Question of the Day - 23 May 2019

Don't you realize that Nevada is saying duh to 49 states with their cerebrum firmly planted into their rectum.  Although many have finally adopted gambling they all allow illegal prostitution to reign supreme in their inane judgement.

FloriDUH holds the distinction of being the DUH in the US.

Hey, I'm from Florida so I resemble that...Just kidding....Remember if it weren't for "A Florida Man" y'all would have to find someone else doing stupid stuff to laugh at. Have a safe weekend y'all.

Several years ago I was at a conference in Vegas and the insurance commissioner was a speaker. The first thing she did was tell us the correct pronunciation of Nevada. I've always remembered that and even as a Chicagoan, I often correct people who butcher it. What amazes me is that people who do this for a living, like the Jeopardy! announcer, don't take the time to find out what is correct. And as far as the "proper Spanish" way, would you also be okay with your city being pronounced Las VeHas? I know I cringe when someone says IllinoiZe.

I'm a Californian who's lived in CA for 64 of my 67 years (the other 3 were on military bases overseas). Every person I'd ever known in this state pronounced our neighbor as "nuh-VADD-uh". I never heard anyone pronounce it "nuh-VODD-uh" until I was in my 30s. But I haven't had a super-lot of chatting with people in other states, so I didn't know how those in other regions thought it was pronounced. It's a tough call to say whether a word should be pronounced in its original way vs. its Americanized way. Strictly speaking, "Illinois" (a French word formed from a Native American language) is pronounced "ee-lee-NWAAH"; but I don't think that will ever become the common pronunciation. If you want to painlessly correct someone mispronouncing the Silver State, when they say "nuh-VODD-uh", just smile and tell them, "Oh, there's no O in Nevada; the middle vowel is an A" and then pronounce it correctly one more time. You can add, "Hey, all out-of-staters get it wrong."

How about MassaTUsetts?  I don't even live there, never have, but that drives me nuts.  Am I wrong?

The announcer is saying it correctly. The middle "a" is pronounced "ah." It's irrelevant if many Nevadans say it incorrectly, just as it would be if they decided to pronounce it as "boobsquelch." Wrong is wrong. Of course, it's not unique to Nevada--there's Loozeyanna, for example. One example of natives getting it right but outsiders getting it wrong is Oregon--it's not Orygun or Oregone, but Or-eh-gin (HARD G).
Oh, and for what it's worth, the California mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, is ALWAYS referred to with the Spanish pronunciation. One difference in that state, though, is that existing Spanish place names and their pronunciation were largely retained when the US took over (as opposed to earlier in US history, for example, St. Louis).

Local journalists have been responsible for originating or promoting one word or pronunciation over another. 

Herb Caen, the legendary San Francisco columnist writing for 60 years in the "San Fracisco Chronicle," detested the nickname "Frisco."  He wrote a book "Don't Call It Frisco" and inveighed against the moniker in his columns. 

Similarly, I think, Jon Ralston, more than anyone else, has led the battle against pronouncing the state: "Nev-vah-da." 

I would never correct pronunciations, either.  I lived in Kentucky for years and it always sounds strange to me when people say Loo-ee-ville instead of Loo-uh-ville, as locals pronounce it.  Other names pronounced differently by locals are Missouri, Cairo, IL, Versailles, KY, Athens, KY, Berlin, WI - the list goes on and on.  As you say, the other pronunciations aren't "wrong", they just distinguish locals from visitors, and there's nothing wrong with that!

I had never heard of the Athens pronunciation.  Had to look that one up.  By the way, there is a city in Western Missouruh called Nevada - pronounced neh VAY duh.  

The introduction you hear on the episode might not have been the one heard in the studio. I was lucky enough to attend a taping on one of the days James was playing and they had a member of the clue crew doing the introductions with the expectation that Johnny would dub over it when his schedule allows.