How do you pronounce Arvada?
Office argument going on as we speak.
Susan
Google the Chamber of Commerce, call and ask.
Rhymes with Nevada 
I have a friend who lived there and he tells me that he NEVER found out the official way…
I thought they say Ar-vay-da.
What? You don’t pronounce Nevada as “Ne-vay-da”?
In fact, it’s hard to get even Californians to pronounce our Spanish place names right, much lest places like Colorado, which to me,has a more culturally Midwestern than Western feel, east of the Rockies.
Also, I don’t know that Arvada is even a Spanish name, it might be a made-up one, or a conglomeration of different names or maybe even an Indian word…
A nearby town here is Vallejo, in Spanish pronounced Buy-ay-ho, but people here tend to say Valay-ho. i live in El Sobrante, which should be El So-brahn-te but many of our charming locals, many from Dust Bowl and Arkie heritage, call it El Sobranty.
And frankly, we should say Ne-vah-da, but we say Ne-va (short a)da.
The Anglo-Americans started coming in earnest in the 1840s, prior to that, those that came were naturlized Mexican citizens, converted to Catholicism and spoke Spanish, so they likely pronounced things in the Spanish way. In mid-40s, with the horsethief and murderer Fremont as standard bearer, came assorted colorful trappers, Missouri-types and so forth, who were not inclined to culturally respect anything Hispanic, so I reckon the mis-pronunciation has been going on since those days.
I was just informed by someone who lived there that it’s pronounced
Are-VAH-da.
Thanks everybody!
Susan
Go figger… this site below says like Nevada and that it was somebody’s wife’s middle name…hmm…wonder if she was from Utah?.. Some wacky given names thereabouts…
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3162/Colorado/placenames.htm
Well, there are two fairly common pronunciations of Nevada:
Locals pronounce it Ne-VAH-da (as in “I gadded while mad in knee pads.”)
Folks from back East sometimes pronounce it Ne-VAW-da (as in “I saw a flaw on the horse in the draw in Nevawda.”)
So, saying it rhymes with Nevada doesn’t necessarily answer the question…
Susan
He says, rhymes with bad. That seems pretty clear. I wonder if the yuppies pronounce it more what they think is correct.. that’s what happens here. As I said before, my town is El Sobrante and the white collars and new comers says El Sobrahn-tay, while the trailer folk, several generations native, guffaw…
I’ve never heard of it before, but when I come across names or words I’ve never seen before (as frequently happens in my Islam class), I tend to pronounce them as though they were German, and sometimes people laugh. I can’t help it though–my brain just sort of switches into German mode for all new words.
We’ve got a small town here in Utah: Hurricane.
People not from Utah pronounce it like the storm.
The great majority of people from Utah pronounce it “Hurr-i-cun”.
A few people who have been in Utah for generations and have strong southern Utah accents pronounce it “Hair-i-cun”
How they pronounce it identifies them immediately.
Susan
You can tell a newcomer to North Carolina immediately by how they pronounce “Manteo” and “New Bern.”
When I was growing up in Washington, when were weren’t growling at people for mispronouncing the name of my hometown (Spokane), we were teasing them by trying to get them to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Wenatchee and Yakima correctly.
Redwolf
Norfolk, VA, is similar. The locals pronounce it NAH-fk. (And they live in HOOSes.)
You should try some of the place-names in the Pacific Northwest. (Dosewallips, Puyallup, Sequim, Tukwila, etc..)
Edit: Ah, I see Red already mentioned some of those.
There’s also a town in West Virginia called Hurricane, and the majority also say “Hurruh cun.”
And then there’s St. Helena, CA, vs Helena, MT (the first is “Saint hell-EE-nuh,” the second is “HELL-in-uh”).
And don’t pronounce “Clement” street in San Francisco as “KLEH-munt.” It’s “kleh-MINT.”
Redwolf
Years ago I had to read over the phone a list of golf courses and the cities they were in to a customer. He wanted to know the courses in Massachusetts and other states in the East. I’m embarrassed to say that when I came to Falmouth, I didn’t have a clue how you pronounce it…I stumbled around it and out came “Foul-mouth.” The gentleman got a hearty laugh over it, then corrected my pronunciation. He was very nice. He said, “Here we pronounce it ‘Fall-muth’.”
I’ve learned a lot since then. Now I’d just ask how it was pronounced before making an idiot of myself…anyway, I hope I would.
Susan
Arvada
ar- as in “are”
vad - rhymes with “mad”
da - as in “duh”
Nothin’s the mattuh in grand old Arvada
“Arvada- where they EAT THEIR DEAD!”
A phrase made popular by Dom and Jane of the big Mix morning show upon hearing that arvada has no cemitaries within the citiy limits.
Boy, where were you Scott, about six hours ago?
Some of my favorites are Worcester, MA; Lancaster, PA; Hoquiam, WA; and Salina, KA.
Ron