Caroline Kennedy is courting Upstate New York in her bid to be Senator Clinton’s replacement. Newspaper reporters have been trying to get her to comment on national issues. But if they really want to check her ability to represent Upstate, they should hand her a list of Upstate place names and ask her for the correct local pronunciations. Here are some:
Colonie
Pulaski
Cairo
Schaghticoke
Greenwich
Watervliet
Corinth
The answers are:
kol-on-EE, not “colony”
puh-LAS-keye, not puh-LAS-kee
CARE-o, not KYE-ro or KAY-ro
SKAT-a-coke
GREEN-witch, not GREN-itch
water-va-LEET, not water-va-LAY
CORNth, not core-INTH
For extra credit, they can ask her to spell Schenectady.
If you don’t think such things matter, then you don’t know any Upstaters. Trust me on this: I grew up in Saratoga Springs, went to college in Schenectady, and had my first job in Albany (pronounced AWL-bu-nee, not AL-bu-nee).
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