November 27, 2018

"Other than the blonde hair when I was growing up, they said I looked like Elvis. I always considered that a great compliment."

Said President Trump, at his rally in Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis, quoted in the Tupelo Daily Journal.

Here. You decide.



That baby looks like it's thinking: Oh, no, I got this guy!

I watched the rally on YouTube last night, and I was surprised that the invocation of Elvis did not get a big reaction from the Tupelo crowd. I wonder if the people of Tupelo are annoyed that outsiders all seem to know exactly one thing about the place they know a lot about.

Trump was there to support Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed Senator after Thad Cochran resigned and must defend her seat in a run-off election today. She spoke briefly at the Trump rally, and I learned something from her about how to pronounce "Mississippi." There's no "siss" in her pronunciation. I don't know how common her approach to saying the state's name is, but she very clearly enunciates "Missy Sippy."

53 comments:

jaydub said...

The correct pronunciation is Miss Sippy according to my in-laws who live there.

Darrell said...

And The One said "Corpseman."
It takes all kinds.

AllenS said...

The baby looks like it's asleep.

Will Cate said...

"I wonder if the people of Tupelo are annoyed that outsiders all seem to know exactly one thing about the place they know a lot about."

Yes, they are, but they're used to it.

Meade said...

That baby looks like Lisa Marie.

Meade said...

Pronounced: Leesee Muhree

Virgil Hilts said...

Growing up in Nebraska, the city Beatrice is pronounced almost as though it rhymes with the name of the State. Be at risk without the k at the end and a crudely strong emphasis on the "at" in the middle. I doubt that word is said similarly anywhere else in the world or in history (try reading Dante with that pronunciation in mind), but who are we to ell the good folks of that town that they have butchered the pronunciation.

Lyle said...

I grew up just south of the state line of Mississippi. I think I say Miss-uh-sippy.

Lawrence Person said...

As for Trump looking like Elvis: The answer is "a little bit." More than, for example, Andy Kaufman did, and Kaufman did a pretty good Elvis impersonation.

gilbar said...

here in Iowa, pretty much ANY town that shares a name with some outside area isn't pronounced the way outsiders do. i assume it's so that you can tell who's an outsider.

some examples
Nevada
Madrid
Eldorado
Tripoli

Bob Boyd said...

To me the baby looks like it's thinking, "Life is good."

mockturtle said...

The baby appears to be sleeping contentedly.

MountainMan said...

I think most people today associate Elvis more with Memphis than with Tupelo.

JackWayne said...

Jaydub has it right. And if you’re old enough, the way to spell it is: M, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, I, humpback, humpback, I.

MountainMan said...

" gilbar said... here in Iowa, pretty much ANY town that shares a name with some outside area isn't pronounced the way outsiders do. i assume it's so that you can tell who's an outsider. "

I think every state has some of those. I actually have a list I made of those from my native Georgia and sometimes tease some of my old friends with what I call "The True Georgian Test." If you really are a Georgian, you know how to pronounce these names correctly as none is pronounced as you would expect. A few of my favorites are:

Berlin
Cairo
Houston
Lafayette
Milan
Monticello
Schley
Taliaferro
Vienna

Birkel said...

Miss-Sipp(y) or Miss-uh-Sipp(y)

That's four different correct pronunciations, all recognized by Mississippians.

Fernandinande said...

It's not that they mispronounce it, it's that they pronounce it at all.

Jessica said...

I actually do see the Elvis resemblance. Good picture to highlight it.

As for local pronunciations, there are two more I'd like to point out. Louisville is not "Loo-wee-ville," according to locals. It's "Loo-uh-vulle." Also, I've noticed that people from Wisconsin don't say "Wis-Con-Sin." They say "wuh-SCON-sin." (Do you think that's accurate, Ann?)

Darkisland said...


Berlin
Cairo
Houston
Lafayette
Milan
Monticello
Schley
Taliaferro
Vienna

Wouldn't it depend on which country or state the city whether your pronunciation is correct?

Kye-roe Egypt but Kay-roe Illinois

Mye-Lan Ohio but Mee-lon Italy

yuse-ton Texas but House-ton Street in NYC.

And of course everyone knows that Taliaferro is pronounced Tolliver. Don't they? In the 60s I tried my hand at drawing and used the name "Tolly Klumsis" Tolly, short for Tolliver/Taliaferro.

John Henry

Darkisland said...

Jessica,

I was once told by a Louisville KY native that the correct pronunciation is more like Lo-vill

John Henry

tcrosse said...

New Prague, MN, rhymes with Plague.

Known Unknown said...

Ohio has
Bellfontaine (Bell Fown-ten)
Lima (Lye-ma)
Vienna (Vy-enna)
Rio Grande (Rye-oh Gran-day)
Celina (Suh-line-ah)
Gallipolis (Gal-eh-police)
Cheviot (Chev-ee-ut)
Moscow (Mahs-koh)
Medina (Muh-dye-na)
Versailles (Vur-sales)
Russia (Roo-shee)
Mantua (Man-a-way)
Louisville (Lou-es-vill)
Chauncey (Chance-ee)

Wilbur said...

