Kentucky City and County Names That Are Mispronounced Most Often

I admire Cameron Crowe, and not just because he's a Hollywood movie director. Actually, I really only like three of his movies...Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and Say Anything. Oddly enough, what I most admire about Crowe comes from a film of his that I did not like. What's more, it was filmed right here in Kentucky.

Louisville Pronunciation

In this scene from Elizabethtown, Kirsten Dunst's flight attendant teaches passenger Orlando Bloom the correct way to pronounce Louisville. And, by "correct", she means how we say it around here.

In his research, Crowe must have learned that that's a subtle Kentucky trademark...correcting people who say "Louie-ville" rather than "Lou-uh-vul." I really appreciated that touch.

Kentucky Names That Are Difficult to Pronounce

While the name of the Commonwealth's largest city is likely the Kentucky geographical location that's said by non-Kentuckians more than any other, it's not alone in "degree of difficulty." I live in a county whose name can present problems. It doesn't help that there's an Indiana county not very far away with the same spelling but a different pronunciation. Up there, it's "day-VEEZ" County. Down here, it's...

Cadiz KY

In Trigg County, just east of Land Between the Lakes, you'll find Cadiz, Kentucky. It shares it's name with a port city in Spain where it is pronounced "kuh-DEEZ." I've heard that pronunciation and this one..."kuh-DIZZ." Here in the Bluegrass, we do it this way.

Muhlenberg County, Kentucky

Whether you're talking about the college in Pennsylvania or the county in Western Kentucky, you will not be saying "MULL-en-berg," as I've heard on more than one occasion. You will be saying...

Robards KY

Anyone familiar with the actor Jason Robards can be forgiven for mispronouncing this town's name. The late, two-time Oscar winner's surname is pronounced "ROE-bards." The name of the Henderson County, Kentucky, town goes like this.

Leitchfield KY

Finally, we have the Grayson County seat and its frequent (and unfortunate) mispronunciation of "LEECH-field." On the other hand, if one has never seen the city's name, I can understand the shots in the dark.

Versailles KY

I'm putting this one on the list as sort of an "honorable mention" entry. I call it that because, for the most part, we here in Kentucky don't mispronounce the city's name. It is what I like to call "officially mispronounced." Versailles is an opulent palace in France, and is pronounced "vair-SIGH." The city that's 13 miles west of Lexington is said this way.

That concludes Kentucky Mispronunciations 101. Next time, we'll try to figure out what in the world a Tyewhoppety is.