How Do You Say These New York Town Names?

New York State has many town names that are hard to pronounce when you look at how they are spelled. We travel across Historic Route 20 to figure out how to say these names and where they came from.
#skaneateles #schodack #rensselaer #schoharie #pompey #cayuga #canandaigua #avonny #limany #route20
Schodack - SKOH-dack Mahican ESCOTAK fireplace of the nation
Rensselaer - Rense-ler Dutch Kilaen van Rensselaer , land owner 1630s
Schoharie - skoh-HAIR-ee Mohawk floating driftwood
Pompey - pom-PEE Roman leader
Skaneateles - skinny-atlas Iroquois long lake
Cayuga- Cuh-you-ga Iroquois people of the great swamp
Canandaigua- Canon-day-gwa Seneca Chosen spot
Lima- LIE-mah Shibboleth from Lyme, Connecticut
Avon Ahh-Vohn English River in England
Darien Dairy-ann Likely after Darien CT - named for Isthmus of Darien (Now Panama)

[@kblack861]

Fun and interesting video! Wisconsin has a few town names that have tourists scratching their heads on pronunciation too.

[@RichardParker2008]

Hallo, Dutch speaker, here. Rensselaer is actually pronounced Renss-e-LARE. The modern spelling is Rensselaar. Long "A". I have many happy memories from the 50s and 60s of Route 20 ( Cherry Valley Turnpike). I'm really enjoying your videos.

[@ajvintage9579]

Skaneateles is beautiful. As for unusual town names, I live in Canajoharie, NY, but locals just call it Canjo. Great video!

[@RichardParker2008]

Beech-nut chewing gum!!! When I was kid, I loved saying "Canajoharie".

[@richp7330]

Out here in northeastern Rensselaer county we have the king of vexing pronunciation: Schaghticoke.

[@jamesmoconnell]

Route 20 passes through Chatta-Kway-Uh county as it exits NYS, and that county is right to the west of "Cattaraugus" county, pronounced "Cat county" (which does not have Rt 20). (Truthfully, though, "Chatauqua" is pronunced by us locals as sh'TAW-kwa, and "Cattaraugus" is kat-uh-RAW-gus)

[@thomproffer3211]

The word pronunciate just threw me nobody uses it enunciate or pronounce

[@danwallach8826]

Yeah, that "pronunciate" thing is totally a shibboleth.

[@danwallach8826]

Good thing them folks in "Ah-von" don't say "Ay-von," which was once the California Perfume Co. and built a factory in Suffern, NY. And no, it's not "Sufferin'."