What Are The Hardest “Maine” Words For Non-Mainers To Say?
Yesterday, I had a business conversation with a guy that lives in Seattle. We were talking about Central Maine counties. When he came to Androscoggin and Sagadahoc he stopped for about 20 seconds before mumbling his way through them. Actually, I believe he pronounced Androscoggin "On-Dray-Scow-Jin".
Trying my best to be helpful, I talked him through the pronunciations. Once we got through that, we continued our business and ended our call.
It got me thinking, though, What are the hardest "Maine" words for out-of-staters to say?
Here are my picks:
-Aroostook - THE County! Maybe that's why we call it "The County". Just because it is way easier for non-Mainers to say.
-Sagadahoc - I don't really see why so many people have an issue with this one... This Central Maine / Downeast county is pronounced exactly as it looks.
-Damariscotta - Even I frequently mess this one up. For some reason, I swap the syllables around. For this, I apologize to the good people of Damariscotta!
-Mattwamkeag - A town north of Bangor
-Whytopitlock - A town north of Bangor
-Meduxnekeag - Starting in a small pond, this 35 mile long river in Northern Maine eventually feeds into the Saint John River.. It runs directly through Houlton, my hometown.
-Orono - I always thought it was super ironic that I had a Voice and Diction teacher in college who could not pronounce Orono. She always called it "Oh-Row-No". But, the fact that she was from Michigan was a pretty good excuse.
What about you? What words do you hear non-Mainers butchering? Comment on our Facebook Page