Say It with Confidence: A Guide How to Pronounce These Hard Washington Town Names

I've been a resident of the Evergreen State since 2002 when I moved here sight unseen from Nashville, Tennessee. Yes, it was quite a culture shock, but after living here for nearly half my life, I'd say that I've officially turned into a tree-huggin', coffee-drinkin' hipster.

Washington State Elocution Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Washington State has at least 490 cities and small towns and 39 counties to choose from and naturally, there will be some spicy ways of saying their names. Don't stand out like a tourist/out-of-towner, learn how to pronounce these names with confidence!

Despite my nearly two decades of living in Central Washington, there are still town names that I'm struggling with and when I mispronounce them, wow do I sound like a newbie!

Take Okanogan County, for instance. My natural inclination is to say Okuh-KNOW-ginn, but it's actually pronounced Okuh-NOGGIN! And when I moved to Yakima, I was calling it Yuh-KYE-muh, not YAKKY-muh. Embarrassing!

Read More: From Twisp, WA to Hollywood: The Secret Movie Star Jake Muxworthy

New Year, New Pronunciation Guide for Washington State Towns

A couple of years ago, my friend Brian put out a great pronunciation guide that still gets a lot of views to this day, and I decided to create a new companion guide.

To get you started, try saying the word 'Quilcene'. If you didn't pronounce it as "Quill-SCENE" then buddy, you said it wrong!

Let's try another one: Ephrata. Silly me, I thought it was pronounced as EE-fraida. It's actually "Uh-FRAIDA."