My favorite though is that there are two spellings for the Wabash river: Wabash and Ouabache. And despite being in a town that is on the Wabash River, the local Oabache Elementary School is pronounced: Wah-bat-shee.
The pronunciation of Lebanon you called out may sound like it came from a hayseed, but it’s closer to the way people in the country of Lebanon pronounce it than the mainstream American pronunciation.
Ohio is great for shit pronunciations of town names.
Bellfountaine - bell FOUN’n (the t drops there in most dialects, some would say ‘fountain’ with the the first syllable stressed).
Versailles - verSAILS
Medina - muhDYEnuh
We have “verSAILS” in Indiana too. Also:
Peru - Pee-roo
Russiaville - Roosha-vil
Lebanon - Leb’nun
My favorite though is that there are two spellings for the Wabash river: Wabash and Ouabache. And despite being in a town that is on the Wabash River, the local Oabache Elementary School is pronounced: Wah-bat-shee.
The pronunciation of Lebanon you called out may sound like it came from a hayseed, but it’s closer to the way people in the country of Lebanon pronounce it than the mainstream American pronunciation.
Right down the road from Versailles is the town I grew up in and the movie Hoosiers is based off of. Milan (pronounced my - lan)
I think y’all also have KAY-row (Cairo) if I remember right. (or maybe that’s Illinois?)
There’s a Miami, Oklahoma. Pronounced, “My-am-uh”
I submit: Gallipolis, Ohio.
or rio grande (rye-oh grand).
I’m not sure how Gallipolis should actually be pronounced. The ~polis suffix seems sensible enough, but not sure on the first part.
I’ve heard people pronounce it as “galli-PO-lease”
I would say the Ohio version gal-uh-puh-LISS and I think that’s how people I knew from there said it, but it’s been a couple decades, heh.
Your stylization is more correct than mine.
My extended family is from a tiny Ohio hill town named Antioch, pronounced “annie-OCK”.
I’ve been there a couple of times. I say the ‘t’ in anti, but I guess the locals don’t