Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Speaking Plain American.

It took me a very long time to remember how Americans pronounce the name Des Moines. (It appears the iconoclastic tendency so beloved of our colonial cousins is even more marked in the pronouncing of French than it is in the writing of English…)

Today my blog received a visit from Des Plaines, Illinois, and I’m hoping that some friendly American who has learned to recognise when I’m joking and when I’m not will answer a question: If Des Moines is pronounced de’moyn, how on earth is Des Plaines pronounced?

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