HUMOR

A Guide to Pronouncing Ohio Place Names

We give Massachusetts a run for its money.

In case you ever wondered where I live, this is pretty much it. (Photo by Steve Adams on Unsplash)

Massachusetts is famous for towns that are named something like Worchestershirefordisington, but it’s pronounced “Brad”.

Ohio has places like that, but the pronunciation is just close enough to the actual spelling to make fights break out.

1. Wooster

Looks like “WOOH-ster” but is pronounced “WUH-ster” with just a slight “oo” and not much emphasis on the first syllable. The problem is that it’s home to the College of Wooster, which has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal as one of the best (and most expensive) colleges in the U.S. That means lots of foreign students and their families, so you can forget about anybody saying it right. And by “right”, I mean the way I say it. (This is where the fighting comes in.)

2. Dalton

Nope. It’s “Dowton”, like the Abbey, but without the “N”. Why? I have a theory.

I live about a mile away from the county line between Medina and Wayne County. The minute you cross that line, everybody has a Southern accent. I kid you not. The growing season in Wayne County is also about a month ahead of ours here in Medina — I mean, it’s right there, I can practically see it from my back window. How…