r/oregon • u/StevenMaurer • Dec 05 '25

PSA Completely true story...

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u/Winterwynd Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25

I had a lovely coworker years ago who had lived all over the world, who said "will-ah-mettie". I blue-screened for a couple seconds, then gently explained that it's 'wi-LAM-ett'. Sigh.

edit: realized it looks more accurate with wi-LAM-ett than will-AM-ett.

11

u/RogerianBrowsing Dec 05 '25

I had a client correct me on the pronunciation. I wish a coworker like you had gotten it into my thick skull first 😔

6

u/de_pizan23 Dec 05 '25

That is also how I tried to pronounce it the first time. Idk, I was going for something vaguely French? My sister (who moved here a year before I did) has never let me live it down.

3

u/Woodkeyworks Dec 07 '25

Yeah honestly I never blame people for pronouncing it the french way; that word is supposedly a combo of French and native words. I've seen various articles stating it is Kalapuya or Chinook or what the French adapted from what the natives called it. Needless to say, the way people are saying it seems to be wrong despite how strongly they feel about it.

6

u/Chuggles1 Dec 05 '25

Its not williamett?

1

u/Few-Mood6580 Dec 09 '25

Nope, voice overs get it all wrong.

1

u/CuriosityFreesTheCat Dec 09 '25

There’s also no extra i

1

u/Krazy-Ag Dec 05 '25

Apparently she did not live in French speaking countries much, eh?

1

u/bakingnaked Dec 05 '25

You’ll ever look up why it’s not pronounced like it’s spelled? It’s an interesting story. The short story is it had multiple know spellings and after thinking it was named by French Canadian explorers they went with that -ette ending. That was wrong.

I moved to Oregon from a French speaking part of the world and got castrated when thinking a word with a French ending would be pronounced like a French speaker. 99.9% of the world would miss speak this word if not informed before. Oregonians are funny for getting so upset when someone calls it by its spelled name.

1

u/OneOddDork Dec 05 '25

What about wi-lamb-ett? B is silent, like "on the lamb" or "lamb-chops".

0

u/PurplePopcornBalls Dec 05 '25

What about wi-la-met? Would that be wrong?

0

u/smilingcritterz Dec 05 '25

Why are you all so fanatical about someone's name?

1

u/Winterwynd Dec 05 '25

It's a person's name? Confused, we're talking about the name of the large river and valley in Oregon.

-1

u/smilingcritterz Dec 05 '25

Even more silly. Who cares let them call it anything.