When I was in Lexington on business it took me ages to work out that what I heard on the traffic news as "Versells" was in fact Versailles.

I've not heard that about Coke. It's usually soda around here.

Up in Maine, Calais, pronounced Caliiiis. Took me a while to figure that one one too

To be fair the British are hardly accurate in their pronunciation many adopted French / Norman terms. "Filet", "valet" etc.

Des Moines seems to be pronounced differently in each one.

In fairness, we did add the extra 'l' in 'fillet', to cover the mispronounciation. I was never sure why 'valet' gets pronounced the way it does though.

There are inconsistencies on both sides of the pond though - Des Plaines vs Des Moines, for example.

Pretty good at the French....it's the Spanish we butcher big time

Beaufort, NC v Beaufort, SC.

Byoo-fort v Bow-fort

That's a good one - I hadn't realised they did that.

I've heard that about "coke" too, but it certainly doesn't seem to apply in my part of Dixie. "Soda" is by far the dominant generic for carbonated drinks; maybe that's because we have so many transplants.

Charley-roy pennsylvania

So what was that post a bit earlier about brits saying Nevada wrong....I can only think of one way to say it, and I think that's how Americans say it too.....

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Erm, I'm from SC and I've never heard Beaufort pronounced 'bow-fort' - it's 'byuu-fert' as far as I am aware.

Ooops, maybe I got them the wrong way round? .... But I am fairly certain the NC and SC Beauforts are pronounced completely differently.