How do you pronounce Schuylkill?
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fl0w (
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April 14th, 2008
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They should dye the Schuylkill blue.. It is by far the brownest ugliest river I’ve ever seen
According to Wikipedia, “The river was later named Schuylkill by its European discoverer, Arendt Corssen of the Dutch West India Company.” I suspected as much because it is a typical Dutch spelling. Also according to Wikipedia, it is pronounced “SKOO-kull.” This is of course an American pronunciation, and not a Dutch one, which I will try to explain.
Schuylkill is a convenient spelling for Schuijlkill. In Dutch it would be pronounced skowl’ kil. Dutch vowel pronunciations are short and pointed. Rather than making an “owl” sound, which is by Dutch standards very long, you should place your index firmly over your upper lip, attempting to hold it in place, and say it again and you will more closely be uttering something closer to the correct Dutch pronunciation.
Philadelphians call it SKOO-KULL
I lived in Philly for years and we (everybody I knew) said; “SKOOL-kill” including TV and Radio broadcasters.
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