Oregon, etc.

[Jack Haney]

Loren is quite right about the pronunciation of Origun. Can he shed light
on the etymology? I have lived within hailing of Oregon half my life, the
rest in the northern neighbor and I have never heard any other
pronunciation except from easterners who most likely have never been here.
But has Loren sung the U of Oregon alma Mater recently? If I am not
mistaken, it begins "Origo'n, my alma Mater..." And that is probably
enough on this topic. jvh

On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, Loren A. Billings wrote:

> Someone recently wrote me and asked the following:
>
>      "What about [mizura] state? And should we all switch?"
>
> As a matter of fact, I have read one study that shows that residents of
> Missouri are about evenly divided between the two pronunciations of this
> state's name (i.e., the one above and the one ending in [i]).  Thus, there
> aren't the same ingredients as _Ukraine_ and _Oreg[@]n_ (@ = schwa).
> With regard to _Ukraine, of course, no one says this form in that nation's
> language.  I know of no Oregonian that does not reduce the final syllable.
> Thus, the Missouri argument is not valid.
>
> --Loren
>