If you live in Owensboro and have for some time, you probably don't have any trouble pronouncing its street names.

If you've only been here a short time or are only ever here briefly, well, then, some of our city's streets could be a bit tough.

The ones I've come up with, in my opinion, could be the ones to give newbies the most pronunciation trouble, and we might as well start with the obvious...

1. FREDERICA STREET

To be honest, there may be no wrong way to pronounce "Frederica," unless you just call it "cupboard" or "Argentina" or "greenhouse" or something. Then you'll be considered off the mark. But while I believe it is officially pronounced "Fred-er-EEK-uh," I don't believe anyone goes that way in casual conversation. "FRED-rick-uh" and "FRED-ick-uh" have all seemed to become acceptable over the years. Side note: when people ask me how to spell it, I just tell them it's the names "Fred" and "Erica" squashed together.

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2. SCHERM ROAD

So the word "Scherm" has been in my life my WHOLE life. The one true accepted pronunciation, based on all whom I've heard say it, is "SHURM." I have, however, herad it pronounced "SKURM" on a few occasions...again, by folks not from here. I learned something interesting about the word. It has a definition. It means a type of fence or screen. However, when used that way, it IS pronounced "SKURM." It's also Dutch.

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3. TAMARACK ROAD

I looked it up. "Tamarack" is a species of tree native to Canada, the Upper Midwest, and a swampy area of Maryland. In other words, the tree gets around. It, however, doesn't get to Kentucky...unless it's this road, which I've heard pronounced "Tuh-MARR-ick" on a couple of occasions. Both by folks new to the region. I assume "Tam-uh-RACK" is correct. That's the ONLY way I've ever heard it pronounced.

What about you? Can you think of some Owensboro street names you've heard mispronounced from time to time?

 

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