Submitted by officepolicy t3_zsy4un in boston
I haven't brought it up to them yet but it just hits my ear so wrong. It's Cambridge with a hard "A" like "same"
Comments
frausting t1_j1an1zs wrote
When I moved to Cambridge from Florida, I was unsure how to pronounce it. My first guess was “cam-bridge”, but when I got here quickly switched to “came-bridge”
officepolicy OP t1_j1ani2t wrote
Once you heard other people saying "came" then I assume you switched. This person hears other people pronouncing it different yet hasn't changed, I'm baffled
lagoongassoon t1_j1anx7m wrote
Eww
osksm t1_j1aock7 wrote
No
justforthehellofit t1_j1ap68p wrote
I do. Then they moved to Arizona so problem fixed itself..?
officepolicy OP t1_j1apb2t wrote
Did you try to pronounce it like everyone else and found it hard to do?
justforthehellofit t1_j1apqw9 wrote
Nah I kept pronouncing it came-bridge. If I quote them, it just feels wrong to say CAM-bridge but its also a running joke between my and my SO at this point.
becausefrog t1_j1apt7e wrote
Where are they from? What is their accent?
officepolicy OP t1_j1aqpva wrote
No accent, I wouldn't let it bother me if someone with an accent pronounced local words wrong
becausefrog t1_j1ar0s0 wrote
I wonder if there's a Cam-bridge where they are from? I always get Reading and Read-ing mixed up because it's pronounced one way where I grew up and another way here and I can never keep track of which is which anymore.
officepolicy OP t1_j1ar1j3 wrote
Oh I misread your comment, I thought you said you pronounce it that way and then moved to arizona lol, nm
89DEALS t1_j1arejk wrote
Cam-bridge, Came-bridge, Cum-bridge…all are considered acceptable pronunciations
officepolicy OP t1_j1arngh wrote
I take umbrage with your pronunciation of Cumbridge
snorkeling_moose t1_j1as007 wrote
It's actually Cumebridge.
justforthehellofit t1_j1as2dy wrote
Hahaha I'm imaging them having to move across the country because they can't stand my mis-pronunciation!
Flashy_Positive1657 t1_j1as82w wrote
Yeah a work friend who moved here from New Y🤢rk
SteamingHotChocolate t1_j1asp45 wrote
I have a friend from Lowell who says “Cam”bridge. Born and raised
ftmthrow t1_j1augfu wrote
Interesting, I’ve never heard them described as “soft/hard” vowel sounds, just short/long.
Anyway, it’s hard/long (nice).
officepolicy OP t1_j1augts wrote
Bizarre. Do they say War-chester too?
officepolicy OP t1_j1av7x3 wrote
I find long and short confusing because you can say a soft vowel slowly or a hard vowel quickly
89DEALS t1_j1avemj wrote
Sorry, you’re right, meant to pronounce it Cum-brage
lotusblossom60 t1_j1awl78 wrote
Met a girl from another state. She pronounced Billerica like Bill-air-eh-cah. I laughed so hard. Worcester was Warchester.
QueenOfBrews t1_j1aww9m wrote
No, but I knew someone that refused to say Tremont correctly in reference to the street. Drove me irrationally crazy. Same person that called Copley “Cope-ly”
riski_click t1_j1axoyh wrote
What about Camberbatch?
riski_click t1_j1axvgb wrote
It might be bookish? Cambridge's namesake in the U.K. got it's name from the river Cam that runs through it. I'm not sure, but I doubt the river is pronounced "Came"
Russiasucks_6969 t1_j1axyw6 wrote
Yes. It drove me nuts for so long. They moved away thankfully.
officepolicy OP t1_j1aydey wrote
Well we live in Am air eh cah so it makes sense
alde-baran t1_j1azvj7 wrote
Even in the UK they pronounce it as "Came-bridge", so if we're going by their example... but then again, do we Americans really want to?
drowsylacuna t1_j1b0hby wrote
The UK Cambridge is pronounced the same as Cambridge MA though. According to wikipedia the river is actually back-named after the town and it was originally called the Granta.
Darklighter10 t1_j1b13yn wrote
In regards to the UK university, I have never heard anyone say they were “Cah-mbridge educated”, so I think they say it the same way we do.
ftmthrow t1_j1b48w8 wrote
I think the “a” in jam is harsher (“harder”) sounding than the “a” in Cambridge, so I find that confusing.
Doortofreeside t1_j1b4bd3 wrote
Imagine pronouncing it AM ricka
coldsnap123 t1_j1b4byu wrote
Indians say cahmbridge
ppomeroy t1_j1b4h5r wrote
Lots of transplants tend to mispronounce local street names or town names.
