U.S. states with just two syllables? Quiz by sporcling123

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Two-Syllable States Quiz

by sporcling123

Created Sep 21, 2010 in Geography
Game Plays 1,761

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	Chunklets:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 00:03 GMT		0 points
	Dang - I was halfway through typing the last answer when time ran out! Anyway, good quiz!

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	Marshall:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 01:08 GMT		7 points
	I don't think there's any debate over Florida not having 3 syllables

	GeoExpert:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 01:40 GMT		-4 points
	I don't know about that. Some people say Flor-da rather than Flor-i-da

	AnotherSchmoe:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 02:19 GMT		12 points
	And some people say "cuz" rather than "cousin", it doesn't change the fact that it's a 3 syllable word. Anyways, nice quiz. =)

	WredAguyW:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 02:41 GMT		12 points
	How can a word have 2 1/2 syllables? It's either two or three. Words can't have half of a syllable.

	Pit_trout:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 05:23 GMT		0 points
	@WredAguyW: words can't have half a syllable, but they can certainly have a debatable syllable! eg in UK pronunciation, "foliage" is three distinct syllables "fo-li-age", but with the middle one unstressed and shorter than the others; in the US, it varies, but the middle syllable is usually very weak if not entirely absent, to the extent that I think most Americans would think of it as a two-syllable word (and be annoyed if a Brit told them they were wrong :-) ) Conversely eg "Toronto" is usually pronounced something like "Tronno" by locals, but they think of it as 3 syllables, and if asked to say it slowly/carefully, they'll say all 3. So, I guess... do any Floridians or Oregonians actually think of their states as 2-syllable words, or just pronounce them that way colloquially?

	Riko:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 06:16 GMT		1 point
	@bsd987- I'm guessing you're from the north-east or mid-atlantic (like me), right? It seems like we tend to have more glottal stops than other american accents, so when we say 'Oregon', it sounds kind of like 'organ' except for that little psudo-click after the 'r' or a 'double-r' sound ([or'-gen] or [or-rgen]). That "click" is a glottal stop and should be treated kind of like this vowel-> the 'ɨ '. (it's said like the vowel from 'ion' in the way we in the mid-atlantic say 'nation'). Similar thing with Florida. So it is really [ɔr-ɨ-ɡən] and [flɒr-ɨ-də] and not [ɔr-ɡən] and [flɒr-də].

	WredAguyW:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 08:28 GMT		0 points
	@Riko: Yeah but not everyone from those areas pronouces them that way. I'm from the northeast and I can honestly say that the vast majority of the people I know pronounce both Florida and Oregon with all three syllables.

	HollywoodLeo:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 18:17 GMT		2 points
	There's nothing ambiguous about Florida's pronunciation. Anyone who says "Flor-da" is just being lazy or talking so fast that you easily miss the pronunciation of the i.

	penguinman95:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 20:29 GMT		3 points
	@HollywoodLeo, Or just from the south. Yay south.

	bmo1616:	Sep 22nd, 2010 at 22:58 GMT		-2 points
	Good quiz, bsd987 - one of the stupidest comments I've ever read.

	jws:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 01:40 GMT		-4 points
	Wow, I can't believe bsd987's comment has been voted down so much. I've lived in Florida for eight years (grew up in Georgia), and, like, 98% of the time I hear someone say "Florida" it sounds like it has two syllables. Sure, some people pronounce it with three syllables, but that's just part of the fun of accent variation. Besides, for those of you who say the matter isn't even debatable, how do you pronounce cardinal, chocolate, family, grocery, or average?

	jws:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 02:26 GMT		1 point
	And just to be clear, when I say 98% I'm talking about the people I interact with, which means southerners are vastly over-represented (and also I'm exaggerating for effect, as we all do from time to time). I don't know what the overall average syllable count is--my only point is that it's very debatable.

	simpleerrors:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 03:05 GMT		2 points
	Maybe average I'd pronounce with 2 syllables, I don't know how you fit grocery into 2... the other ones are good examples, so people can see both sides of it. I think they should be bonuses (or even official), as, from what I see, it's based on how the people living there pronounce it, and that's what's important. Besides, we have the years, which actually helped me:)

	HollywoodLeo:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 04:52 GMT		-1 points
	@penguinman95, I'm in the South and even here in Arkansas Florida has 3 syllables.

	HollywoodLeo:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 04:53 GMT		-2 points
	@jws, I pronounce every one of those examples with 3 syllables. Your argument is debunked.

	HollywoodLeo:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 04:55 GMT		-2 points
	@simpleerrors, you fit every one of those into 2 the same way you fit Florida into two...by being lazy and not pronouncing one of the syllables. Flor-da (ignoring the -i-), Card-nal (ignoring the -i-), Choc-late (ignoring the -o-), Fam-ly (ignoring the -i-), grosh-ry (ignoring the -er-), and av-rage (ignoring the -i-).

	HollywoodLeo:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 04:56 GMT		-2 points
	Finally (fin-al-ly, not fine-lee) I surely hope thesecretbox is joking.

	jws:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 05:59 GMT		1 point
	@HollywoodLeo: Ugh, this is giving me a headache--I might have to take some aspirin (which I pronounce with two syllables). Your inference (two syllables--again, as I say it) that your own speech renders my point inoperative (four) is, to put it bluntly, sophomoric (three). So, does all this phonetically (four) -efficient (three) syllable-elision make me lazy? Perhaps, but I'm not especially (four) interested (three) in hearing about it, as I'm growing quite indifferent (three) toward this particular argument.

	HollywoodLeo:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 06:17 GMT		-1 points
	You're obviously not indifferent, otherwise you wouldn't be taking the time to respond to me.

	DirtyKash:	Sep 23rd, 2010 at 23:32 GMT		0 points
	How many syllables in "Hawaii"?

	LinuxLinus:	Sep 28th, 2010 at 02:58 GMT		1 point
	1. I am from Oregon, and I can assure you that there is nobody in the entire state with a functioning brain for whom that word has but two syllables. 2. I also have never heard the word "foliage" pronounced with anything resembling two syllables. I dunno where one might get the idea that "most Americans" would pronounce it that way, unless one's entire exposure to America is through John Wayne movies and old episodes of "The Dukes of Hazzard".

	GeoExpert:	Oct 2nd, 2010 at 05:54 GMT		2 points
	I think we have all learned that people from different areas pronounce words different ways. Personally, I hear Flor-da more than Flor-i-da. All of simpleerror's examples I hear and say with two syllables except for grocery and family. But where HollywoodLeo is from, that is obviously not the case