Missouri or Missourah?

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

[deadparrot]

1. With an "i"! With an "i"!

Pronouced "ee."

:)

[mistertrickster]

2. Neither . . . Misery . . .

from a Kansan, hehehee

[Scout1071]

4. This is the correct answer.

Rock Chalk!

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. That's right

and MUCK FIZZOU.

LOL :bounce:

[EstimatedProphet]

9. If you're a Kansan, you must know why the trees in Missouri lean west.

[Scout1071]

12. I feel like I've heard the punchline, but fire away......

I can't remember.

[EstimatedProphet]

15. Because Kansas SUCKS!

That was a favorite T-shirt slogan at Mizzou in the 80's.

[Scout1071]

18. Hilarious.

Know what Mizzou grads call KU grads? Boss.

[EstimatedProphet]

21. Never heard that one, but it fits the rivalry

Actually, Kansas has some interesting biological things about it IMO. It also has Fred Phelps though. And Missouri has its share of SchizoChristians too.
Now I live in Ohio, and I'm finding out the same thing here it seems. I don't remember the US being this way before.

[Scout1071]

22. Please....we try not to even mention that maniacal freak is from

Kansas. I get steamed even hearing his name. When I was a student at the University of Kansas, he and his self-righteous thugs would show up on campus. I've been in more than one yelling match with them, but I had to give it up. I realized that I was just falling into their trap and that all they were doing was transferring their immense anger to me.

I believe that I can speak for every single Kansan outside of his compound (and yes...that crazy bastard actually has a compound), when I say that we want him out. That is one case where I wouldn't necessarily mind if an angry, crazed mob with torches and pitch forks set out for his place..........

[proud2BlibKansan]

56. How do you get a Mizzou grad off your front porch?

Pay for your pizza!!

[RedCloud]

34. Well spoken from Can's Ass!

And now I guess you Ill of Noise people will chime in.

It's Mizz er EE. And that's a fact!

[Scout1071]

3. I'm going to have to vote for both. The far western

part of the state, Kansas City, prefers Missouri. Middle Missouri and east is most definitely Missourah or Mizzurah.

[Pirate Smile]

5. People actually from Missouri say "ah". I was born there but moved

when I was 5 so I say i (pronounced "ee") but my parents and relatives all say "ah".

I don't know if it is generational thing and/or it also applies if you've lived there a long time but IMO it is "ah" for the locals and "i" for the outsiders.

[deadparrot]

7. I'm in St. Louis.

It's Missouri, with an "i" here. :)

Further west, it becomes "ah," but a lot of us use "i," too.

[Scout1071]

10. The Missourah is fairly exclusive to the middle part. Columbia, Jeff City

Ozarks.

Most Kansas Citians pronounce it Missouri.

[deadparrot]

13. That's what I thought,

but I wasn't 100% sure. :)

Generally, the more urban, the more you hear "ee."

[Pirate Smile]

17. My family is from St Joseph and my parents live in Overland Park.

They will never give up the "ah".

My sister and I used to argue with them about it.

[MadHound]

25. Actually most mid staters also say it with an "i"

The whole ah thing is a southern/rural Missouri thing. I live in Central Mo, and have lived in southern and rural Mo, and it is definitely a regional thing.

[EstimatedProphet]

11. No they don't

I lived there for 20 years, and in all that time I met one person that said Missourah.
On edit: most of that time was spent in Columbia.

[Scout1071]

14. I know many people from Columbia and they do, indeed, call it

Missourah. Native Columbians!

[EstimatedProphet]

16. I only met one

Geography/History teach 5-8th grade, and she was from a small town closer to the Ozarks.
I'm not saying I disbelieve you, it's just contrary to my experience, and I lived there for 20 years.

[Pirate Smile]

19. OK, I googled and here is one site I found:

"Missouri.

-snip-

It's a name whose pronunciation residents of the state argue about.

To some of us the ending "i" is softened into a sort of "uh". Missour-uh.