In Roslindale there is an Albano Street. It is "al-BAY-no" but those not born there say "al-BAN-no." As I tell them, it is not named after a former wrestling star (Lou Albano).
Some years ago my neighbor was stopped by a lost motorist and asked for directions to "muh-TAP-un." No one seemed to know where that was. After a little thought process he told the driver that he can't get there, because it is pronounced "MAT-uh-PAN" (Mattapan).
Directions were issued to the poor lost soul.
Boston and vicinity has a decent mix of English and Wampanoag (Native American) names.
The thing that can be frosting is when said people refuse to accept correction by the Native Bostonians on pronunciation.
We will not speak of Worcester, Gloucester, or Scituate. :-)
officepolicy OP t1_j1b4nxg wrote
Yeah I guess it’s all subjective whichever words you use, better to compare to other words
officepolicy OP t1_j1b4w7b wrote
Lol, or Billerica like ‘murica, burica
gamertag0311 t1_j1b66aw wrote
We say Calm-bridge
-CalicoKitty- t1_j1b6yfl wrote
That's wrong and they should be ashamed, but I just realized that I pronounce it Cam-berville instead of Came-berville. Is this wrong?
RogueInteger t1_j1b7xn3 wrote
I believe you get your ass kicked saying something like that.
AstroBuck t1_j1b9cne wrote
I know one family who does it. It's fucking weird.
charons-voyage t1_j1bb0e6 wrote
Ok is it Trey-mont or Truh-mont? I’ve lived here a decade and still don’t know lol. I say the former.
camlaw63 t1_j1bm2gm wrote
You gently tell the person that they are mispronouncing it.
namaste_you_guys t1_j1bmky1 wrote
Did you grow up in Cincinnati where it’s pronounced “RED-ing”?! Because same 😂
becausefrog t1_j1bo03g wrote
West Coast, but it was also Red-ing.
bbqturtle t1_j1bo8ha wrote
Oh no. I don't know to pronounce it either :(
hihik t1_j1bocrb wrote
In Russian Cambridge is pronounced with “jam” as OP describes, so any Russian-speaking person who has learned English without exposure to the English/American pronunciation would say it that way.
MLC9206 t1_j1bppzr wrote
No
BigHmmEnergy t1_j1bqu2t wrote
It’s closer to Treh-mont but trey-mont is acceptable. Accent on the first syllable
Kingpine42069 t1_j1bsw20 wrote
I've usually heard hard/soft for consonants like G... Greg vs. Gym
cowheadcow t1_j1bszzs wrote
My fiancee does, but whatever.
dyqik t1_j1btnh3 wrote
Whereas it should be pronounced bill-a-rickey, after the original place. ;)
dyqik t1_j1btz7e wrote
He's busy playing Sherlock Holmes.
dyqik t1_j1bu4cm wrote
It's the river Cam, in Came-bridge.
Source, me, who is English and went to college there.
dyqik t1_j1bueun wrote
No, it's fine to change the pronunciation when you mess with completely separate syllables in English.
It's the River Cam, in Came-bridge, in the UK.
dyqik t1_j1buuv6 wrote
As an English transplant, I'm pleased that MA gets Worcester and Gloucester right. But I do wish MA had a Bicester ("Bister") and Towcester ("Toaster").
But as for RI, with its War-wick...
dyqik t1_j1bvswr wrote
This shows up in the village of Grantchester ("Grant(a)-encampment") a bit upstream (south) from Cambridge.
Some maps still say "River Cam (or Granta)". A similar thing goes on in Oxford with the Isis (or Thames), upstream of the confluence with the Cherwell. Below Oxford, it's the Thames.
ButterAndPaint t1_j1c03tf wrote
An Irish friend of mine had a friend visiting from Ireland, and they lost track of each other while out drinking one night. The next morning his friend showed up and told him he had ended up in “Quinky.”
UpsNoDowns t1_j1c17e3 wrote
A bit hypocritical to nitpick at someone's mispronunciation of Cambridge when you won't accept long/short and are defending your usage of hard/soft because you find it confusing.
PM_ME_ROCK t1_j1c3f6d wrote
MA (Reading & North Reading) are pronounced like “Redding”
andr_wr t1_j1c3td8 wrote
Yes a few folks. They all were Harvard-affilated from other parts of the US. It was an intereting moment.
