Okay, which is the correct pronunciation? Washington or Warshington?

warshington, warsh, and warsher, are not the correct pronunciations of those words. Some people pronounce them like that from source of habit. I know a few people who talk like that. It doesn’t bother me. Kind of like how some people say potato and tomato.

There is no R in Washington, and it is incorrect pronunciation to add an R sound.

Washington.

Washington, not Warshington, is, in my opinion, the correct pronunciation for a television announcer to use. I prefer them to sound more generic than not. Otherwise, I think that the added “R” maybe be a regional dialect of some sort. I can’t pinpoint where though, as I’ve heard it in a variety of areas.

“Warshington” seems to be quite fitting in modern times :P

Apart from the misspelling you show, what’s wrong with “checkered” flags? That’s a proper description.

To that end…..“Arkansas” should NOT be pronounced “ArkansSAW.”

Warshington is technically incorrect, but Brits often have r sounds in their a’s. Not quite sure what’s wrong with checkered, though.

@Dutchess_III So then how should it be pronounced?

Another one: Is it (Vincent) van Go, or van Gof?

Like the state of Kansas, only with an “Ar” in front of it.

Depends on where you live. Adding an /r/ sound in words like “wash” is a feature of some dialects of English. If these news reporters were from an area where that dialect is spoken, it’s no wonder they would pronounce it that way.

@DominicX But as professional speakers they need to hone their speaking skills. My Dad was from Texas. As an adult, moving up the Boeing corporate ladder, he worked hard to smooth out his Texas drawl, because the drawl gave an impression of him that would have been incorrect.

@Dutchess_III Because there’s an impression that Texans are idiots, not because Midwestern accents are inherently more correct. Brits invented the language; they generally can do whatever they want with it even if they’re technically wrong.

OED says the correct pronunciation of Arkansas can also be “Ah-kan-sor”. Websters says it’s “ahr-kuhn-saw”. The Kansas with an Ar seems to apply only to the river, not the state.

@MyNewtBoobs And that’s why he wanted to drop the accent. Same for people who are raised saying things like “She’s went…” They sound ignorant even if they’re not.

Pretty sure that Kansas is the only place that calls the Arkansas river the Arkansas river, without the W. People from out of state always want to correct us when we refer to our river, and we just shake our heads.

My point is, if you go off of the spelling, there is no W in Arkansas, and there is no “or” sound in it either, according to the spelling. Just like there is no R in Washington.

@Dutchess_III But since when is English a phonetic language?

For the most part, it is. You run into exceptions, especially with our borrowed Olde English words like “Through,” and “Though.” However, those words were originally pronounced with the “gh” sound being part of how it was said. We changed that. But for the most part, English is a phonetic language, which is why it was really, really stupid when the had the idea to quit teaching kids to read using phonic.

We can’t just throw in sounds that aren’t there!

@MyNewtBoobs Actually, I do know where the pronunciation came from. Both states are named after the Kansa Indians who lived ‘round here. When I see ‘Kansa,” I think “Kans-uh.” However, I can see how it could easily be read as “Kans-ah.” So..BUT when they went and stuck an S on the end it changed everything. Don’t know why they did that.

It seems similar how people add r to things like the word “idea”. It turns to “idear”. It’s definitely “Washington”, unless someone forgot to put an “r” in the written records…

Listen here :-)

@AmWiser Bookmarking website now. Thanks