This pronunciation tends to be favored by lifelong residents, especially older people and people with rural roots or preferences.

To others the "i" is pronounced "ee" Missour-ee.

This pronunciation is almost universally used outside the state, so by definition newcomers, who learned to speak in some other place, say Missour-ee. This pronunciation is also favored among people who don't want to be identified with another tradition of the state: people who say Missour-ee tend not to say, "I'm from Missouri. You'll have to show me."

This debate smolders along in urban Missouri, occasionally surfacing in letters-to-the-editor wars in the Kansas City Star and elsewhere. The Missour-ee faction likes to point out that "i" never makes an "uh" sound anywhere else in the language, but we locals point out that it comes pretty close in Lou-uh-vull, spelled Louisville, and even NPR's Bob Edwards gets that one right.

But I'm from Missour-uh. You'll have to show me."

http://longestriver.org/pronunciation.html

[HeeBGBz]

47. Born and raised. Never said "ah"

Missoureee

[MuseRider]

6. EEEE!

I HATE the way it sounds when they say Missourah. What the fuck do I know coming from Kansas. Still, it sounds really dumb to pronounce it with an ahhhhh at the end IMO.

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. Hey Muse

All good Democrats say EEE. That's what my daddy taught me. And he grew up in Goodland, KS so he ought to know. (That's what my mom always said.)

Anyhow, ASScroft taught me to say EEEEE. LOL

[orleans]

8. chicago says "ee"

the way it should be

[enigami]

20. My Mother pronounced it Missourah

But she also pronounced Hawaii as Hawayah. I winced at both It is deffinately Missouri EEEE.

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

23. My grandpa went thru basic training there modifed to "God Awful Missouri"

[evlbstrd]

28. Fort Lost-in-the-Woods?

[Serial Mom]

31. Yep,

My dad (her grandfather) went thru training at Ft. Woods in the 40's (WWII) during a hot, humid summer and said that was the one place he would never visit again!

[GumboYaYa]

24. The Repuke politicians alwas say "ah" and the Dems always

"ee". In the cities it is "ee" and in the rural areas it is "ah". To me it is "ee". I live in St. Louis.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

38. Not neccessarily.

I;ve heard Pat Leahy say Missourah, and he's from Vermont.

[GumboYaYa]

68. I mean Missouri politicans....

it was striking in the last campaign. You could tell the candidates party by how he proununced the states name.

[Nevernose]

26. I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missouri!

[Scout1071]

35. FYI - The University of Kansas plays that clip on the videoboard

at football games when we play Mizzou. They also show the clip from The Outlaw Josey Wales where Sondra Locke refuses to buy the wheat from Missouri "cause everything from Missouri is just a little bit tainted."

Good times.

[Scout1071]

36. Delete!

Accidental double post.

[xmas74]

27. Ok. I live in Missouri.

They actually did some research on this.
We have i-70 crossing our state from one end to the other. The research showed the most people who live north of 70 pronounce it w/ a long e on the end. Most who live south pronounce it w/ an ah at the end. There will be differences depending on how family pronounced it, people who have relocated, etc. Also the research stated that the area around I-70 is a free zone. It can be pronounced either way around there.
I pronounce it w/ an e but I am originally from WI and moved here in high school.

[newportdadde]

29. Grew up in rural Cass County

I heard both there but my father always went with ee as did my grandmother. Here in Jackson County as an adult I hear it both ways.

[xmas74]

44. East or West Cass?

[ikojo]

30. I think people from rural areas of the state

say Missour-ah. I live in St Louis and said Missour-ee.

John Ashcroft says Missour-ah and that's enough for me never to say it that way.

[bertha katzenengel]

32. Whattya know. Ashcroft & Harry Truman had something in common.

Truman prounounced it M'zurrah.

[Mutley]

33. I've never been to Missouri

but a friend of mine is from there and he says that most of the people he knew when he lived there called it Missourah.

