Well this is bullshit.

Wow. And I thought the Dairy Queen was the highlight of Alachua! My terminal degree is from UF. My wife ran the dietetics program at UF before we moved way west.
IIRC, there are several big $$ horse farms in/around Alachua. Girl I dated was part of that crowd. Her father was CEO of a big real estate development company that had developed many of the communities (Haile Plantation, Tioga, etc) in G’ville. This would’ve been the late 80s/early 90s.

Fun fact: Parts of the mid-90s movie Devil’s Advocate were filmed in Alachua (near/on this girl’s family property) and Gainesville.

I studied English at UF in the early/mid 90s—grad school at FSU, and eventually escaped from FL and found my way to the Triangle.
 
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Driving between NYC and AVL I see the Virginia town of Basye on the signs.

I mispronounces Staunton for a long time.

Anybody know how to pronounce it?

How about between Winston-Salem and Asheville: Dysartsville? Nebo?
Dysartsville is just a road i think (I’m from Burke county)
Nebo is pronounced Knee-Bow
Staunton is pronounced like Stanton (went to residency at UVA so actually had some patients from there)
 
I'm impressed.

Fun fact...I'm from Conetoe.

Well, I'm from one mile outside of Conetoe. Conetoe is a little less than 1 square mile.

I grew up singing in the choir of Conetoe United Methodist. Our choir robes were white with red CUM embroidered across the chest in script.
Born in Little Washington and family is from Williamston/Jamesville

I remember as a young kid being confused that Pinetops wasn't pronounced Pin- ee- tops
 
I'm impressed.

Fun fact...I'm from Conetoe.

Well, I'm from one mile outside of Conetoe. Conetoe is a little less than 1 square mile.

I grew up singing in the choir of Conetoe United Methodist. Our choir robes were white with red CUM embroidered across the chest in script.
i've had some fun conetoe discussions over the years while driving around ENC. people think the cone-tow pronunciation is hilarious until they find out the even more interesting correct pronunciation.
 
I'm impressed.

Fun fact...I'm from Conetoe.

Well, I'm from one mile outside of Conetoe. Conetoe is a little less than 1 square mile.

I grew up singing in the choir of Conetoe United Methodist. Our choir robes were white with red CUM embroidered across the chest in script.
photo?
 
1000007645.jpg

Map of 'hardest to pronounce names by state'.

99.9% of non eastern NC natives won't pronounce Conetoe properly.

Map Shows the Hardest to Pronounce Town Name in Every U.S. State Map Shows the Hardest to Pronounce Town Name in Every U.S. State
I actually didn't know what you were talking about, so I was sure I didn't know how to pronounce it. So I looked up the pronunciation and my immediate thought was, "I never knew it was spelled that way."
 
That reminds me of Buena Vista in Winston-Salem. I always thought it was funny how they pronounce that neighborhood/road there.
Relatedly, it always annoys me when people in podunk American towns named after famous world cities get made when you say their town name "wrong." Like, 99.9% of the world knows how "Versailles" is pronounced, and you're supposed to know when you roll into rural Kentucky that the idiots who live there insist on saying it wrong?
 
Relatedly, it always annoys me when people in podunk American towns named after famous world cities get made when you say their town name "wrong." Like, 99.9% of the world knows how "Versailles" is pronounced, and you're supposed to know when you roll into rural Kentucky that the idiots who live there insist on saying it wrong?
I'm guessing that in KY it's pronounced "ver-SAILS"?
 
Relatedly, it always annoys me when people in podunk American towns named after famous world cities get made when you say their town name "wrong." Like, 99.9% of the world knows how "Versailles" is pronounced, and you're supposed to know when you roll into rural Kentucky that the idiots who live there insist on saying it wrong?
I spent 12 years working for a company in Milan, OH. (pronounced MI’-len with a long i in the accented first syllable. The neighboring town was Berlin Heights. (pronounced BER’-lin)

And Lima OH is pronounced like the bean, not the city in Peru.
 
99.9% of non eastern NC natives won't pronounce Conetoe properly.
I used to drive thru Pinetops and Conetoe every day on my commute to work. The local joke is, if Conetoe is pronounced Kuh-KNEE-tah, why isn't Pinetops pronounced Puh-KNEE-tops?

ETA: griff beat me to it..
 
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