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How do you say Greenville?


Greenville

Greenville's pronunciation  

51 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you pronounce Greenville?

    • Green-ville
      26
    • Green-vuhl
      23
    • Grain-vuhl
      0
    • I just call it "G-Vegas"
      2
    • Other (please specify)
      0


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I hear various pronunciations of "Greenville," from people on the street to reporters on the local news. I am curious to know how everyone here pronounces it. Please vote in the poll, and then post your choice as a reply.

It would also be interesting to know your background. Are you a Greenville native, or did you grow up elsewhere? How long have you lived in Greenville? Looking forward to the responses! :thumbsup:

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I hear various pronunciations of "Greenville," from people on the street to reporters on the local news. I am curious to know how everyone here pronounces it. Please vote in the poll, and then post your choice as a reply.

It would also be interesting to know your background. Are you a Greenville native, or did you grow up elsewhere? How long have you lived in Greenville? Looking forward to the responses! :thumbsup:

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I'm not a native, but I am a local Upstate. I've always said something closer to Greenvuhl (though its more like "Greenvll" if that makes sense :) ). Lately I've been saying G-vegas or G-ville though, just to change it up.

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Man, this is like the Twilight Zone; I have been thinking of starting a thread on this exact topic for months now, just never did! :shok:

Anyway, I try to say Green-ville. I have noticed that natives tend to use the vuhl ending more. Though I am a native, I try to say ville because it just sounds less "hickish" to me. And I guess having lived outside the South, I am a little more conscious of my southern accent, which I kinda attribute the vuhl ending to. Funny how this happens with some towns, I also hear Ashe-vuhl, States-vuhl, and Knox-vuhl.

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You guys might find this funny, but I thought this thread was about a new marketing campaign created by the CVB. :P

I've always pronounced the towns that end in "-ville" as "-ville." I grew up in towns with the "-ville" ending in Orangeburg County, and it wasn't until I worked in Charlotte that I heard the "-vuhl" ending and thought it was soooo country, LOL.

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I currently pronounce it as "Green-vuhl" these days, but when I first moved up here several years ago, I said "Green-ville." I guess the place has just rubbed off on me.

This is a great idea for a poll and thread, but a better poll might be, "Do you say "Clem-son" or "Clemp-suhn?" :lol:

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The "correct" pronunciation is all relative. If people understand what you mean when you say it, then its arguably correct. Clemson always has a soft "p" in it to me. I would argue that more people who go there say that, and people from out of state (especially ESPN announcers) tend to say "Clemzen" or something equally atrocious. Also, the pronunciation of Clemson depends on how you pronounce the word "son" (eg: "son" or "sun") because technically they are different sounds. On top of that, mean people say it more like "Clemsin." But having said all of that, the link I will provide in a moment sides with those of you who say it sounds more like "Clemsen"

Anyway, moving back to Greenvuhl, I think its worth taking a look at this link, which shows the "correct" pronunciation, or at least the acceptable variants, to most cities, towns, and places in SC that have unusual or unexpected phonetics. Clio, Huger, Jocassee, Lugoff, etc. Its an excellent read if you're into obscure South Carolina geography like me :) (FYI there are polls for Clemson and Cheraw)

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The "correct" pronunciation is all relative. If people understand what you mean when you say it, then its arguably correct. Clemson always has a soft "p" in it to me. I would argue that more people who go there say that, and people from out of state (especially ESPN announcers) tend to say "Clemzen" or something equally atrocious. Also, the pronunciation of Clemson depends on how you pronounce the word "son" (eg: "son" or "sun") because technically they are different sounds. On top of that, mean people say it more like "Clemsin." But having said all of that, the link I will provide in a moment sides with those of you who say it sounds more like "Clemsen"

Anyway, moving back to Greenvuhl, I think its worth taking a look at this link, which shows the "correct" pronunciation, or at least the acceptable variants, to most cities, towns, and places in SC that have unusual or unexpected phonetics. Clio, Huger, Jocassee, Lugoff, etc. Its an excellent read if you're into obscure South Carolina geography like me :) (FYI there are polls for Clemson and Cheraw)

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Wow! this thread just touched on my pet peeve. Why anyone, anyone would pronounce it Green-Vuhl is beyond me. Do those same people when saying the word ville say vuhl? My other "southernism" is the word "program". I would venture that a majority of natives pronounce it "pro-grum" which is just silly. Gram is gram not grum. Okay, rant over. Yes, I'm anal. :rolleyes:

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Wow! this thread just touched on my pet peeve. Why anyone, anyone would pronounce it Green-Vuhl is beyond me. Do those same people when saying the word ville say vuhl? My other "southernism" is the word "program". I would venture that a majority of natives pronounce it "pro-grum" which is just silly. Gram is gram not grum. Okay, rant over. Yes, I'm anal. :rolleyes:
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It's not that I or most people, I'd think, purposely say 'vuhl' and it's not as pronounced as it looks when it's typed as: "green-vuhl" either. It tends to happen when it's said faster, I think. By itself, Ville is 'ville'. But together, and said quickly it comes out 'vuhl'.

And the Clemson pronunciation drives me crazy. For people who can't say it (ESPN announcers), there's definitely a "p" in there (or so they should pretend in order to appropriately say it).

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How is it silly if the majority of natives pronounce Greenville as "Green-vuhl" and program as "pro-grum"? It's all part of the southern accent, and you would hear it like that from any one of my family members or friends (that are native). I think New Yorkers sound funny, but I wouldn't say they sound silly. That's their accent and part of who they are.

"Why anyone, anyone would pronounce it Green-Vuhl is beyond me." - Touching up on that statement a little more...for some of us that's just how it comes out. If I want to say "Greenville" I have to make myself say it like that. It's a lot more natural as Greenvuhl for many natives.

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I admitted in my 1st post that I am anal on this specific subject. Ones geographic location should have no bearing whatsoever on correct pronunciation of common english words. I'm sorry but if you pronounce ville as vuhl then you're wrong. Likewise gram is not grum, there's no "u" in the word. Also, yes NY accents are equally absurd. By far my least favorite is a Boston accent, however. They have no regard for the letter "r' but then will arbitrarily put one on the end of words that don't even have one. For example, this sentence: Linda and Lisa jumped into their car, drove to the bar and ordered some beer and pizza; would sound like this in Boston: Linder and Leeser jumped into their cah, drove to the bah and ordered some beah and pizzer. Udderly absurd and worse then any southern mispronounciation, but equally wrong. Intersting enough I spent 3 weeks in Australia and their accent is almost identical to that of Boston.

As for the pronouncement of "ville" as "vuhl" being a southern thing, I respectfully disagree. My old roommate of 4 years lives in Nashville and I've never met anyone pronounce it as "Nashvuhl". It's not southern, it's lazy.

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