Arkansas

Man, that is so true. It's like they were tired the day they named it and just didn't want to come up with an original name. PLUS the pronunciation is like a hazing prank.

Arkansas. Let's not get out of hand with apportioning national blame here. You even have a fucking Kansas.

Hey, blame the Indians; we kept their pronunciations along with their land!

Oh, Lieutenant: Americans pronounce it loo-TEN-ent. Why, how do the British pronounce it Lef-ten-ent? Where does the "F" come from?

Place names are different. "Mogollon" took a long time. And it *still* feels weird to say "Cassa Grand", but if you live there, it's not fucking Casa Grande. Even though they're *wrong*. But that is totally a "mock the afflicted" thing anyway. But you can always spot the newbie news and weather people by it. For some reason, I HATE when people try to take the second "r" off "Rural Road" though I haven't lived there for twelve years and it's not even rural anymore, anyway. I'm such an annoying pedant.

"Gloucester" is Gloster? Fuck you for tricking me on purpose, England! "Worcestshire" is Wurstersheer? WTF?

Oh, please, it's actually GLOS-tah. And Peabody is PEE-b'dy.

And Amherst is AM-erst. No H.

The advantages of a New England upbringing!

In 7th grade, I pronounced "imagery" as though it rhymed with menagerie. Luckily, my teacher was so glad I was using the word that she managed to alleviate my embarrassment.

Where does the "F" come from?

quester, I have always wondered that!

From wikipedia:

Pronunciation of lieutenant is generally split between the forms lef-tenant (/lɛfˈtɛnənt/) and loo-tenant (/ljuːˈtɛnənt/ or /luːˈtɛnənt/ ( listen)), with the former generally associated with the United Kingdom, Ireland and Commonwealth countries, and the latter generally associated with the United States.[1] The earlier history of the pronunciation is unclear; Middle English spellings suggest that the /l(j)uː-/ and /lɛf-/ pronunciations existed even then.[2] The rare Old French variant spelling luef for Modern French lieu ('place') supports the suggestion that a final [w] of the Old French word was in certain environments perceived as an [f].[2]

In Royal Naval tradition — and other English-speaking navies outside the United States — the intermediate pronunciation /ləˈtɛnənt/ was preserved. This is not recognized as current by the OED, however, and by 1954 the Royal Canadian Navy, at least, regarded it as "obsolescent" even while regarding "the army's 'LEF-tenant'" to be "a corruption of the worst sort".[3]

we kept their pronunciations along with their land!

I have no problem with the pronunciation. It's the spelling that's an issue. Blame them for that?

Moving to Iowa when I was 11, I was struck immediately by how many Iowans pronounce "wash" as "warsh".