At 10:28 AM 2/18/2005 -0500, Steve Simmons wrote: >While I agree with Joses note as a whole, I do want to point out that >populations tend to grab foreign place names and make them their own. >Thus we have Versailles (ver-SALES) Indiana, Milan (MI-lan) Michigan, >Amarillo (AM-uh-RILL-o) Texas, and Canton (CAN-tun) Michigan. I don't >know about Amarillo, but the other three were based on locals picking >names of places they're read of, but not heard pronounced. Four languages, >four horrid pronunciations (Canton MI is after Canton China, not the >political subdivisions of Switzerland). Don't forget PAL-us-teen Texas (spelled Palestine) and the battle of San Jacinto, with a J. Although the latter may be justified on the grounds that whoever wins the battle gets to name it. Louann, with some exposure to Spanglish.