Both
Simon and Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka were asked the proper pronunciation of “Comptroller.”
Topinka said the silent “p” is a British holdover. Simon agreed, but then added
she mispronounces many things, being a Southern Illinois resident.
I
HAVE BEEN in way too many quarrels with Southern Illinois residents over how to
say “Cairo,” “Vienna” and “Eldorado” – and who are absolutely convinced their
regional dialect (KARE-oh, VIGH-enna and ElderRAYdough) is the only way to
speak.
Then
again, how many Germans snicker at the local “rubes” whenever they hear someone
speak of Chicago’s “Goethe Street?” Named for poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(GUER-tah), they find it absurd that a Chicago cop (back in my old City News Bureau days) once
mocked me for not realizing it is spoken locally as “GOH-thee.”
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