Last night during our church services, we had the Keffers as our special guests. Their music was very good. However, during the singing, Gary Keffer posed a question. "How do you pronounce Missouri?"
I hollered out "MissourEE"! My mom, sitting directly behind me, thumped me on the back and sayed I ought to know better, and that it's "MissourAH". I disagreed, but I wasn't going to argue until I looked up the facts. (Never argue with mom unless you know your facts!)
And the fact is... no one knows!!!
My first stop was the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, and according to them it's tricky:
• Pronunciation: \mə-ˈzu̇r-ē, by some residents mə-ˈzu̇r-ə\
Come to find out, there is no "official" way of pronouncing it! Many websites say that the most popular way of saying it is "ē". I even looked on the official Missouri travel website, and they say: "The debate has been going on since at least the late 1800s"!
So, I guess by majority vote, I was right!!!
But then again, perhaps I should be careful... majority vote isn't always right. For example, most politicians pronounce it as "MissourAH"!
However, I'll put some logic in it though... I'm a Missourian! How do you pronounce that? Hopefully not "Missour-ah-an"!!!! lol!
Anyway, what's your take? Comments are welcome!!!
~Matt
1 comment:
Hello Matt and Lydia, I was doing some family research on line and your family update appeared. My mother was a Paasch and I wonder if we are related. Her dad was William Albert Paasch, his father was Charles Ludwig Paasch from Germany and we believe his father was Michael Paschitz and that is as far back as we go. After immigration the family lived in Gasconade County, MO. Any connection? Mary Collier in Salem OR
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