Jersey’s most mispronounced towns

Thanks to a listener by the name of Ted for sending us a suggestion of taking calls on Jersey towns that get mispronounced constantly. His email gave the example of Bound Brook. He says people who don't live there call it BOUND Brook, putting the emphasis on Bound. Ted says the locals actually call it Bound BROOK.

It might be a small difference, but when you're from a town that gets mispronounced all the time it can drive you nuts. I was born and raised in Rahway. RAW-way, like raw meat. That's what it's always been called by the locals. Outsiders will call it RAH-way because of the spelling. RAH like in a cheerleader's cheer.

So we set out to find how many more towns are routinely mispronounced. It turns out to be a ton. Here are just a few examples.

Forked River

We were told people in South and Central Jersey call it the proper Fork-Ed River, Forked with two distinct syllables. But that people from North Jersey call it Forked, without the Ed sounding separate.

Secaucus

If you are from here, you call it SEA-caucus, long e, sea like the ocean. Outsiders call it SUH-Caucus.

Manalapan

Most of us know it's ManALapan. Many are pronouncing it Manna, Lappin'.

Avon-By-The-Sea

Jury still out on this one. Some say Avon like the old Avon lady who sold door to door, while others say the a in Avon as a short a not a long a.

Closter

In Bergen County, it certainly looks like it would be pronounced the same as you would Gloucester County. But a local called in to say it's with a long o, as in the word close, and that everyone gets it wrong.

Bogota

Because of Bogota, Columbia, this is easy to get wrong. The correct way is Buh-GO-Da, but many still give it the BOW-guh-tah pronunciation like in Columbia.

Bernardsville

The name Bernard is most often pronounced Bur-NARD, not BUR-Nerd. So it messes people up when trying to pronounce this town in Somerset County. It's BUR-Nerds-ville.

Have any others? Feel free to share them @NJ1015 on Twitter or in the comment section below.