How To Pronounce Houston?

ForumsEnglish Audio: Speech & Pronunciation
  •  0
  •  34,018
+0
 In New York City, there is a street named "Houston st.".
People here pronounce it as "house-ton".
Whereas the city down in Texas, I believe people pronounce the city as "hyus-ton".
I am confused 
1 2 3
Comments  
Streets and towns are like that. You have to go with the natives.

Albany, the capital of NY, is pronounced double-l. The town in northern California is pronounced single-l, as in Al Gore.

In CA the "natives" don't always agree. Many streets and towns were named by the Spanish, but the gringos have anglicized some of them.
As Avangi has indicated, sometimes not even the natives agree 100%.
When I was preparing for a trip New Orleans, I practices say 'nwahl'nz'; once there, however, I found nearly as many pronunciations as I did natives. The only one I didn't hear was 'NewOrleeenz'.
Students: Are you brave enough to let our tutors analyse your pronunciation?
Back in the day, you could tell what part of town someone was from by the way they pronounced "New Orleans." My grandmother, may her soul rest, used to give it the full Uptown four syllables (New WAHL-yee-uns). And yes, NO ONE says New Orleenz, but it's acceptable in song form, mostly because it's an easy rhyme.

---Delmobile, nee Delneworleans
Del, do you cringe when TV announcers call it "New Or-lee-unz"?
And then there's New Madrid, Illinois. (MAD - rid, not muh-DRID)
Teachers: We supply a list of EFL job vacancies
Nar - leans

hew-stun
Sorry - that IS "house-stun" Street, in Manhattan, NY

  • Houston Street is named for William Houstoun , who was a Delegate to the Continental Congress for the State of Georgia from 1784 through 1786 and to the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787.[2] The street was christened by Nicholas Bayard III, whose daughter, Mary, was married to Houstoun in 1788[3] . The couple met while Houstoun, a member of an ancient and aristocratic Scottish family, was serving in the Congress.
    Houston Street in New York City was named for William Houstoun , a delegate to the Continental Congress . It was still spelled "Houstoun Street" on maps of the area into the early 1800s. The spelling of the street changed (undoubtedly by mistake of some city cartographer and/or other officials), but New Yorkers continued pronouncing it the original way.

    I love these kinds of little local-history oddities, but they can definitely be confusing.
    Site Hint: Check out our list of pronunciation videos.
    Show more

    Answer this Question