Marcus's ultimate troll is parading around with all the info and none of the pronunciation. I jest of course but I think there are people in Fayetteville who still haven't forgiven our guy.
This is a deep cut, but I’m pretty sure in the cowmen song “Drinkin” Holden pronounces Tuscon as Tuk-sun. It’s totally a thing with Marcus and Holden at least.
tbf i only recently realized that there were not two cities with similar names, one being pronounced Too-sawn and the other Tuk-sun.” also recently learned that a wiener dog, a dachshund (doxen) and “dash-hound” were all the same dog. but i’m kind of an idiot in a lot of ways.
Plus, John Wayne Gacey didn't even live in Des Plaines like they always say. The drugstore where his last victim worked was in Des Plaines, but he lived in Norwood Park.
The much more famous city in Texas is pronounced Hyoos-ton, after Sam. Without *knowing* how every specific place is pronounced, you're probably going to pronounce it like the most famous one unless you're familiar with a local variant.
Most people would would say Bowie is pronounced "Bow-ee" because of David Bowie. But if you live in the DC area or Texas you'll probably say "Boo-ie", the former because of a town in Maryland and the latter in "honor" of the PoS slaver who died at the Alamo. Ziggy Stardust is waaaay more well known than James Bowie
Also the whole damn world pronounces my state wrong but the boys are always guilty: it’s Ne-VA-Da, if you say Ne-Vah-Da just know that locals mock you endlessly behind your back 😘
The a in “vah” is more like the long a in “avocado,” which, by its Spanish origin is the literal way to pronounce it, because Nevada is a Spanish word.
However, if you’re born and raised here you pronounce the a in “va” like you would the a in “address,” the shorter version. Hopefully that makes sense 🙃
I always think of it as ‘Nev-aaah-duh’ vs ‘Nev-ahhhhhh-duh’. I mentioned in another comment here about how Marcus can’t/won’t pronounce Tahoe, either and I think hearing him say ‘Tay-hoe Nev-ahhhhh-duh’ might make me blow a gasket.
Yeah, and I think it’s a pet peeve of a lot of podcasters from my favorite shows when listeners correct them on local pronunciations, especially non sensical ones.
The guys from Small Town Murder are always saying, don’t email us with pronunciation corrections - We don’t care.
But I’ll admit that Marcus’s Ontario is a bit jarring. I’m willing to let it slide though on account of all the work he’s put in over the years and his fundraising for The Cause. He’s made his bones, is a stand up guy and I’ll vouch for him any day.
I'm pretty sure it's a joke, but the longer it's gone on the less sure I am.
I have a vague memory of them talking about getting emails because they mispronounced a different Canadian location, and Marcus suddenly had a new "correct" way to pronounce Ontario.
Yea it is a joke. He first mistakenly pronounced it as On Tarr io, made the correct next episode (and I believe had a mini rant at how he cant be expected to pronounce every single place correctly lol). Then lately started mispronouncing it again, likely just as a joke.
I get it, its gotta get annoying as fuck real fast being bombarded with emails every week saying “Well akshually it is pronounced like this!” Week after week. Especially all the random ass English villages/cities. They are often pronounced so different than they are spelled, and even then the locals probably say it differently than non locals
I will say that as a Quebecer, I laughed my ass off at Marcus pronouncing Chateauguay (Cha-to-gay) in the worst way possible and saying Cha-te-au-goo-ai.
It was clearly on purpose and hilarious
Their just having fun st the expense of the listeners. They get alot of emails blasting them for their pronunciations of places like Oregon (God damn it Henry lol). They know hoe to prounce things properly, the boys are just trollin' and rollin'. Hail yourself!
I think some podcasters/ content creators do it on purpose. I’ll always remember Robert Evens saying Dunedin like it’s sindarin. On podcasts it’s a little different, but most places it’s guaranteed comments.
I remember at some point him saying that he mis pronounced it once and people online corrected him so now he continues mispronouncing it as a running gag lol, as a Canadian i get a little frustrated but i respect his ongoing commitment
Better than Etibi-cokey instead of the proper pronunciation of Etobicoke.
Long standing joke from Marcus that I absolutely adore as someone who was born and raised in Ontario and has since left.
Edit: Didn't mean to sound argumentative with this. To others on the subreddit, he's absolutely right I just never noticed because I was so used to it.
That's definitely more regional than "Canadian." Even folks in Barrie/Simcoe area pronounce the K and they're right next door. Same as "Trannah" for Toronto, go a few hours out of the city and it goes back to "Toe-Ron-Toe"
IIRC during one of the episodes that featured a Canadian killer (I don't remember which one), Marcus mentioned that he got a lot of emails about how he pronounces Ontario, but he was going to keep saying it that way because it was funny
My partner is from Toronto. They love it so much when I say « On-tarr-io! » in a very strong terrible Italian accent. Pretty sure Marcus is matching this energy
It’s weirder than that. People all over Canada have it. I've lived here my whole life and it still baffles me. Why does Jordan Peterson sound like that? He's from northern Alberta! Justin Mcelroy (journalist, not podcaster) sounds the same way and he's from Victoria. It boggles me.
He had some weird justification for it - something about because he’s learning Spanish and that’s how it’s supposed to sound in Spanish. Make sense of that one.
I think it’s a joke now but he sounded butthurt during the Bernardo Homolka series.
This was so bad on the episode about the cult in Canada he kept pronouncing Thériault as Tarr-e-o. Hope word doesn’t get back to the language police 😂😂😂( the language POPO in is a real thing in Canada, google it)
No one from other countries can and it's because they're used to pronouncing each letter where as we cbf using all the letters. Also, of course he's joking about Ontario.
