There are a lot of strangely named things in Upstate New York so one way you can tell if someone is from around here or not is how they pronounce them. Get any of these wrong from Only In Your State and you've given yourself away as an out of towner.

  1. Albany - I'm gonna start with something easy because the fastest way I can tell that the 518 phone call I'm getting is a telemarketer is when they ask about AL-bany.
  2. Coxsackie - We all remember the first time someone from outside of the area realized how this sounded and would non-stop joke about it. It would probably not be as funny if they had to read it.
  3. Rensselaer - This is even heavily debated right here in the Capital Region and some even change it depending on if you're referring to city vs. county.
  4. Poughkeepsie - Who knows how "keep" is pronounced "kip" but this is a dead giveaway that someone's not from around here.
  5. Valatie - This is my favorite because you know if someone gets this ANYWHERE close to correct they HAVE to be from around here. This word makes zero sense but we've all just accepted it.
  6. Schenectady - I'm from Schenectady, born and raised, and one of my favorite thing is people having to read my address to me and then just pausing. I usually ending up feeling bad for their struggle and tell them how to pronounce it.
  7. Cohoes - If pronounced incorrectly with the emphasis on the first half, it could sound a little insulting.
  8. SPAC - Usually when there's an anagram, you pronounce each letter separately so if someone wants to go see a show at S-P-A-C you can usually tell they're seeing their favorite band from out of town.
  9. Cairo - I'm gonna confess something to you right now, I usually pronounce this incorrectly. I can never remember the right way to say this, my inner Upstater knows it's not pronounced like Egypt but I can't help it sometimes!

There are so many, I could keep going on. Which word from Upstate New York do you hear pronounced incorrectly the most? Did I miss one? Did you get them all right?

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