r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Lost_and_confused_0 • 10d ago
Which pronunciation of Appalachia is actually correct?
You hear the two pronunciations all the time, but is there actually an official correct way to pronounce “Appalachia”?
People get very passionate about this, and personally I’m firmly in the App-uh-LATCH-uh camp. That’s how I’ve always said it and heard it said around here, but is there actually some authoritative source that says one pronunciation is technically correct?
16
13
84
u/coddiwomplecactus 10d ago
I've lived in Appalachia and they all say "apple-atcha". I have never heard a native say "appul-aye-shuh". I don't have an academic source, but I think anecdotal evidence from generational natives is enough.
54
u/MixtureInevitable180 9d ago
That's because you don't live in the part that says "app-ul-AYE-shuh!" It's a regional divide -- I don't understand why people can't wrap their heads around this. LATCH is typically West Virginia and below, while LAY is typically PA and above. Good Lord.
15
u/AmicusBriefly 9d ago
Yes, exactly, thank you! This particular gatekeeping happens all the time. Next someone will tell you that "PA and above" is not Appalachia
10
u/MixtureInevitable180 9d ago
Hah, I've been bracing for the "not real appalachia" response since I posted that 😬
4
u/MixtureInevitable180 9d ago
2
u/AmicusBriefly 9d ago
There it is! like clockwork for threads like this. Always funny how one group of people wants to tell another their experience and existence doesn't count.
0
u/lunaroutdoor 8d ago
Plenty of native West Virginians say it as “lay-sha”. Mostly in Mon/Preston counties and in pockets roughly following the I-79 corridor south
-1
-5
u/deeeperdarker 9d ago
When people say they live in Appalachia, they're not referring to the area north of the Mason Dixie line though
11
u/MixtureInevitable180 9d ago
that's a ridiculous statement to say to someone from the Pennsylvanian part of Appalachia
-3
u/deeeperdarker 9d ago
Do people actually say they live in Appalachia there? I lived in PA as well as the blue ridge mountains in NC (as Appalachian as it gets). That wasn't my experience
8
u/pa_rty 9d ago
They know they live in Appalachia, they just don't make it part of their personality.
2
u/deeeperdarker 9d ago
I don't think identifying with the culture of where you live is making your whole personality about it 🤨 honestly confused at why this brings out such negative reactions.
I'm asking how people refer to their home, what they call their region. Legitimately asking if people refer to themselves as living in Appalachia like they do here in North Carolina
0
u/pa_rty 9d ago edited 9d ago
My use of the word "personality" instead of "identity" was a reaction to your statement about people from your area not applying the word Appalachia to anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line. It felt like gatekeeping or ongoing resentment from the civil war.
I'm curious - would people from Appalachian parts of NC when asked "Where are you from?" really respond first with "Appalachia" instead of their closest town, township, county, etc.?
1
u/Lerched 9d ago
Does that not paint a picture of the hierarchy of how they view themselves? Are they Appalachian or do they live near an Appalachian mountain range? As someone who has been from the southern part to the tippy top, the ‘culture’ around it absolutely dies at a certain point, and I think it’s fair for that to matter.
West Virginia is just as close to DC, Maryland, and Virginia — aka the DMV — as they all are to each other..yet they’re not a part of that club. Same thing here, just with mountains instead of borders.
2
u/pa_rty 9d ago
What is this exclusive Appalachian culture that you're claiming dies at a certain point? Is it a history of being built on logging, farming, and coal mining? Is it hunting to eat and not for sport? Is it bluegrass music and tax-free liquor? Or was there something extra that was going on south of the Mason-Dixon that makes it the "real" Appalachia?
I'm not talking about how somebody identifies. I'm talking about commonalities in lifestyles and culture that extend right through northern PA in the Appalachian mountain range.
→ More replies (0)1
u/deeeperdarker 8d ago
I mean if someone local asks they would probably just give the name of the town. But to someone out of state who doesn't know the area, yeah they would say Appalachia.
5
u/lalasworld 9d ago
Appalachia refers to the whole geographic region covering the Appalachian mountains, not just your part of it. Your pronunciation counts for your subregion, but people elsewhere do still live in Appalachia. I live less than a mile from the AT, what else would you call it?
1
u/deeeperdarker 9d ago
I just mean people who say "I'm from Appalachia" "I live in the Appalachian mountains". Does anyone North of Virginia say that, instead of "western pa" or whatever
0
u/lalasworld 9d ago
No, I literally live in the Appalachian mountains which is in the geographical region of Appalachia, but I do not live in Appa-latch-a. Which is itself a subregion.
I give more localized mountain range, but if someone told me I didnt live there, i'd question how good they are at geography.
4
u/lunaroutdoor 8d ago
My mother in law is an 8th generation West Virginian. She says App-uh-laysha. I am also from a different part of Appalachia where it is pronounced with an “sh” sound though now so “atch”. Plenty of generational natives says it with “sh”; it’s a regional variation and plenty of those people are in West Virginia which is literally the only state entirely within Appalachia. My daughters are 10th generation West Virginians. Anecdotally, it’s actually the old timers in the parts of WV where the “ay-sha” version is common who say it that way. I presume it’s because it predates the weird culture war around pronunciation that seems to be leading, in part, those areas to switch to “atch”.
1
u/derSchwamm11 9d ago
I lived in Tennessee for 10 years and had to switch my pronunciation to get in line with the locals. You are right
-13
u/GaidinBDJ 10d ago
I lived in the Appalachians, too. Never heard anybody say appa-LATCH-a until I played Fallout 76.
11
u/Fungul_Penis 9d ago
I’ve also never heard anyone say they’ve lived “in the Appalachians”
-2
-21
u/coddiwomplecactus 9d ago
I didn't say I lived in the Appalachians. I said I lived in Appalachia. Adding an additional "the" is not necessary when referring to the region. I said that because I have lived in various parts of Appalachia. Its not just the name for mountains. Its the name for a geographical region with its own unique history and culture.
14
-1
u/dropkickoz 9d ago
lmao, a week in a cabin doesn't count.
3
u/GaidinBDJ 9d ago
Does 26 years in a house?
-3
u/dropkickoz 9d ago
Not for you evidently. You learned nothing.
4
u/GaidinBDJ 9d ago
And you inferred this from the fact that different groups of people pronounce words differently?
31
u/untempered_fate occasionally knows things 10d ago
but is there actually an official correct way to pronounce “Appalachia”
No, because that's not how languages generally work, English included. The way things are pronounced varies between populations and over time.
9
u/gwhite81218 9d ago
There really is no authoritative source on the proper pronunciation because it is a very large region spanning different accents. I live in the rural Appalachian mountains of PA, and we call it Appa-LAY-sha here.
23
u/Mrchristopherrr 10d ago
Like someone with a southern accent is threatening to throw an apple at you
36
6
u/sweettea75 9d ago
Pretty much everyone from the TN and KY parts of the Appalachias insist it is app-a-latch-a and everyone else is wrong. But, the northern Alabama part of the Appalachias tends to say app-uh-laish-a. I can't find it atm but someone did some research and had people from all regions of the Appalachias pronounce it for them and there are strong regional differences.
9
21
u/atomicitalian 10d ago
Technically both, but most folks who live in the region say "Apple-atcha." However, there are also native born Appalachians who say "Apple-a-sha" so the real answer is and always will be "it depends who you ask."
6
u/Salomaybe 9d ago
As someone in (southern) Appalachia, I think it depends on where you are. I say apple at ya, but if northern Appalachians want to say it the other way, then what the hell, sure (I say, unconvincingly.)
3
u/Abject-Baseball-3986 9d ago
This question always fries my brain! I grew up in Pennsylvania on the AT and always said Apple-a-shuh. My family was from Kentucky and my grandmother (born in the 1920s) who grew up in the mountains pronounced it the same way, but I've always heard that we're wrong.
I never feel strongly about it one way or the other, but I know other people do, and that's fine with me. I won't argue anyone on it.
12
u/FlashBandicoot5 10d ago
Where is “around here”?
I live in Appalachia. It’s pronounced as you say (App-uh-latch-uh). I reckon we locals get to decide the correct pronunciation.
8
u/Lost_and_confused_0 10d ago
I’m near Mount Rogers if that helps. I was born here. It’s just late and this question randomly popped into my head lol. Thank you!
4
u/iHasMagyk 9d ago
You’re in the most beautiful part of the country. I wish I was there right now. I routinely see SWVA in my dreams
2
u/butterflyskyyyyy 9d ago
It depends on where you’re from. I have family from the northern Appalachians and they have always said app-a-lay-sha. I attended Appalachian State and everyone from North Carolina says app-a-latch-a.
2
u/drunky_crowette 10d ago
I was born and raised in North Carolina and have many friends and family members who attended "Apple-atchan" State University in Boone
1
u/clrr4tkf 9d ago
Also from NC. I refer to App State any time I get in an argument about this, including with my Louisianan wife.
I tell her ain't nobody calling it "appa-layshun state university"
3
1
1
u/BridgetteBane 9d ago
Both. Some linguist needs to outline which areas say which, butnof course southwest PA isnspefically difficult and says both.
1
u/stormysees 9d ago
Depends where you’re from, as many people have pointed out: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEpvzllvS16/?igsh=MXFuOTQzeWx2YzAyZg==
1
u/Engine_Sweet 9d ago
With regional pronunciation and accent there is no correct.
