Detroit Street Name Pronunciation

**Don K** · February-05-16, 11:07 PM

Yeah, I know native Detroiters pronounce it Lash-er, but I suppose they can't read the order of the letters.

**gumby** · February-06-16, 08:59 AM

The one that I have no clue about is Cadieux.

**EastsideAl** · February-06-16, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by gumby

The one that I have no clue about is Cadieux.

....Cad-jew.

**Király** · February-06-16, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

....Cad-jew.

Stress! Stress! Stress! CAD-jew or cad-JEW?

How about Puritan? Is the T pronounced? Or is it hardly there at all like in "button"?

PURE-it-tan?
PURE-i-n?

How about Moross?

MORR-is?
MORE-ross?
muh-ROSS?

**EastsideAl** · February-06-16, 01:42 PM

Moross?
For old east siders it's pronounced "Seven Mile"

**Hamtragedy** · February-06-16, 02:57 PM

Vernier.

Vern-ee-er?
Vern-yer?

Kind of like Canadian

Can-ay-deean?
Cana-dyen?

**Király** · February-06-16, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Don K

Yeah, I know native Detroiters pronounce it Lash-er, but I suppose they can't read the order of the letters.

You wulod be sireupsrd how ltitle the oedrr of the lrtetes mrtetas to a radeer as lnog as the frist and lsat ltetres of the wrod are in the ccroert pacle.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · February-06-16, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by GPCharles

Goethe - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe pronunciation - ɡətə [[28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman.

As someone who took a few years of German in high school and college, I cringed when I heard anyone say "Go-thee" when I lived in the area.

**canuck** · February-06-16, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

Vernier.

Vern-ee-er?
Vern-yer?

Kind of like Canadian

Can-ay-deean?
Cana-dyen?

Yup, I would say Vairn-yay as the closest sounding in French.

And Caddy-er would sound closest to French if you expel the "r" sound at the end.

A lot of these phonemes are hard to reproduce for a native English speaker.

Chene street is pronounced "Shen" in French and, it would have a circumflex accent on the first e like this: Chêne.

**Honky Tonk** · February-06-16, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by canuck

Yup, I would say Vairn-yay as the closest sounding in French.

And Caddy-er would sound closest to French if you expel the "r" sound at the end.

A lot of these phonemes are hard to reproduce for a native English speaker.

Chene street is pronounced "Shen" in French and, it would have a circumflex accent on the first e like this: Chêne.

What about Dubois? "Doo-boys" or "Doob-wah"?

**Jimaz** · February-06-16, 08:48 PM

Weatherman nails [Welsh] town's super long name

Street View

Wikipedia's Llanfairpwllgwyngyll Article

The long form of the name was invented for promotional purposes in the 1860s; with 58 characters it is the longest place name in Europe and the second longest official one-word place name in the world.

**FormerDetroiter** · February-06-16, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

What about Dubois? "Doo-boys" or "Doob-wah"?

"Doo_Bwah"

**FormerDetroiter** · February-06-16, 09:13 PM

Dee-troit
Duh-troit
Da_Troit
Day-Twaa

**FormerDetroiter** · February-06-16, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by Don K

Yeah, I know native Detroiters pronounce it Lash-er, but I suppose they can't read the order of the letters.

Don K...I am a native Detroiter [[Eastside) who always pronounced Lahser Lah-ser and I corrected anyone who said Lash-er...

**canuck** · February-06-16, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

What about Dubois? "Doo-boys" or "Doob-wah"?

It would sound like a cross between dew and dee, you try to average the two sounds and eliminate the oo sound as much as possible. These sounds exist in German and French but don't in English, Spanish and Italian as far as I know.

It might help to relax your jaw if you smoke a doobie and down a Mountain Dew with it.

**Honky Tonk** · February-07-16, 03:35 AM

Originally Posted by FormerDetroiter

Don K...I am a native Detroiter [[Eastside) who always pronounced Lahser Lah-ser and I corrected anyone who said Lash-er...

WDET interviewed one of the Lahser family members last July. He said it was pronounced "Lahhh-sur". @ some point, a streetsign maker misspelled one of the streetsigns. [[he probably took canuck's advice) Here's a link to the story below.

https://soundcloud.com/wdet/curiosid...ay-lasher-road

**Honky Tonk** · February-07-16, 03:49 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

It might help to relax your jaw if you smoke a doobie and down a Mountain Dew with it.

Ok........... I took your advice......... What were........ we......... talking about?

**dguy4evr** · February-07-16, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Ok........... I took your advice......... What were we talking about?

Can't we all agree to disagree dudes, anyone got any munchies?????

**canuck** · February-07-16, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Ok........... I took your advice......... What were........ we......... talking about?

Yeah, I took my own advice and can't remember my own street name.

**Honky Tonk** · February-07-16, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

Yeah, I took my own advice and can't remember my own street name.

I believe you pronounce it 'U-R-here"......

**Király** · February-07-16, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by FormerDetroiter

"Doo_Bwah"

Stress! Stress! Stress!

Is it DOO-bwah or doo-BWAH? "Doo_Bwah" doesn't tell where the stress goes!

Still wondering about Moross...

**Lowell** · February-07-16, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by Hornwrecker

Be thankful that Go-thee and Frood streets don't cross.

My former life as a Sears delivery driver, when I traveled every street longer than 3 blocks in the metro, gave me my linguistic education in Detroit pronunciations. None were more comical than those for Goethe and Freud. [Go-thee and Frood]

In German the oe [which is the anglicized ö] is most closely replicated as er and th is a hard T. So Gir'-tuh is as close as an English speaker can hope for and hence the comedy of Go-thee.

But when it comes to the ö to Schoenherr Detroiters say Shay'-nurr.

If one knows a little French Liver-noise for Livernois is worth a chuckle too

We do better on Beaubien Bow-bee-yen and almost get close on Charlevoix Shar-luh-voy and actually get the 'oi' ='wah' right in Antoinette An-twah-net..