Acme--two syllables or three? :)

[Kathleen E. Miller]

Pretty much the entire native population of south-Jersey calls it the
AK-a-me, too.


At 11:15 PM 7/22/2004, you wrote:
>I live in Akron, Ohio.  I moved here in 1971.  I grew up in Arllington,
>VA. 1947-1964.  I also had connections to Danville, VA. 1945-1966.
>
>The word "Acme" is the name of a local supermarket chain in the Akron
>area.  It's been the hometown market since 1910 or so.
>
>I just noticed that some of my contemporaries, who were born and raise
>here in Akron pronounce the name of the market as
>
>     AK-a-me
>
>I'm sorry if I can't do it in the right kind of symbols/letters so that
>you can understand it better.  The accent is on the first syllable, and
>they pronounce it as if it has three syllables.
>
>Why do they say this?  Is it local to Ohio?
>
>As an addenda, two out of the three people who say it this way are college
>educated and Jewish.  I don't know if that's any help, but it's
>factual.  All three are locally born.
>
>Sam Clements