When I lived in Glasgow, Montana, there were two towns on the road to Great Falls, Havre and Chauteau. Pronouncing them correctly marked you as an outsider, pitiful and beneath contempt. Havre was “Haver” and Chauteau “Shotto.”
Watching the Olympics, I can’t help thinking of Melpomene Road in Tucson, locally pronounced “Mel-po-mean.” Of course it’s a Greek name – Melpomene is the muse of poetry – properly pronounced “Mel-pa-menee.” Probably it’s the same deal as Montana – Mel-po-mean is right and Mel-pa-menee is wrong.
So how ’bout those Olympics, huh? Which athletes, do you think, are least likely to take performance-enhancing drugs? Archers? Badminton players? Canoeists? Oh, well, they probably cheated back in Melpomene’s day, or would have if they had the drugs.