WATCH: Americans fail at trying to pronounce different Mass. cities
By NBP Staff | October 8, 2015, 10:43 EDT
Imagine being a tourist visiting Massachusetts for the first time. You’re driving around in your rental car grasping at your smartphone desperately trying to ask Siri how to get to Worcester or where the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts might be in Haverhill, but she ends up automatically directing you to your Contacts and puts your college roommate on the phone instead. Then you’re left still hopelessly lost, no sign of a Dunkin’ Donuts anywhere, and wondering how Hooked on Phonics failed you miserably as a child.
Seriously, Massachusetts, why all these extra letters in your city names if everyone’s going to just ignore them completely? As one person said in this BuzzFeed video, “Either pronounce all the letters or write them differently!”
But that’s the beauty of the English language … or maybe English colonization in general. How many “exceptions to the rule” words did we learn in grade school?
Oh, and one more thing — why didn’t Peabody make the list?