Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

Fri Apr 24 04:47:41 UTC 2009

>From the sound clip at the site below we hear Mr. ~Kazult (hic - heard in context) say the lake name.  He says that the "pronounciation" (hic) is;

~Shuggaagugaag-
mancchaagugaag-
chubbungaggungumaag.

There might be a French influence because the "Charg" is pronounced ~Shug
Perhaps Mr ~Kazult (hic) is an "awe-dropper" because the three "au" tradstreengz which I would assume would be pronounced "awe" are instead pronounced "ah" or "uh".  So I would assume correct Nipmuck pronunciation would be

~Shuggaagugaag-
mancchaugugaag-
chaubbungaggungumaug.

Why the initial "Char" is not pronounced ~Chaar I don't understand.  It makes it hard to look up in the dictionary.  In fact type Chargog in google and it comes up.  But nothing for shugog.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com

----------------------------------------
> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:31:13 -0400
> From: aandrea1234 at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Andrea Morrow
> Subject: Re: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> According to the story on NPR, the "you fish on your side" translation may
> have been the creation of a newspaper editor. Here's a link to the NPR
> story, where you can hear a native of Webster, MA, say the lake's name as
> well as listen to a 1950s song about it:
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103295533
>
> On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 3:36 PM, Michael McKernan wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Michael McKernan
>> Subject: Re: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> My father, who grew up in eastern Massachusetts (b.1924) often spoke
>> of this lake, translating the name as:=A0 "You fish on your side of the
>> lake, we fish on our side of the lake, nobody fish in the middle of the
>> lake."=A0 Seems like it might be a more accurate translation than the
>> seemingly literal one quoted below.
>>
>> Michael McKernan
>>
>> Benson, Arizona Quoting Tom Zurinskas :
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0American Dialect Society
>>> Poster:=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Tom Zurinskas
>>> Subject:=A0 =A0 =A0 Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>> ------
>>>
>>> from
>>>
>>>
>> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5198455/Longest-p=
>> lace-name-in-US-spelt-wrongly.html
>>>
>>> The longest place name in the United States, Lake
>>> Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.
>>> By Sarah Knapton=A0 =A0 Last Updated: 12:10PM BST 22 Apr 2009
>>>
>>> The lake in Webster, Massachusetts - known as Webster Lake for short
>>> - was always going to be a challenge for sign writers. But after
>>> researching historical spelling combinations, the local newspaper the
>>> Telegram & Gazette of Worcester said local Chamber of Commerce
>>> officials agreed that some some signs at the lake were wrong.=A0 There
>>> was an "o" at letter 20 where a "u" should have been, and an "h" at
>>> letter 38 where an "n" should go.
>>> The name comes from the language of the local Nipmuck tribe and
>>> translates to "Englishmen at Manchaug at the fishing place at the
>>> boundary although" and was applied in the 19th century when White
>>> people built factories in the area.
>>> The stretch of water has several alternative names is also shortened
>>> to Lake Chaubunagungamaug to avoid the 45 letter tongue twister.
>>> Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, the full-length
>>> version of the name, is the longest place name in the United States
>>> and 6th longest in the world. Its 17 uses of "g" are the most
>>> instances of any letter in a word. The name also contains 10
>>> instances of the letter "a" (not including the "a" in "lake"), more
>>> than any word in the English language.
>>>
>>> TZ =96 Note that there are three =93awe=94 vowels in there.=A0 Those
>>> =93awe-droppers=94 (who have dropped the phoneme =93awe=94 and replace
>> it=
>>
>>> with =93ah=94) would not be saying this word right.=A0 But then again,
>> wh=
>> o
>>> does.=A0 Probably only Nipmucks.
>>> How would that be spelled phonetically?
>>> Char-GOG-uh-gog---man-CHAW-guh-gog---chaw-BUN-uh-GUN-guh-mawg.
>>> ~chaarggaagugaagmancchaugugaagchaubbunugungumaug.
>>>
>>>
>>> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>>> see truespel.com
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>
>
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