Some other unexpected pronunciations: Al-wife, Tray-munt, Leek-mere, and Putt-nam (like, old-school folks call Vietnam as "'nam")
frausting t1_j1c4v3y wrote
Oh yeah absolutely.
shanghaidry t1_j1c5pbo wrote
Vowel length is a real thing.
tiniestturtles t1_j1c6pbf wrote
Yes it drives me nuts. He’s lived here for 7 years now, in Somerville, and still calls it Cammbridge.
tiniestturtles t1_j1c6uyt wrote
I’ve always called it trem-mont
Cormyll666 t1_j1cc9qp wrote
Okay, truth time: I did this the first week I lived here. I am originally from a metro area that notoriously says “soft A’s”, which is my excuse. I came correct as soon as I realized “wait no one else says this the wrong way I am saying it”.
Cormyll666 t1_j1ccj1t wrote
Legit though everything here is pronounced incorrectly. How anyone gets “Wuhsta” from “Worcester” I will never know. Ditto for so many others. Lemonster from Leominster? Come on.
It’s all just an elaborate gatekeeping mechanism to tell who has lived here long enough and who hasn’t.
Alaharon123 t1_j1ccke3 wrote
I said it that way for a while before I was corrected. Now I pronounce it Cumbridge, like a normal person
CommonNotCommons t1_j1ccxqq wrote
It’s not that deep
CommonNotCommons t1_j1cd01o wrote
Tray-mont
CommonNotCommons t1_j1cd68j wrote
Best case to pronounce it as “cahmbridge” I’ve ever seen
[deleted] t1_j1cewyd wrote
Otterfan t1_j1cgamo wrote
Yeah, is it pronounced anything other than "RED-ing" anywhere? Other than when you talk about what you do with books of course.
Otterfan t1_j1cgiaj wrote
In the TV show Fringe—which was set in Boston—they said "Bill-air-eh-cah".
_violetlightning_ t1_j1cu2ik wrote
Oof, that’s terrible. My cousin was a producer on that show. He knows better.
dahc573 t1_j1cwfdl wrote
Coombridge
member_member5thNov t1_j1cy3nj wrote
Yes, I would slap the name of my city out of their mouth for that.
member_member5thNov t1_j1cy963 wrote
member_member5thNov t1_j1cyasz wrote
Have you tried violence?
dunkaross t1_j1d4dhw wrote
Yet would it be classy to pronounce it CAHHHmbridge all fancy like, as in I went to Hahvard in cahhhmbridge?
print_isnt_dead t1_j1d4shm wrote
Yes. It's Cambridge and Somerville.
mmmsoap t1_j1d6w8k wrote
I went to college with a girl who insisted that it made sense to call it Pea-Body (“because you find a body in the woods, not a buhDEE in the woods”) and absolutely refused to change because the entire state is Massachusetts was wrong.
peacharina_lunachick t1_j1d82xq wrote
Gross. Bye.
officepolicy OP t1_j1d8rwn wrote
What? I accept long and short vowels as a concept, I just find them confusing
officepolicy OP t1_j1d9czz wrote
You can say a short vowel slowly though right?
officepolicy OP t1_j1d9i4g wrote
I absolve you of your sins, go in peace
angelabroc t1_j1dad1a wrote
I’m in the field of speech pathology so I’m just gonna jump in here, the a in “jam” is not 100% a short vowel (like in “hat”) or a long vowel (where the vowel says its name, like in “same”). It’s actually a nasalized vowel (influenced by an n or m after it, like “ran/man” as opposed to “rat/mat”.) So that might be why it’s a little hard to identify the sound in “jam” 🙃
charons-voyage t1_j1davfk wrote
Interesting. Getting a couple different responses here haha! Trem-mont vs Tray-mont…I guess I’ll never know :-)
officepolicy OP t1_j1daxyb wrote
That’s really interesting, makes sense that it’s not just a binary between long/short. Do you prefer using long/short or hard/soft? Or do you just compare to other words to disambiguate? Thanks so much for the expert opinion, häts off to you 😉
angelabroc t1_j1dblgp wrote
Haha i have to agree with other posters that its definitely typically long/short for vowels, and then hard/soft for consonants (hard g in gate vs soft g in giraffe, same goes for the letter c in cage vs. cent). There are a ton of technical terms/specifics for each sound that can be made/used in a language, but if you aren’t a speech pathologist or a linguist it really doesn’t matter too much! Rule of thumb for vowels though is if the vowel “says its name” in the word, it’s a long vowel.
