While I was in Sacramento, California back in 2007, I watched a news story on TV about an emergency landing a plane had to make at the Albany International Airport. What caught my attention, was the fact that the anchor couldn’t pronounce the name, Albany correctly. She said “Al-bany” and not “All-bany”. FAIL!

Now Albany is not too difficult pronounce, but the names they threw at these people, one of which is a former New Yorker, threw them all for a loop. One of them even screwed up Schroeppel, pronounced “Screw-pull”, with Schenectady. You can’t help but laugh at them for something that comes easily to us, and is as simple as pronouncing names of Upstate New York towns. And I admit, one of them I never would have gotten if it wasn’t for the pronunciation under the spelling of the name.

At the end of the video, the lady in the gray sweater says she wants some resolution on where the names of these towns come from. Well, here it is, Native Americans. New York was one of the original colonies in the New World, and settled while there were still Native Americans in the area. Some of the original settlements took their names from words derived in the native language of the Seneca and Onondaga Indian Nations. But it’s ok you didn’t know that, how could you? But I do have to say thanks for trying so hard and for the laugh. And just to show I’m a nice guy, I’ll throw you an easy one.

Gloversville.

Later losers!