Sinai makes the national news! Well, sort of.
Rachel Maddow, whom I don't watch (three channels here at Lake Herman, all PBS) but hear about from eager readers, opened her blog floor to discussion of odd toponym pronunciations. Naturally, folks mentioned Pierre. Lead and Bon Homme appeared in the comments, too. But Maddow's favorite: Sinai, pronounced SINE-ee-eye (shout out to my trig dogs, yo!). Maybe the Legislature should meet there for its final day so it could declare sine die in Sinai.
Ms. Maddow declared the pronunciation of this little town just 20 miles north of Madison "so awkward, it is very awesome."
Hmmm... say your town's name in an Unexpectedâ„¢ way, get national press... I'm seeing a branding opportunity here! Maybe it's time for Madison to live up to its slogan by changing its official pronunciation to something fancier... say a French-Cajun emphasis on the last syllable: Mad-i-SON! (Make that N nasal, mon frère.) Or maybe we could adopt Gaelic pronunciation: if ceilidh can be pronounced KAY-lee, then Madison can surely be pronounced Rufus.
I like Rufus.
If Madison pronounced "Rufus," does that mean Junius is pronounced "Chaka Khan"?
Not a town, but in Rochester, NY, the street name spelled "Chili" is pronounced locally as Chi Lie.
"Toponym"is a word I have never heard before. Learn something new everytime we check the blogs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy