RENO - Nevada, with its mega-casinos, easy divorce and the only legal prostitution in the United States, has a reputation for permissiveness, but woe to those who place the wrong stress when saying the state’s name.
Ahead of Saturday’s voting in Nevada to choose Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, politicians and broadcast journalists alike have often stumbled by pronouncing a long “A” in the middle.
“It is so nice to be in Ne-VAH-da,” Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, told a large, enthusiastic audience in Reno on Friday morning.
The crowd let out an “ooh” of disapproval and the Princeton and Harvard educated spouse quickly realized her error.
“Ne-VAD-a, Ne-VAD-a, Ne-VAD-a!” she said, repeating the locally favored pronunciation a few more times in public penance. “I know how to bounce back from my mistakes.”
The southwestern state has never seen so much attention in the U.S. presidential primary process before but this year moved up its voting to early in the state-by-state selection process, bringing many candidates, especially Democrats, into Nevada.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage
– Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking. Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, introduces him at Rancho High School in Las Vegas, Jan 18
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9 comments so far
Is Nevada *that* ashamed of its Hispanic history?!
It’s been ne-VAH-da since 1864. The name is a Spanish word. Ne-VADD-ah is a newfangled innovation by people going out of their way to show that they don’t speak Spanish.
- Posted by MCIt is time for “change”. Yes, they are ashamed of their history, and now they shall rectify it and speak English-the true language of the United States-and be ashamed no more. Ne-VADD-ah it is.
- Posted by Johnathon JonesWow, when did the preferred pronunciation change? It’s been several years since I was acquainted with any people from Nevada, but back then the scorn was typically directed to the ones who pronounced it NeVADDa.
I wonder if snowbirds have taken over Nevada now, like they have Florida and Arizona? This really sounds like a Northeasterner’s pronunciation to me.
I guess next we’ll be forced to pronounce it “Las VEEgas”.
- Posted by LGSI’m from Vegas, and this is really starting to irk me. How can a bunch of Yahoos determine that the wrong way to pronounce Nevada, is the only way? Michelle Obama, Brian Williams,and countless others had it right, and should have stuck to their guns! All the denying in the universe won’t change the fact that this great state(along with many others)was named by LATINOS, not clench jawed New Englanders with sweaters tied over their shoulders.
- Posted by CarlitoNewfangled? I’m 43 yo and my mother pronounced it Nev-VAA-Da and my grandmother pronounced it that way. That’s at least 125 years of history. Yes, it’s a Spanish word, but that doesn’t mean we ever intended to pronounce it the way they do in Spain! That’s like saying Texas should be pronounced Tejas. I challenge you to tell a Texan he’s pronouncing his state’s name wrong because he’s being ‘newfangled’.
- Posted by MichaelI agree with Michael. We pronounce the word as our language dicates, and that would mean using “Vad” instead of “Vahd”.
- Posted by Johnathon JonesNo 2 ways about it. These lands were Mexico and the language was Spanish/Indian. Nevada, phonetically correct will be nothing other than how it factually originated. What’s the big deal?
- Posted by xiaWords ending on accented -ada have traditionally been pronounced AH-duh, not add-uh: Armada, Grenada, Ramada, masada. It is not surprising that those who wish to speak English consistently would prefer pronouncing Nevada, Arvada, and Colorado the same way.
- Posted by Robert BeardNo American state uses the Spanish pronunciation:
California, Montana, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Colorado - Spanish origin - English pronunciation.
Very few who have lived for a significant time west of Kansas ever had a problem pronouncing Nevada correctly: neh-VAD-uh (”A” as in cat)
This is mostly east coast arrogance and southern ignorance. The east coast media is proud that they can pronounce Kazakhstan but won’t take 20 seconds to learn how to properly pronounce Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon.
IMO, the country bumpkin who pronounces Illinois as “Illi-noise” is no worse than the equivalent east coast or Texas “educated” media bumpkin who mispronounces Nevada.
In fact, I give the country bumpkin a bit more credit because once informed of his error, unlike some east coast folks I have encountered, he is unlikely to have the chutzpah to tell a native Nevadan or Coloradan how they “should” pronounce their own states.
- Posted by Bob Carroll