. A small town near me is called Calumet. The real pronunciation is “Cal-you-may,” French for “peace pipe” which the settlers found with the Indians there. But colloquially it is pronounced Cal-you-met. And there is a Calumetville within miles away. Near Green Bay, there is a suburb called De Pere. The French pronunciation would be “Day-pair” for “The father.” But we pronounce it “Duh-peer,” with more emphasis on the last syllable. I think we have it all wrong. My friend from out of town still calls Calumet “Cal-you-may” no matter how many times I tell him how we all say it here.

Funny story, at my old job, a retail store, a woman originally from Tennessee worked there. I was a supervisor. A man checked out and forgot his tube of caulk. She yelled to me, “Hey! Catch that man, he forgot his cock!” or that’s how it sounded at least. I was confused for half a second.