New Orleans: home of great food and hard to pronounce words. Even though we have a lot of words and street names with French roots, we may not pronounce them as you think you would. If you can pronounce these 12 words correctly, maybe you’ve lived here too long.
- New Orleans vs. Orleans Parish
Gary J. Wood/Flickr You would think they would be pronounced the same, but they are not. New Orleans is pronounced “New Or-linz”, but when you are referring to the parish, it’s “Or-LEANS” (rhymes with jeans). Weird, right?
- Tujaque’s
CJTravelerTexas/Trip Advisor Anytime someone says Tujaque’s, my head immediately goes to the “12 Yats of Christmas” song by Benny Grunch & the Bunch. It’s pronounced “Two-jacks”
- Chartres
Amanjeev/Flickr This popular street is pronounced “charter”.
- Burgundy
Infrogmation/Flickr Seems like it would be easy, but nope! It’s properly pronounced “Bur-GUN-dee”.
- Melpomene
googlemaps.com Lots of street names influenced by Greek myths! This one is pronounced MEL-poe-meen"
- Tchoupitoulas
Joe Dykes/Flickr This one gives tourists a hard time for sure. “CHOP-ah-too-lus”
- Marigny
Jason Riedy/Flickr Just forget the “g” is even there. “Mar-uh-knee”
- Carondelet
Googlemaps.com “Kah-ron-duh-let”. Not so hard, right?
- Calliope
googlemaps.com This one is a curve ball: “Cal-ee-ope”
- Toulouse
Anokarina/Flickr This one is pronounced “too-loos”.
- Terpsichore
looktouch/Flickr It’s the “ch” that throws everyone off. “TERP-suh-kore”
- Praline
Sean Davis/Flickr This one I’ll let slide… Most pronounce it “PRAW-leen” but sometimes you’ll hear “PRAY-leen”. I still prefer PRAW-leen, though.
So where do you fall: PRAW-leen or PRAW-leen? Let us know in the comments below!
Gary J. Wood/Flickr
You would think they would be pronounced the same, but they are not. New Orleans is pronounced “New Or-linz”, but when you are referring to the parish, it’s “Or-LEANS” (rhymes with jeans). Weird, right?
CJTravelerTexas/Trip Advisor
Anytime someone says Tujaque’s, my head immediately goes to the “12 Yats of Christmas” song by Benny Grunch & the Bunch. It’s pronounced “Two-jacks”
Amanjeev/Flickr
This popular street is pronounced “charter”.
Infrogmation/Flickr
Seems like it would be easy, but nope! It’s properly pronounced “Bur-GUN-dee”.
googlemaps.com
Lots of street names influenced by Greek myths! This one is pronounced MEL-poe-meen"
Joe Dykes/Flickr
This one gives tourists a hard time for sure. “CHOP-ah-too-lus”
Jason Riedy/Flickr
Just forget the “g” is even there. “Mar-uh-knee”
Googlemaps.com
“Kah-ron-duh-let”. Not so hard, right?
This one is a curve ball: “Cal-ee-ope”
Anokarina/Flickr
This one is pronounced “too-loos”.
looktouch/Flickr
It’s the “ch” that throws everyone off. “TERP-suh-kore”
Sean Davis/Flickr
This one I’ll let slide… Most pronounce it “PRAW-leen” but sometimes you’ll hear “PRAY-leen”. I still prefer PRAW-leen, though.
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