Can Michigan be prounounced "Mitchigan" or always "Mishigan"?

[sellebraytion]

Help me settle a minor disagreement🙂

Yanbu - it can be pronounced either way.
Yabu - everyone pronounces it Mishigan unless they have their head in the sand.

Surely for it to be 'clearly' Mishigan it would have to be spelt Mishigan??

How about Schenectady, N.Y., then!

Like someone else, I have never heard an American say Mitchigan. But I have heard lots of British people doing so.

As for New Orleans, I have heard different versions from different Americans. That's hardly surprising given the range of different American accents. After all English people don't all pronounce eg Bath or Newcastle in the same way.

Mitchagan needs to go the same way as Las Angeleez or Wimbleton.

Tanzan-IYA

Like Marilyn but with a D at the end.

Has to be Mishigan so all the rhymes in the song "I Want To Go Back To Michigan" work (sung by Judy Garland in Easter Parade)

My uncle owned a lake house on ones of the lakes and i'm sure my whole irish american family said it with the t. They all had strong accents though.....

I already said that one!

Genius. I tried so hard uptgread to explain and didn't think of that!

I am probably really stupid but why is Las Vegas spelt LAS but pronounced LOS, Los Angeles also pronounced Los. Brits usually say LAS Vegas though.

It's not really LOS Vegas. It's kind of between Las and Los in sound.

As a side note, I don't know any Americans who say Los Angeles (however one wants to say it should be pronounced!) ; it's just LA.

I always presumed Schenectady was pronounced as it was read, all quick short vowels using the 'uh' sound, so (reading the 'u' as an 'uh' sound) - shu-nec-tud-dee. But I've never been there, so happy to be corrected ...

Maybe it's certain US accents that make it sound like Los then. Yes I actually don't think I've really heard many people not say LA.

Sorry! Have to admit I hadn’t RTFT!

When US visitors to London start pronouncing Greenwich, Southwark or Marylebone correctly, I'll concede your point.

And Holborn

www.etymonline.com/word/Michigan

I remember having a conversation with an American in the US about Edinburgh. And he kept pronouncing it as Edin boorg and saying it often enough that way that I think he thought he was correcting me.

How is Oregon mispronounced then?

Tbh, I'm not sure anyone agrees about Marylebone.

I say Mar-lee-bone

I have a good friend (born and brought up in the UK) who always calls St. Pancras Station ‘St. Pancreas’. No, I don’t correct her!

Schenectady = skeh - neck - ta- dee

It's from the original Mohawk name, as are many many places in New York state (where I'm from)

My French husband is most amused by how Americans mangle French names, like Baton Rouge and Notre Dame (noter dayme)

So not Tanz-an-ear then? 🙈

I'm pretty sure the Americans pronounce it Mishigan. So that's what I would default to. But honestly, how many times are you having to say that name of a random state, in a country you don't live in?