Locals pronounce the name of the town of Thoreau, New Mexico, as thuh-ROO. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Thoreau, New Mexico”
We heard from Susan Carl, who lives in Texas Hill Country, and she wanted to comment on our conversation about counterintuitive names of towns and cities.
She said, I taught at an Indian reservation in New Mexico, and the author named Thoreau is a town name there, but it’s pronounced Tharu.
Theroux.
Theroux.
So you go through, Theroux.
But you’d think it would be pronounced Theroux.
But it’s spelled like the American author.
Right, but it’s not named for the author.