[AllegroRondo]

37. According to an obscure state law...

the 'true' pronunciation is...


however the current Governor pronounces it. Seriously. We can't even make up our minds on how to pronounce our state's name.

[greymattermom]

39. the other side

from a Kansas side KC resident.

[Scout1071]

40. Welcome to DU greymattermom.

KC - Kansas side - here as well. OP to be exact.

[GetTheRightVote]

41. The Show Me State !!!

:kick:

[spacelady]

42. spent a lot of childhood in bulter & nevada with my cousins

I grew up in nebraska. Years later someone got on my case in arkansas for saying missourah ( they had grown up in joplin) so it's kinda tomayto, tomahto, depending... however guess how ALL of them pronounce Nevada?

edited to add: Nevada, MO -kind of like houston street in NY.
Now, pronouce El Dorado as in the town in Arkansas.

[xmas74]

45. Nev -long a-duh

L-dor-long a-doh

I know how they are pronounced. Now pronounce Miami and Wakenda.

[spacelady]

50. ya got me . I have no idea, but I kinda feel sorry for the

Weather Channel meteorologists!

[xmas74]

52. Mi (w/ a long I) am (like the word) a (short a) for Miami

(an actual town in MO-I lived about 15 miles from it).
Wa(as in the water) ken (like the boys name) dah (as in Roald Dahl sound).
Fucked all the way around.

[spacelady]

55. Thanks, now you've got me started: Beatrice, NE

You know, I have found that town natives anywhere will set one straight on pronunciation & when in Rome, ya know!

[xmas74]

59. I know that it will be something messed up!

[spacelady]

62. You are correct: bee-AT-riss n/t

[xmas74]

63. suspected something like that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. How about this

ArKANsas City, Kansas. Or the ArKANsas River.

[xmas74]

58. But Arkansas made sense to me when I first moved here.

Hell, it made sense when I was younger and first learning how to spell the states. I never understood the common pronounciation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. The Arkansas River

changes it name from state to state. I wonder how many other rivers do that?

BTW, we are still working on planning a weekend picnic at a park here in KC. Are you still interested?

[xmas74]

65. Depends on the date.

This Sat I have the Progressive Womens picnic. Let me know when.

[proud2BlibKansan]

66. Won't be for a couple weeks

I will let you know.

[xmas74]

67. Thanks.

I have a family reunion at the end of the month(actually, June is pretty much done for) but I will definitely try!

[evlbstrd]

43. Long-time and beloved KC radio personality Walt Bodine

declares emphatically that there's an "i" at the end, dammit.

I trust Walt. I've been listening to him since the Sixties.

[xmas74]

46. Walt Bodine!

I could trust him.

[evlbstrd]

51. Oh, yeah.

I'm a graphic artist, and did the typesetting for one of his books.

But, I have a personal story about him.

You know he's been pretty much blind for years.

Well, he attended the elementary school my daughter was in when the school celebrated its 100th year. Walt came and told his stories about failing in the Manual Arts class by making crappy bookends and other things. After he spoke, a school functionary got up, and Walt sat down. Then he got up again and tried to walk off the stage. But he stepped off into the orchestra pit!
My god! We've killed Walt Bodine!
He got up, made a joke most of us couldn't hear, and someone helped him out.
He's still going strong on local public radio. And this happened about 12 years ago.

[xmas74]

57. I've herad that he is almost blind.

I didn't know he was still going. I just haven't listened to him in awhile. He's an interesting guy.
What station is he on? For some reason my mind is a blank and the only station coming to mind is 980.

[evlbstrd]

60. He's on KCUR, 89.3 FM

You can stream it, too.

http://kcur.org/programDetail.asp?ID=2

[xmas74]

64. Thanks.

I know someone who is thinking about interviewing for 980 so it's the only station in my head right now.

[proud2BlibKansan]

48. This is an easy question!

Cause I'm a native. Here's what I tell folks: ASScroft says MissourAH. So that proves the correct pronunciation is MissourEE. :woohoo: