In a message dated 12/23/2003 6:08:17 PM Central Standard Time, Xann55@aol.com writes: I agree.. I've always thought all Missourians pronounced it with the "a" on the end, and certainly ALL folks from St. Louis!! LOL Noooooooooooooooooooo........lol Actually I don't know anyone who says Missourah...that lives here anyway....

What I find humorous is that I grew up in South St. Louis. We all said Miz-ou-ree. We thought folks in Kansas City and the rural areas said Miz-ou-rah. Now from the notes on this list it sounds like even this varied from street to street in the same area. Or perhaps from time to time. I don't think this controversy will ever end. What is even funnier is that it is a Native American Word, phonetically written down by French Jesuit priests and who knows what it really should sound like! Sounds like a game of telephone gone astray and lasting for centuries! I believe though, that if what those early French explorers heard was " rah" the spelling would not be with an "i" at the end. Maybe it should be Miz-ou-rye! (only joking!) I do think though the French heard something along the lines of "ee" because they spelled it like in Mardi Gras and that is the long e sound. Well, actually they spelled it with an "it" at the end like in petit (we say petite which is close to the French). So maybe we are all saying it wrong! Some URLs for your reading enjoyment (?)... http://members.sockets.net/~joschaper/moname.htm http://www.mpiweb.org/news/newsbytes/v942news.asp see last article on this web site Laura > > > ==== MO-STLOUIS-METRO Mailing List ==== > For tips on researching St. Louis Church Records: http://members.gtw.net/~seamus/churchrecords.htm > >