I believe I've read that Elvis was a natural blond, who dyed his hair jet black early in his career and then couldn't change it back for career reasons.

BudBrown said...

Fun hearing new people talk about Kissimmee, Fl.

Static Ping said...

Yeah, Trump does somewhat look like Elvis. He could probably have been a decent impersonator.

Who looks like who is often dependent on what facial features are most important to you. I have found that my opinion on facial similarity is different than some other people. I'll see two people and think they look similar because they share features A and B, and then the person next to me ignores A and B in favor of X, Y, and Z and does not see the resemblance.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

She must be speaking slowly; it should probably be closer to Mi-sippy (with the first i as in "it").
If you live here long enough you're allowed to pronounce "Atlanta" in a way that skips both t's.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Related: Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey

tommyesq said...

Massachusetts has towns pronounced "Lester" (but spelled Leicester), "Glostah" (Gloucester), and Wooster (Worcester). All are named after English towns that are pronounced differently.

mockturtle said...

Massachusetts has towns pronounced "Lester" (but spelled Leicester), "Glostah" (Gloucester), and Wooster (Worcester). All are named after English towns that are pronounced differently.

AFAIK, those towns in England are pronounced as you describe. Some of their pronunciations make no sense, like Keighley pronounced Keithly, for instance.

Marcus said...

M I S S I S S I P P I

It used to be so hard to spell it used to make me cry.

Forget about pronouncing it.

THEOLDMAN

Mary Beth said...

Darkisland said...

Jessica,

I was once told by a Louisville KY native that the correct pronunciation is more like Lo-vill

John Henry

11/27/18, 8:47 AM


Only as a joke pronunciation. It is Loo'-uh-vul. (' for the stressed syllable.)

ken in tx said...

Jaydub's first comment covered what I was going to post. Miss Sippy. Similarly, the drink developed in A'lana is pronounced Co'cola.

James K said...

I think every state has some of those.

Upstate NY has Chili, pronounced with hard "i"s as in WiFi. And a town Sweden with emphasis on the 2nd syllable, SweDEN.

DavidD said...

To KU’s list I would add Nevada (Nuh-vay-da) and Delhi (Dell-high).

Bill Peschel said...

There are two Lancasters: one in PA, the other in SC.

One pronounces it LANcaster, the other LaCASTer.

Ironically, the SC Lancasterites originally were PA Lascasterites who moved south.

This is why in PA you see York, Chester, and Lancaster, just like a similar grouping in SC.

(PS: The baby's asleep.)

Prairie Wrench said...

Elvis was blonde. He dyed his hair jet black.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Elvis?

Not me, I always think of Honey.

You can take all the tea in China..

Fernandinande said...

AFAIK, those towns in England are pronounced as you describe.

Yup. I had a motorcycle accident and called my cousin to say I was stuck in "Lawn cess ton".
"Where?"
"Lawn cess ton. L a u n c e s..."
"That's Lawnston, mate."

Funny how the English can't hardly talk their own lingo.

MadTownGuy said...

Some Wisconsin pronunciation fun.

Aside: a friend in central MA pronounces Worcester as 'Wistah.'

MadTownGuy said...

Weird. The embedded link didn't work, so here it is again:

Misspronouncer.

johns said...

Pronunciation can vary a lot within a state. there isn't just one way. I remember a New Yorker article from about 40 years ago about Georgia and its views of Arabs in the context of OPEC or something. The author said that in northern Georgia the word Arab is pronounced like "Ay-rab", but it changes as one goes south, and near the southern border of the state it sounds more like "Urbs."

tcrosse said...

If you pronounce the L in Milwaukee, you're from someplace else.

jaydub said...

Regarding Louisville, when I lived there in the '60's I always thought it was pronounced as "Blue-a-vul" - blurted out and with stress on the first syllable. Of course I was in college then and could have just been drunk when I heard it. All five years.

johns said...

Speaking of Massachusetts, the one I never learned to say is "Woburn." I think they say something like "Wabban"

Fernandinande said...

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.

cacimbo said...

Does this explain the Donald's hair? Does he imagine his strange frontal swoop as some type of trimmed down modern Elvis pompadour.

JaimeRoberto said...

Thanks to John Lee Hooker I also know that Tupelo had a flood or at least a song about a flood.

Ken B said...

More Nicholas Cage to be honest, but of course he wasn’t famous back then.

Ken B said...

English pronunciation. I learned I was truly a native speaker indeed when, on the floor of Westminster Abbey, I saw Cholmondeley and figured out it was pronounced Chumley.

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

The baby looks as if it's thinking, "Hey, I'm Donald J. Trump, Jr. Not bad."

SeanF said...

The capitol of South Dakota is pronounced "peer", not "pee-air".

And the baby's asleep.

southcentralpa said...

I say "Hah-WHY-uh" (Hawaii) no accounting for taste

Jessica world smith said...

These LED sun blocks are made out of clear plastic which has a bright, white LED fitted in it and a small hole for the light to come through. As a result, it provides very little light at all and does not burn the skin. To get more detailed info on Hair Growth Treatments, visit on hyperlinked site.