Preston said.Ĭolorado, Texas, Montana and Florida are, like Nevada, derived from Spanish words, but are often said with American English intonations. Many state names have Native American, Spanish or French roots, which can be interpreted in different ways, Dr. Pronunciations can vary for many reasons, according to experts. “This is because people feel strongly about them.” “One thing any linguist will tell you is that place names don’t change easily,” Dr. Though many residents of these states may emphatically disagree, linguists and language experts insist there is no such thing as a “correct” pronunciation. There’s also Oregon, Missouri, Florida, Texas and Colorado - to name a few. The debate around state pronunciations is not limited to Nevada. “On the other hand, they don’t want you to do things which are not your right because they don’t belong to you.” “The locals want you to do some things because it shows respect for the way they do things,” Dr. They don’t want to come across as fake or pandering, but they also don’t want to seem ignorant, he said. Politicians on the campaign trail are acutely aware of how important it is to say the right thing, but is there a right thing to say?ĭennis Preston, a professor of linguistics at Oklahoma State University, said politicians would have to walk a tightrope when it came to mimicking local customs. It’s a way of marking yourself as an insider and others as outsiders.” Walter Wadiak, an assistant professor of English at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., said: “I honestly think a lot of the variation in pronouncing place names is about identity. And it shouldn’t be pronounced as if you were at the doctor’s office with a tongue depressor in your mouth, he added. Green said, Nevadans have a sense of pride and ownership over how the state’s name should be said.
Though there is no official pronunciation, Dr. Green, who grew up in Las Vegas, said he remembered singing the state song, “Home Means Nevada,” in his elementary school years.
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Nevadans learn how to pronounce their state’s name when they’re young.ĭr. Green said this was probably because the area was settled in the 1860s by mostly Northerners and Midwesterners who typically used a hard “a” as opposed to the softer “a” used by Southerners. In Nevadans’ preferred pronunciation, the second vowel rhymes with “bad” instead of “awed,” defying the word’s original accent.
The state was most likely named after the Sierra Nevada, a snow-capped mountain range, Dr. The Spanish word “nevada” translates to “snow-capped,” a seemingly peculiar name for a state famous for its deserts and arid climate. “When a candidate says ‘Ne-VAH-duh,’ it sets people’s teeth on edge because it’s reasonable to expect you to know something about your audience,” Dr. Michael Green, an associate professor of history at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, said using the wrong pronunciation was not a deal breaker for candidates, but using the right one could certainly help win friends and influence people. The television anchors Brian Williams and George Stephanopoulos have been criticized for botching the pronunciation. Bush and Michelle Obama have also gotten it wrong. In 2016, Donald Trump told the state’s constituents that they were using the wrong pronunciation at a rally in Reno. With the upcoming Nevada caucuses, presidential candidates and journalists will confront an important issue: how to pronounce the state’s name. According to Nevadans, the latter is correct and the distinction is important.
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