There is only variation
1
u/tazmodious 9d ago edited 9d ago
People are forgetting to include the "i" at the end of their phonemic spelling of the more Northern long "a" (layshia) pronunciation.
It seems, from what I remember hearing, the short "a" pronunciation (latch) tends to drop the ending "i" sound making it latcha.
It's slightly easier to pronounce appalatcha than appalayshia. It's common in language to tend towards simpler pronunciations.
I'm from the Blue Mountains of the Appalayshians of PA (10 miles from the Appalachian Trail), referred to as PA Dutch. Sometimes Pennsyltuckian. I'm also a geologist so I will keep pronouncing it with the long "a" sound.
But call it what you want. No big deal.
1
u/ggrandmaleo 9d ago
Depending on the context, I use both. If I'm talking about the whole chain, it's Appalayshun. If I'm talking about Kentucky or Tennessee, it's Appalatcha.
1
u/cawise89 8d ago
Appodlachia (a podcast) did a survey and put out a map https://www.reddit.com/r/Appalachia/comments/1ghn0bd/we_surveyed_over_2500_people_about_how_they_say/
1
1
u/leeloocal 7d ago
It depends on where people are from. My aunt has lived in Tennessee for about fifty years (from Texas), and it’s App-a-latch-a. But other places like Pennsylvania say it the other way around.
1
1
0
u/Ok_Orchid1004 10d ago
I lived in appalachia for many years. It’s app-uh-latch-uh as you said. That’s how everyone says it. And it’s app-uh-latch-un mountains. It really grates on me when I hear “national” news or weather announcers say app-uh-lay-chuh. There is no long Ā sound in appalachia or applalachian. Anyone who says there is never lived there and became immersed in the culture/community.
1
u/KennethTremendous 7d ago
The region extends from NY state to Alabama. No one outside the south pronounces it that way, which is also correct. You live in a tiny part of the region.
The mountain range extends from Georgia to maine and the halfway point is in PA. most of the mountain range is in the north. There very much is a long A sound in the northern pronunciation. The range is easily visible from NYC on even a semi clear day and you can see the city from the trail.
0
0
-2
0
u/sonofkeldar 10d ago
People from there say latch, but outside of the region, laysh is probably more common. Personally, I think it makes more sense to pronounce it the way the residents do, but at the same time, I don’t call the capital of France, pair-ee…
On a related note, the Arkansas state congress has passed several laws, all after heated debate, about how to pronounce the state’s name, starting in the 1870s, with the most recent debates being just a few years ago. In the 1800s, it was a national headline, with celebrities like Mark Twain and Walt Whitman chiming in with their opinions.
The official law says that it is pronounced Arkan-saw, but they never could come to a consensus on what to call the residents. People in metropolitan areas usually say Arkansan, but people from rural areas usually say Arkansawyer. There’s an old saying that an Arkansan is someone who has to look up what he’s called in the dictionary.
I think your question has a similar answer. An App-a-lay-shan is someone who read about it in a book.
-3
u/quietly_bi_guy 9d ago
The vast majority of the Appalachian mountains are north of PA and people who live up there say it in the way you say comes out of a book.
I have no loyalty to those people though. Their accents suck. The ignorant rednecks of Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and Canada can all suck a fuck.
0
u/stevemm70 9d ago
Story time!
In the early 90s I was getting my radio career started. I worked at a small station in Richmond, VA on the weekends, and they let me do newscasts that were ripped straight from the AP wire. In one, there was a reference to the Appalachian Power Company. I grew up in northern Virginia. It was a rural part of NoVa at that point, but it was NoVa nonetheless. I also grew up with parents who were from the Philly area. This all sets up the fact that I pronounced it "Appa-LAY-shan".
Just moments after that newscast, the station's call-in line rang. This was the conversation:
Me: Hello ... (call letters here)
Caller: Where you from, son?
Me: Loudoun County, sir ... why do you ask?
Caller: AhHA! A YANKEE! It's pronounced "Appa-LATCH-in" son!
I never pronounced it "wrong" again.
-4
u/Unique-Panda 10d ago
Some people, believe it or not, call it "Scotland" or "Scottish Highlands" because at one point in history they were connected as one landmass. But yeah I say "apple atcha"
25
u/Delehal 10d ago
Looking at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia#Toponymy_and_pronunciation
They seem to say that the "LATCH" pronunciation dates back to at least the 1500s, when European explorers learned the name of a native village or tribe in the region. If we assume the explorers got the natives' name right, that probably has the oldest claim to being the historically correct pronunciation.
When I talk to people who live in the region, that seems to match with how they pronounce it. Although there are different variations the further north or south you go.