Are there any other Colorado natives out there who were under the impression that Coloradans do NOT have accents? Apparently we do, as “outsiders” do not pronounce words the same way. I say this is a matter of non-Coloradans not knowing how to properly pronounce certain words! If you are not sure what I’m referring to, check out these 12 words that Coloradans are told we pronounce differently than everyone else:
1. NoCo
Flickr/Loco Steve
If you are a Coloradan, you know that NoCo is short for Northern Colorado… but how do you pronounce it? If you said it phonetically (“No-Co”) you’re a Coloradan through and through! If you said anything else, you’re just plain wrong.
2. FoCo
Flickr/Robot Brainz
What is the best city in NoCo? Fort Collins, AKA FoCo (“Foe-Co”), of course!
3. Poudre
Flickr/Brendan Bombaci
Do you know what river runs through FoCo, NoCo? Why it’s the Cache la Poudre, which is pronounced “Cash la Poo-der.”
4. Casa Bonita
Flickr/Rob Lee
“Casa Bonita! Casa Bonita! Food and fun in a festive atmosphere.” You know the song, but how do you say Casa? If you’re from Colorado, you say it with a short “a” sound: “Cass – uh.”
5. Pop
Flickr/Mike Mozart
Obviously, this one isn’t hard to pronounce and isn’t exclusive to Colorado, but it is worth noting because calling it a “soda” or “Coke” is just wrong.
6. Wadsworth
Flickr/Bradley Gordon
Unlike Casa Bonita, the “a” in Wadsworth is long, so we pronounce it “Wahds-worth.”
7. Tejon
Flickr/Steven Martin
Keeping on the topic of popular streets, Tejon is one of the largest and most iconic in Colorado Springs, but how do you say Tejon? No, it isn’t “Tee-jon.” It’s “Tay-hone.”
8. Coors
Flickr/daveynin
Are you ready to be infuriated? Some people call the Silver Bullet “cores.” (Biggest wtf, right?!) Stretch out that “oo” sound, guys! It’s “Coo-ers.”
9. Ouray
Flickr/freeflight046
One of the most beautiful mountain communities in Colorado also has one of the trickiest names. How do you say Ouray? It’s “You-ray.”
10. Crested Butte
Flickr/flamouroux
Let’s go ahead and end this list by addressing other (seemingly) hard-to-pronounce Colorado towns, like Crested BEWT…
11. Buena Vista
Flickr/Kent Kanouse
…”Byoo-nah Vis-tah”…
12. Salida
Flickr/Charles Mühle
…and “Suh-lie-duh.”
To be fair, it actually should be pronounced “Suh-lee-duh” …oops! This one might be our fault, but it’s the commonly accepted pronunciation here.
After looking at some of these, we can see why they might be confusing for visitors to Colorado; after all, our state draws influences from Native American and Spanish roots, and our names reflect that. People who haven’t grown up with this kind of melting pot of languages might struggle on their first try saying them, but we think they’ll pick it up pretty quickly once they hear them said by true-blue Coloradans!
