Very Important Bay Area Linguistics Question (now that I'm riding near Muir Beach)

[slackerstalker]

Poll Myooir? Mwir? Mer?

Comments

[slackerstalker]

An allegedly correct pronunciation can be heard here: http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/john-muir

I hear it as almost two syllables, "myooirr."

[lyonesse]

i can't do audio right now, but i pronounce it like rhyming with "pure". most english vowels are diphtongs.

[gordonzola]

Me too.

[blue_estro]

Thirded this. Closer to "Myure" than the Myooirr option offered.

[diatom]

Weird: my desktop won't let me hear this, either.

I am, I guess, an uneducated non-native to CA: I say Meer, and try not to overthink it. :o

[pennifer]

I had no idea there was any other acceptable way to say it than Myooir.

[slackerstalker]

I think I most often hear it pronounced "meer," which is possibly just a fast-spoken/reduced-vowel variant of "myooirr." I definitely hear all of the variants I put in the survey.

[erg]

Lyonesse, has it. Grew up near there, my mom is an English teacher, near there, and knows the Latin and Indian names for most of the plants, as well as the local history. Actually, decided we'd live here after coming through Samuel P. Taylor park the first time when I was a toddler.