By By Thomas Tingle
Record Managing Editor
How do you say Huntsville?
Do you say it Hunts "ville" or Hunts "vull"?
How do you say Danville?
Do you say it Dan "ville" or Dan "vull"?
Do you pronounce "ville" – "vull"?
I received an e-mail from a church in Danville regarding an open house. I looked at it and read it out loud to our sales associate here at the paper, Julie Penney.
Julie said Dan "vull" after I said Dan "ville".
So I thought about it for a moment and said how do you pronounce Huntsville? She said – Hunts "vull".
I've gotten into this discussion many times with people I've worked with and with people who live in other communities whose names have a "ville" in it. My wife's parents, who are native Madison County and Huntsville residents, say Hunts "vull".
I know that the correct way to say "ville" is "ville" and not "vull", but when the community is split between the two pronunciations, whose to say whose right and whose wrong?
How do you say Nashville?
I think most people say Nash "ville" and not Nash "vull."
How do you say Louisville, Ky?
I don't think the residents of Louisville say "ville." I believe a majority of them say Louis "vull." So, I'm wrong with my pronunciation of that city.
But how do you say Jacksonville?
Is it "ville" or "vull"?
Julie said she says "vull" at the end of any town that has the spelling of "ville" in it.
I got out a list of cities in the United States and looked for other towns whose names are spelled with "ville". I started pronouncing all of them and sure enough, "ville" didn't work or sound right with all of them."
I went back to my pronunciation of Danville. When I said the name Danville out loud and pronounced it with a "ville", it didn't sound right.
So, I said Dan "vull".
It was "fittin".