Why do so many Americans pronounce Missouri as if it's "Missoura"?

Question

Now I live near Toronto, or Toronaa as many pronounce it. But I am watching a lot of your presidential campaign, and many individuals, reporters and government leaders pronounce it as if it ends in an "a". We were always taught to say it like it looks--with a short "i",Maybe there's no answer except habit. but I'm curious.

Answer 1

Local 'dialect'

JF Kennedy pronounced many words wrong 'Cuber' instead of Cuba it is an Northern East Coast thing to pronounce words ending in an 'a' as if it was a 'r'.

It is the way they learned to pronounce words as children, by listening to adults.

Answer 2

It's a regional accent.  In that part of the country any word ending in 'i' is pronounced 'uh'.

In American English (and to some extend Canadian also), there are no syllables with secondary emphasis.  In other words, there is one accented syllable in the word and all the other syllables are unaccented.  Unaccented syllables, no matter what vowel they have, the vowel is always a schwa, the 'uh' sound.  There are exceptions to this, but in most cases it's true.  So 'Toronto' is pronounced 'tuh-RAN-uh'.  Missouri is pronounced 'muh-ZOO-ruh'  

'Ontario' is an exception to the rule. If you said 'uhn-TAR-yuh' people would wonder what you were talking about.

Answer 3

Only People from Missouri pronounce it Missoura.Just like some people add the s In Illinois When In fact the s is silent. People in missouri also when they fish and catch a big fish,They say I caught a big un.

Answer 4

Because so many people in Missouri pronounce it that way and it's their state.

Answer 5

It's the way the locals say it.

A longtime Governor of Ohio used to pronounce it "uh HY uh" and the mayor of Columbus, Ohio would regularly refer to his city as "Clum bus" (two syllables)

Answer 6

Same reason they call Colorado ... Colorada.. Washington as Warshington....lazy talking

Answer 7

LOL I don't know.

Why do people call Illinois Illinoise. The 's' is silent people.

Answer 8

Half the state pronounces it one way, and the other half pronounces it the other way, it's a north/south thing.

Answer 9

It's like potato potatoh tomato tomatoh, just depends where in the country you are.

Answer 10

May be the same reason some people pronounce San Antonio San Antone.

Answer 11

The Constitution for the State of Missouri says that the correct pronunciation for the state of Missouri is however the governor pronounces it. Governor Blunt pronounces it "Missourah," so that is currently the official pronunciation.

Answer 12

It's just their accent

Answer 13

That's spoken with a southern accent.  They don't give it a hard "i" sound.  It sounds like an "a".

Answer 14

It's just a regional dialect. Like any other accent.

If you travel at all you will here various pronunciations/accents.

Like Louisville...some pronounce it LOU-E-VILLE, and others pronounce it LOU-uh-VILLE.

Generally people in the south are more likely to say "Missoura" than those in the north, east or west.

Answer 15

I live in rural Missouri (born and raised in KS-right across the border) and I say MISSOURI, not Missoura. I don't know many people that say Missoura.

Answer 16

As the same  people call me an Okie call your state that way,LOL. I pronounce your state with an i(e ) sound, But thats me I am not from the North ,East ,west, nor the south, I'm from all LOL being smack dab in the middle,LOL .God Bless

Answer 17

its just like how you say toronto, it's the way those in missouri pronounce their name. No big deal--do you wanna know how the natives pronounce the city of norfolk, virginia?    

Answer 18

My ex mother-in-law is from Missouri and that is how she said it, too, with an 'ra' at the end. I thought either she had an accent or, was just lazy about that particular word, because it seemed that other words that ended in ri there was not an accent, but, whatever, go figure.

Answer 19

Because throughout much of Missouri, rural Missouri in particular, that's the way the locals say it.

Answer 20

it's called an accent

Answer 21

Just American dialect....the same reason some people in Long Island, NY call "Toyotas" "Toyoters"....and some people call "Washington" "Warsh-ington."  My favorite one is how the people in Baltimore pronounce their city as "Bawlmer".

Answer 22

It's usually southerners who do that. Nobody here in the Mid-Atlantic speaks like that, except..maybe.. in Baltimore. But those people don't count.

Answer 23

I'm living in Missouri and have lived here my whole life. The people in the Northern part of the state pronounce it correctly sounding the "i" at the end of it. But the idiots down here in the Southern part of the state give the end of it an "a".

Only idiots say "Missoura". Which of course means the smart people live in the Northern part of the state. And as for everyone else, they are idiots if they pronounce it "Missoura".

Answer 24

It's because Missouri is an Indian word and all the country folk in Missouri mispronounce it so people who try to gain street cred with Missourians mispronounce it too.  

As a Illinois resident, I hate it when people pronounce Illinois with an "s" at the end.  Illinois is another Indian word which is written as the French did who first settled here.  The S is silent.  I can always tell how educated people are by how they pronounce Illinois.

Go Obama!  Illinois's Junior US Senator!

Answer 25

It's called an accent. Look it up.

They're saying "Missouri" but it comes out as "Missoura."

Answer 26

Because that's the way that it's residents do

Answer 27

That's how the residents pronounce it. If you pronounce it the other way, people will know you are an outsider. Same with Spokane, WA. The correct pronounciation is (spo can) outsiders pronounce it (spo kane)

Answer 28

It's just the dialect. Actually, I a lot of people from Missouri pronounce it Missoura. It's like Bostonians saying idear instead of idea, or People from New Orleans saying Nawlans.

Answer 29

It's a a regional midwestern accent. My grandparents were from Cincinnati (Ohio), and they pronounced it "Cincinnata."