Staunton, VA

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 02:17 PM 12/5/00 -0500, you wrote:
>There is a story that Virginians tell out-of-staters about the
>pronunciation of Staunton. I don't remember the story completely, but it
>goes something like this:
>
>A soldier dressed in a Confederate uniform was found wandering behind
>Confederate lines. When he was asked where he was from and he replied
>STAHN-ton, he was shot on the spot.

A similar urban (in this case, rural) myth has grown up about Chauncey,
Ohio.  If revenooers in disguise were lurking about and said "Chawn-cey"
they'd be identified by the locals as outsiders and kept away from the
stills.  Undergraduates believe this story; the locals admit it's untrue.

_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm