We Dare You to Say These 11 Maryland Places Correctly on Your First Try (Spoiler: You Can’t)

Here are 11 Maryland places you’ll almost certainly struggle to pronounce correctly on your first try, with their proper pronunciation to help local residents out:

1. Anne Arundel — pronounced “ANN-ruh-nul” (not a separate two-word enunciation)
2. Baltimore — pronounced “BOL-mer” rather than saying every syllable clearly
3. Calvert — pronounced “CAL-vert” (like the thing under the road, not “CUL-vert”)
4. Cecil — pronounced “SEE-sil”
5. Towson — pronounced “TOSS-in” (locals rarely say the “w”)
6. Havre de Grace — pronounced “HAV-er duh GRACE” (not the French way)
7. Reisterstown — pronounced “RICE-ers-town”
8. Wicomico — pronounced “wi-COM-ih-co” with emphasis on the middle syllable
9. Worcester — pronounced “WUSS-ter” like the Massachusetts city
10. La Plata — pronounced “luh PLATT-uh” (not the Spanish pronunciation)
11. Bel Air — pronounced “blair” not “bel air”

Trying these likely puts newcomers in the fun position of sounding distinctly non-Maryland on first attempts.

SOURCES

(http://cohp.org/md/notes/placenames_pronunciation.html)
(https://www.rd.com/list/difficult-to-pronounce-towns/)(https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/16u0wwu/which_md_citytown_names_have_a_unique/)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQxjacPzZzw)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYsmewlqU_k)