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Mispronounciation Is Part Of Our History Now
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This article is about how correctly to pronounce town and neighborhood names in Los Angeles, but it's not the usual quirky-pronunciation story. In this one, it's the conflict between the way locals say the names and the Spanish language. That's because a lot of the terms in question are pronounced as they were Anglicized when English-speaking people moved into the area. I happen to live in one example: Rancho Palos Verdes is pronounced by people who live here as "RAN-cho PAL-is VER-deez," which is decidedly not how it's supposed to be pronounced in Spanish. Next town over? San Pedro. Locals say "san PEE-dro." Los Feliz is "lohs FEEL-iz" to locals. None of that is correct in Spanish. But it's the way people talk 'round these parts. There are those who insist on pronouncing at the correct way according to the language, and it's become more of a cultural flashpoint for some people than it used to be. (Los Angeles Times)
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