I wish Hollywood would get its facts straight. They cannot pronounce Lancaster correctly to save their collective lives. I was watching a TV show with David Spade on DVR yesterday. They had an Amish teenager come to NYC on his rumspringa (the concept of which Hollywood has also confused). He told them he was from Lancaster, PA. The problem is, he mispronounced it: LANE – cass – stir. It is not LANE – cass – stir nor is it LAN – cass – stir (as in Burt). It’s LANE – kiss – stir!
They also played up the Amish boy up as a naïve hick, completely innocent as to the ways of the modern world. The Amish are not naïve. They are quite well aware of “modern” ways; they simply choose not to join in them. I suppose if Hollywood were to believe that, it wouldn’t be nearly as funny.
I don’t know why it bothers me, but it does. I suppose it’s growing up in Lancaster County. I hate seeing people in this area portrayed as backwoods yokels. Not just people from Lancaster, but the entire state of Pennsylvania. As an example, watch Lucky Numbers with Lisa Kudrow and John Travolta (which they filmed about five minutes from here). That movie would have you believe that all Pennsylvanians are bumbling idiots and hang bad paintings of Three Mile Island on their walls.
Honestly. They should do their homework.
That’s my rant. I had to get it out. If I can teach just one person how to pronounce Lancaster, my rant won’t have been in vain. :)
1 comment:
I have to admit that until now I never knew how to pronounce Lancaster. Thanks for the lesson - see your rant wasn't in vain at all. I understand your frustration though. I live in the Northwest but am from Oklahoma and I get so frustrated at people who think Oklahoma is part of the mid-west. It's something small but grates on my nerves. Even better there was a major pageant winner back in the late 80's who came to OK who thought we still lived in the "old west." She publicly remarked that she was surprised that we had tall buildings and thought that we lived in tepees!
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