Ne - vaaaaaaaaaa - duh

[WyLoochka]

Really, really bad on the ears. Almost as bad as black backgrounds on the eyes...

How did this pronunciation come about?

[demnan]

1. I got a job offer from Las Vegas tonight

I'm in Virginia and they are looking for people with my skills, I guess, rather desperately.

Don't know the costs salary-wise.

[WyLoochka]

3. Advise - pronounce it the way they do

or die. That's the message I got from the Ne-vaaaaaaaaaaa-duh-ites.

[WyLoochka]

5. I was really interested - linguistically speaking

as to how the people there came to adopt such an ugly sounding pronunciation of their state's name.

Who started it? How did it spread from there?

[Emit]

6. Uhh - hem

It's Nevadans.

Where are you hearing this 'do or die' thing? I wasn't aware Nevada was getting any attention in the MSM, but, I don't have access to cable/satellite, so I don't really know.

[WyLoochka]

7. We have the Ne-vaaaaaaa-duh-uns

correcting our pronunciation here - on DU. They have been ordering us to pronounce it Ne-vaaaaaaaa-duh - other wise it makes them "cringe." Guess I gotta respect that - they live there.

I was just interested in how this all started. Why such an ugly sounding name?

[Emit]

9. Here's a recent piece on it

~snip~

No one knows exactly why Nevada is pronounced how it is, but it could have come from California miners who anglicized the word in the mid-19th century, Rocha said.

He's found recordings as far back as 1910 that have the pronunciation and disagrees that the way people from the East say the word sounds the way the Spanish pronounce it.

But what's more interesting than how Nevada residents say the word is why they react to people saying it differently, said Valerie Fridland, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, who studies dialects.

Residents use pronunciation not only to determine who is a native to the state, she said, but who respects and cares about them. Fridland called it a "symbolic identity issue."

To residents, if visitors, politicians, or advertisers can't pronounce the state's name right, those people either don't have anything to offer people in Nevada or are offensively ignorant, according to Fridland.

"It's all about respect for people and the way they live," Rocha said.

~snip~

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080111/NEWS/217844735

And by the way, hello there, from Nevada! :hi: Yes, I live here.

[WyLoochka]

13. Now that was helpful

toward answering my question. Thank you.

[Maat]

2. I hear you.

Technically, it's "Nay-bah-dah;" however, no one bothers to pronounce it correctly.

Another one that gets me, in terms of the mainstream media, is "Pah-dill-ah," as in dill pickle; you don't know how many times I've emailed the media dorks, and said, "It's 'Pah-dee-yah' you ding-dongs!"

[parasim]

4. Maybe it came from the locals?

-snip

The Spanish pronunciation may be Nuh-va-Duh, but us locals say "Ne-vaa-Da." We can't stand to hear it the other way, it just sounds "wrong" and grates on our ears.

http://renotahoe.about.com/od/tourism/a/DontCall.htm

But what do I know? I live in Florida, a state which I think everyone pretty much pronounces the same way.

[Breeze54]

8. I was a New England transplant to Nevada years ago and the first lesson I got there

was the correct pronunciation of the state's name.

It's not Na-Vah-da --- ever!!

It's Ne-vaaaaaa-da

The locals insist on it and get highly insulted about it.

Having a New England accent (they thought I sounded English)
made it difficult at first but I caught on soon enough. ;)

[WyLoochka]

11. Ok - I recognize the right of the

locals to call themselves whatever they want. I'm not totally discourteous - so I'll call them that too.

But, what made them go for the ugliest sound to the ears of the possible pronunciations? That's what interested me.

Any Ne-vaaaaaaaaa-duh history experts out there?

[Emit]

15. Why do you insist on calling it 'ugly'?

You're starting to piss me off and ruin my Friday night calm. :P If I didn't know better, it's like you're calling us 'ugly' for pronouncing it differently than Spanish speaking people would pronounce it -- it's not like we have laws passed here on the pronunciation of the word. :shrug:

[WyLoochka]

23. Because the sound IS ugly

to my ears - that's why. Maybe you think it's a more beautiful sound than the original pronunciation - so be it. We disagree.

As I said, I was interested in just how and when this pronunciation came to be the predominant one. That shouldn't "piss you off" or "ruin your Friday night." Tell me something about the history of this usage.

Why do Nevadans so insist on this pronunciation? Who started it? When did it start? Maybe you can convince me it should be music to my ears. I'm open to that.

It is because it is isn't an answer. I'm really interested - linguistically speaking.

[Emit]

26. I did post something about the history of it.

And I'm not about to try to convince anyone what should be music to their ears.

[Breeze54]

27. They don't actually draw out the a's....it's a quick short ' a '

Ne-va-duh

[Guaranteed]

30. Well, yeah. That's how people in CALIFORNIA say it as well. nt

[UTUSN]

10. Uh, ... because it's ... "SPANISH"?!1 and, why is it "ugly"?!1 n/t

[WyLoochka]

12. But the Spanish pronunciation is

Ne-vah-da not Ne-vaaaaaaaa-duh.

[UTUSN]

14. Oh, the "aaaaaaa" is a LONG "a"?1 n/t

[WyLoochka]

16. It's like, c-aaaaaaaaaaaa-t

you are in trouble again for messing in the houseplants. That kind of "a" pronunciation.

[Emit]

19. Now, wait a minute -- we don't draw the 'a' out

It's just Ne-va-da -- no drawing out of the middle syllable.

it's really no big deal, but I think the article I posted above hits the nail on the head about respect and care -- when politicians pronounce it differently than we're used to, many here see it as offensive that they didn't learn how to say it the way we're used to hearing it.

[UTUSN]

22. Sumpin' wrong here, The o.p. is pronouncing it like "cah-cah" - flamebait

[WyLoochka]

24. Nope - just really interested

in linguistic changes over time. How they occur and all that.

[maddiejoan]

17. I get upset

when people don't say New Yawk.

[WyLoochka]

20. bwahahahaha

and I get upset when people don't say "pock 'ya cah in the hahvahd yahd" - we're going to Cuber.

[maddiejoan]

25. wicked

[Occam Bandage]

18. Unfortunately, I don't know which pronunciation you're referring to.

That is why the IPA needs to be universally used. Anyway, rhyming with cat, or rhyming with father?

[WyLoochka]

21. With - Cat

Nevadans rhyme the name of their state with "cat." And it is very important to them that you do too.

[knowledgeispwr]

29. I agree about the IPA thing

I take it from the comments, that English-speaking Nevadans pronounce their state as (using X-SAMPA transliteration of IPA) as /n@.'v{.d@/ while most Easterners (including me) pronounce it as /n@.'vA.d@/. Both are different from Spanish, which is /ne.'Ba.Da/.

[Glorfindel]

28. An interesting subject, indeed: I hear "Ne-VAD-ah" (vad rhyming with glad)

when I've always been taught to say "Ne-VAH-da." Same thing with "Colo-RAD-o" instead of "Colo-RAHD-o."
And I've heard people from Missouri call it "Mizz-oo-ruh." Accents and pronunciations change all the time. In my youth, back home in Georgia, it was common to hear "Georgie" as the name of the state, and "Atlanter" as the capital. And Jack Webb always said, "Los ANGLE-ess, California."

[Guaranteed]

31. It IS Ne-VAD-ah. But Colo-RAHD-o is correct as well.

We Californians determine what proper English is. Trust me on this.