Fond du Lac, Rachel Maddow, and Appleton

I spent yesterday giving a talk at the fun Fox Cities Book Festival. One of the cities of Wisconsin's Fox Valley is Fond du Lac... recently in the national spotlight because MSNBC host Rachel Maddow just cannot figure out how to pronounce this city. The MSNBC personality messed up "Fond du Lac" recently, and went on the air to correct it. Alas, her correction needs correcting--because she mis-pronounced it again! In her correction she's calls it "fohn-du-LACK" emphasizing the last syllable. I had the fine locals of nearby Appleton say it in unison yesterday, and I can tell you they did not say fohn-du-LACK. They said FOHN-du-lack with the first syllable getting the slightest preference. And if you want to get all the vowel sounds right, say "John do crack" and you pretty much have it.  Even though I'm no fan of Ms. Maddow, I'll link to her whole mea culpa here. (Oh, and in case you are wondering, "Appleton" is pronounced just the way you'd expect.)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.