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It's Nuh-VAD-uh, not Nuh-VAH-duh

We say po-TAY-toe, but you say po-TAH-toe

RENO -- Brian Williams was looking ahead to Nevada's presidential caucuses during a broadcast of the "NBC Nightly News" last week when he struck a raw nerve.

The anchor mispronounced the state's name as "Nuh-VAH-duh," prompting a flurry of phone calls and e-mails from angry Nevadans who demanded he utter it as they do, with the "a" like in "cat" -- "Nuh-VAD-uh."


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  • Williams was just the latest among countless public figures to unwittingly become caught up in a controversy dating to the Silver State's founding during the Civil War.

    ABC's George Stephanopoulos was booed for saying "Nuh-VAH-duh" when he moderated a presidential candidates forum in Nevada last year. And President Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry both came under fire during the 2004 campaign for botching the name.

    For Nevadans who complain the name of their home is mispronounced by outsiders more often than any other state, Williams' slip was "the straw that broke the camel's back," said Guy Rocha, the state archivist who is leading a crusade to get the rest of the nation to adopt the local usage.

    Westerners generally pronounce the state's name correctly, but others inadvertently show disrespect when they can't get it right, Rocha said.

    "This onslaught has got Nevadans to the breaking point and they're not going to take it anymore," he said. "You need to pronounce it the way we do."

    The issue resurfaced at a time when the nation's fastest-growing state is gaining influence in national politics and more attention from presidential candidates because of its early caucuses on Saturday.

    The "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" featured a segment that poked fun at the flap this week. Chris Matthews explained the "correct" pronunciation on his MSNBC political show. And Robert Siegel, host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," corrected two correspondents who called it Nuh-VAH-duh.

    Leading into an NBC story aimed at clearing the air Wednesday evening, Williams said: "We haven't always said it (Nevada) the same way and there is a correct way."

    The story by reporter George Lewis about "an entire state of confusion" concluded:

    "Memo to all those political candidates trying to win votes in the Silver State: It's Nuh-VAD-uh, not Nuh-VAH-duh. ... According to the official NBC Handbook of Pronunciations first published during World War II, it's Nuh-VAD-uh."

    Representatives of ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox said in the future they also will pronounce the state's name as Nevadans do.

    "We try very hard to get pronunciations right," CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said. "Our understanding is the correct pronunciation is Nuh-VAD-uh."

    Presidential candidates seem to be catching on to how sensitive Nevadans are about it. Unlike Bush and Kerry, no major candidate has mangled the pronunciation this campaign season, although the narrator doing a voice over for one of Republican Duncan Hunter's radio ads running in Reno this week got it wrong.

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    Bob Carroll wrote on April 10, 2008 07:13 AM: >>> All the other Spanish words that have made it into our language are pronounced with the "ah" sound.<<<

    Really? How about California, Montana, Colorado, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Santa Monica, etc. In Spanish these American place names use the "ah" sound but in American English they are also pronounced with the short "a" sound.


    Matt Taylor wrote on February 28, 2008 03:06 PM: It is not east coast arrogance or ignorance or anything like that. Nevadans need to get over it and realise that it is *they* who are pronouncing it weird compared to most of the world. All the other Spanish words that have made it into our language are pronounced with the "ah" sound. Say the following words the way Nuh-vad-uh is supposed to be pronounced: nada, Erik Estrada, Colorado, lambada, casa, enchilada. It sounds weird, doesn't it? We can of course pronounce Nevada any way we want, but I guess my only point is it shouldn't surprise or offend us Nevadans that people pronounce it the way the we *all* pronounce *all* the other Spanish words we use.

    And the comment about how would other countries feel about mispronunciation is just silly. I wonder if the commenter says "Scotland" and "Ireland" with the same dialect as the locals, let alone calling Germany Deutchland, etc.


    Bob Carroll wrote on February 22, 2008 08:57 AM: Very few who have lived for a significant time west of Kansas ever had a problem pronouncing Nevada correctly: neh-VAD-uh (”A” as in cat)

    This is mostly east coast arrogance and southern ignorance. The east coast media is proud that they can pronounce Kazakhstan but won’t take 20 seconds to learn how to properly pronounce Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon.

    IMO, the country bumpkin who pronounces Illinois as “Illi-noise” is no worse than the equivalent east coast or Texas “educated” media bumpkin who mispronounces Nevada.

    In fact, I give the country bumpkin a bit more credit because once informed of his error, unlike some east coast folks I have encountered, he is unlikely to have the chutzpah to tell a native Nevadan or Coloradan how they “should” pronounce their own states.


    Owen wrote on February 08, 2008 09:41 AM: Nevadans must politely explain to visitors the correct pronounciation - How would the like it if their home countries were mispronounced. I.E. Englund instead of England.


    dodgerchuck wrote on January 18, 2008 03:15 PM: hey guys isnt nevada named for the spanish word describing snowfall.if so neh va tha would b the correct prounounciation.


    William D. Tomany wrote on January 18, 2008 11:39 AM: As a third genereation Nevadan I get angry at the pronunciation and also hate to hear The Sierra Nevada Mountains called the Sierra's


    Oscar wrote on January 18, 2008 11:19 AM: If these promising political pundits don't close the freekin Border, we'll all be calling this place Northern Mexico.


    been there wrote on January 18, 2008 11:06 AM: I would guess every state has there own oddities when it comes to names. There's a town in Iowa named Nevada (Ne-vay-duh) and Minnesota has Wayzata (Why-zeta) and Biscay (Bis-key). It's how to know who's from the area and who are the tourists. Just ask someone from De-moyne, not De-moines...


    BC wrote on January 18, 2008 10:50 AM: It's an insider thing. If so many people were coming here because of their successes elsewhere, I doubt we'd rank the way we do in so many of those areas moe brought up. The sad fact is, Ne-VAD-uh is a haven for people who are probably close to the end of their ropes, and as such, bring with them all the behaviors that got them to that point. It doesn't help that they help to perpetuate their positions by passing on those behaviors to their children.

    On another note, I've seen television shows mispronounce Nevada, Ely, Pioche, Potosi, and several other Silver State colloquialisms.


    Dustin wrote on January 18, 2008 09:36 AM: Don't we have more important things to worry about?


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