[deleted] t1_j1dbsvf wrote
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officepolicy OP t1_j1dc2rp wrote
Ah gotcha, thanks! When I originally wrote the post I had just quickly googled “hard and soft vowels” and some results came up so I used that, didn’t realize it wasn’t the typical terms
[deleted] t1_j1dcrsg wrote
rainniier2 t1_j1ddt52 wrote
Everyone here is probably talking about the same guy and no one has confronted him yet.
officepolicy OP t1_j1deivt wrote
psst don't tell anyone, I've been going around say caaambridge for the past few years in preparation for this post
hamakabi t1_j1dfbm9 wrote
No, but I pronounce Bangor as "banger" and that really, really upsets Mainers.
officepolicy OP t1_j1dfhf3 wrote
Bangor? I hardly know her
Cashcash1998 t1_j1dfo0w wrote
I’m not from here so I always did. Soft A makes more sense without any context
SkinnyJoshPeck t1_j1dg91w wrote
Utah says “hur-ih-ken” for a town spelled Hurricane.
i’m convinced everyone says these cities wrong just for posterity’s sake. They are wrong, like how volvo has that color “swedish racing green” which is clearly blue. But that doesn’t mean it’s not how everyone says it. 🤷🏻♂️
I guess to avoid an existential crisis folks just can’t accept people can do whatever they want lol.
geminimad4 t1_j1dhin9 wrote
I knew some students from France who pronounced it this way.
FlorenceandtheGhost t1_j1dhpi0 wrote
No, but I have heard people call themselves “Canterbridgians.”
Financial_Cancel1577 t1_j1dk0a8 wrote
You don't pronounce "jam" like "same"? This is gonna change my life.
AJSopranosEyebrows t1_j1dl42l wrote
My doctor's secretary is an old lady with a Brahmin accent. I once asked her if she had any appointments available on a Friday and she responded "Ah, ya cunt, he's not in that day" and it took me a minute to realize she said "you can't" and didn't call me the C word lol
acelana t1_j1dn6ov wrote
To me the most cursed place in Utah is Coeur d’Alene. I tried pronouncing it with what I thought was a pretty Anglicized pronunciation (kerr deh lehn). Nope. It’s fucking Core Duh Lane.
May God have mercy on us all
acelana t1_j1dng5d wrote
Bill ricka
UpsNoDowns t1_j1dt8ub wrote
It's really not but neither is this whole thread
[deleted] t1_j1dtqtw wrote
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[deleted] t1_j1dxbiz wrote
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bbqturtle t1_j1dxj85 wrote
officepolicy OP t1_j1dy5d3 wrote
I can say both of those slowly. I honestly don’t see how saying those two vowels slowly shows which is long or short. Also a speech pathologist in the comments told me jam is not a short vowel (like hat, which I can say slowly just fine too.) Jam is a nasalize vowel influenced by an n or m after it
Dtraveler t1_j1dz7q0 wrote
Coeur d’Alene is in Idaho not Utah
bananarama9 t1_j1e411f wrote
When I first moved here I said it with a soft a and got corrected. Been saying it with a hard a ever since. I say go ahead and correct them, might be the only way they will take notice
murdocke t1_j1e5njs wrote
I work in Cambridge and everyone I work with pronounces it cam-bridge. Is that not correct?
officepolicy OP t1_j1e6fvg wrote
they pronounce it cambridge like jam or lamb? It is much more widely pronounced cambridge like lame or same
ppomeroy t1_j1ek2lk wrote
No help here but maybe some faith? We have a Leicester (Les-Ter), not far from Worcester. :-)
ppomeroy t1_j1ek6e7 wrote
I always roll that out as "War-ik."
Old-Spend-8218 t1_j1ekyvc wrote
Ya only complete loosers.. it’s Came & bridge bro
Suspicious-Cycle5967 t1_j1ev8l0 wrote
Low-ell, Low-ell, Low-ell, Lo- oh - weh -hel, Stuck in this traf-fic, On a bridge from hell.
I-ah left my house at noon, Class no longer on zoom, But when I graduate, I will still push a broom.
Suspicious-Cycle5967 t1_j1evet3 wrote
tiniestturtles t1_j1fv6dc wrote
Traymont st is acceptable too. TREEmont st on the other hand…. Lol
mclovin1236 t1_j1gqrii wrote
Feeling like a fraud as someone who's lived in mass all my life calling it cam-bridge and cope-ly
Macbookaroniandchez t1_j1xluon wrote
i'm intrigued as to how your friend came (no pun intended) to the conclusion it is pronounced that way. Are they French or French Canadian, per chance?
officepolicy OP t1_j1xm4jr wrote
Their last name is French but they have no accent whatsoever
UndergroundMoon t1_j1amg22 wrote
Julia Fox?