[Cider Jim]

Not sure.

JK, with all due respect, I'm not sure the Morgantown folks know how to pronouce Kanawha County, but trust me, I was born in Charleston: that's how it's pronounced there.

[JK37]

Not sure.

JK, with all due respect, I'm not sure the Morgantown folks know how to pronouce Kanawha County, but trust me, I was born in Charleston: that's how it's pronounced there.

I digress, overwhelmed by the spotlight on more trusted sources of such important details!

I'll go now and bury my shame in a pepperoni roll!

[pbow]

As someone who grew up on riverfront property on the Kanawha River in beautiful Montgomery, WV, it is most definitely pronounced cun-awe. I literally just got in from jet skiing and wakeboarding on said river, and the water is just amazing.

PS
No disrespect to Cider, but as you know Montgomery is only about 20 minutes away from Chucktown and I have never heard anyone from Charleston or Montgomery pronounce it anything but cun-awe.

[Cider Jim]

As odd at this sounds, Wikipedia thinks the river & the county are pronounced differently:

Kanawha County (pronounced ka-NAW-ah')
Kanawha River (pronounced kuh-NAW or less often ka-NA-wah and earlier, kuh-NOIE)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanawha_Co ... t_Virginia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanawha_River

[Sly Fox]

I used to fish that river and I don't ever remember hearing it pronounced that way. But then again, we're talking about West Virginians here. For the record, I always live on the north bank of the Ohio River.

[JK37]

I used to fish that river and I don't ever remember hearing it pronounced that way. But then again, we're talking about West Virginians here. For the record, I always live on the north bank of the Ohio River.

Watch it!

[Sly Fox]

Its all in good fun. I have plenty of West Virginian ancestors ... even though I try to keep it on the down-low.

[Cider Jim]

It's a small sample, but I've asked 6 people on Facebook from WV (Dunbar, Ravenswood, Hurricane, & Branchland) how to pronounce Kanawha, and they ALL said 3 syllables.

In fact, one of them said "only a hillbilly would pronounce it in 2 syllables."

[JK37]

one of them said "only a hillbilly would pronounce it in 2 syllables."

I think that sort of proves the point made by those of us in the 2-syllable talk. Remember, this started as "how the locals pronounce it"; not how it's supposed to be pronounced. I mean, really - when do WVans ever pronounce things correctly? (excluding your smarty-pants Fb friends, of course.)

Also, this started concerning the river, not the county. And, your source quote earlier even said the river falls under the 2-syllable rule.

Just sayin'. This is fun, though only for about the 8 of us who care. How'd we get so far off-topic?! Oh, wait, I remember who did it...

[phoenix]

CJ still has a bit of the mountain mama in him because his pronunciation is correct.

Frankly driving thru Huntington non-rush hour on 64 is no problem ... then cross the river to 52. Head up 23 from Portsmouth to either 32 toward Cincy or 35 to Dayton.

Better hope the construction is finished before then -- and at the speed they've been working, I doubt it will be. 64 is currently one-lane both directions from Cannonsburg to right around the Huntington Mall. Not even really sure what they're working on, so I don't know when it will be finished.

(edit to add) And I've lived on the north bank in Ohio for 8 years, but pastored in Dunbar for a bit, and have always heard it pronounced with three syllables.

[01LUGrad]

This reminds me of the "Norfolk" debate around here. There are tons of different pronunciations floating around and all will claim they say it correctly.

Can't we all just get along?