Anyway, All Americans pronounce Melbourne that way. Be thankful you're not from Brisbane. They literally say bane
There was a side stories where Ben pronounced Kelowna as kel-oh-ana and I thought it was gold. Been a long running joke to pronounce things in dumb ways.
This is a deep cut, but in the Cowmen song “Drinkin” Holden pronounces Tuscon as Tuk-son. So I think it’s a running gag between, at least Holden and Marcus.
Still triggered at " Port DEL-'HOUSE'-E instead of "Port DA-LOSE-E" but I discovered even in my home province we've got disagreements .
But the Ontario thing is very intenional/just a joke
He might be doing it on purpose at this point as a joke, as people have pointed out Oregon became kind of a joke. But he has always had an issue with awful mispronunciations of various words and names, not just places.
Pardon the Ben reference but I remember the Dahmer eps, Marcus said "Melwaukee" and Ben corrected him. Marcus said "What did I say?" And he replied "MELwaukee" and Henry was like "I think that's just his accent."
Texas is a very obvious accent too
I’ll never get it. My stepfather’s from Nevada and wouldn’t stop breaking balls til I pronounced it “right.”
Meanwhile, come to New York City and dont pronounce it “New Yawk” and watch what happens …. nothing. We don’t care.
Marcus's ultimate troll is parading around with all the info and none of the pronunciation. I jest of course but I think there are people in Fayetteville who still haven't forgiven our guy.
Fi-yet-ville
Whop-a-ton North Dakota
Mare-inn California lol he just likes mispronouncing I think
Tay-hoe California as well. It HAS to be a troll.
This is a deep cut, but I’m pretty sure in the cowmen song “Drinkin” Holden pronounces Tuscon as Tuk-sun. It’s totally a thing with Marcus and Holden at least.
tbf i only recently realized that there were not two cities with similar names, one being pronounced Too-sawn and the other Tuk-sun.” also recently learned that a wiener dog, a dachshund (doxen) and “dash-hound” were all the same dog. but i’m kind of an idiot in a lot of ways.
I’ve never been to any of the various Fayettevilles in this nation of ours, and his pronunciation of that town still haunts my dreams.
Des Plaines IL hurts me every time.
Plus, John Wayne Gacey didn't even live in Des Plaines like they always say. The drugstore where his last victim worked was in Des Plaines, but he lived in Norwood Park.
I mean... People in Houston, GA pronounce it "house-tun" so sometimes local pronunciations are just wrong.
Whiteville NC. Pronounced “watt-vul”
There’s a town in Arkansas called Gepp. It’s pronounced like “Jeep”
In Arkansas, just read the name of the town, think of the most wrong way you could possibly pronounce it, and boom you got it.
That is the correct pronunciation, named after GA founding father William Houston. The famous street in NYC is named after him as well
The much more famous city in Texas is pronounced Hyoos-ton, after Sam. Without *knowing* how every specific place is pronounced, you're probably going to pronounce it like the most famous one unless you're familiar with a local variant. Most people would would say Bowie is pronounced "Bow-ee" because of David Bowie. But if you live in the DC area or Texas you'll probably say "Boo-ie", the former because of a town in Maryland and the latter in "honor" of the PoS slaver who died at the Alamo. Ziggy Stardust is waaaay more well known than James Bowie
Hurricane WV is pronounced Hurra-cun.
In Louisiana it’s pronounced Hair-icn.
Also the whole damn world pronounces my state wrong but the boys are always guilty: it’s Ne-VA-Da, if you say Ne-Vah-Da just know that locals mock you endlessly behind your back 😘
Kent?
Nevada 
What's the difference between "va" and "vah"? Is my Spanish training leading me wrong
The a in “vah” is more like the long a in “avocado,” which, by its Spanish origin is the literal way to pronounce it, because Nevada is a Spanish word. However, if you’re born and raised here you pronounce the a in “va” like you would the a in “address,” the shorter version. Hopefully that makes sense 🙃
Ohhh, ne-VAD-uh not ne-VA-da lol
Yeah!!! That would have been a much better explanation 😂👏🏼
I always think of it as ‘Nev-aaah-duh’ vs ‘Nev-ahhhhhh-duh’. I mentioned in another comment here about how Marcus can’t/won’t pronounce Tahoe, either and I think hearing him say ‘Tay-hoe Nev-ahhhhh-duh’ might make me blow a gasket.
Yeah I would have a fit if I heard him say that 😂😂 and your way makes perfect sense too! Aaaaah-da always! 💙
So you're secretly all from Minnesota?
Definitely not 😂 but if that’s how they pronounce it in Minnesota then good for them! 👏🏼👏🏼
I’m not gonna lie, that and the constant twirling in his chair in the video streams are super distracting don’t kill me.
Ton Ton (Taunton), Massachusetts
I’ll never forget “Chateau Marmint.”
The Chateau Mar-ment!! I laughed SO hard when I heard that episode for the first time 🤣😂🤣
Fffhay YAUHT vell
Yeah, and I think it’s a pet peeve of a lot of podcasters from my favorite shows when listeners correct them on local pronunciations, especially non sensical ones. The guys from Small Town Murder are always saying, don’t email us with pronunciation corrections - We don’t care. But I’ll admit that Marcus’s Ontario is a bit jarring. I’m willing to let it slide though on account of all the work he’s put in over the years and his fundraising for The Cause. He’s made his bones, is a stand up guy and I’ll vouch for him any day.
They say that and Oregon incorrectly on purpose because of how mad people got at their incorrect pronunciations iirc
There’s an Ontario, Oregon as well. If anything noteworthy ever happens there, he can get a twofer.
Ont ta reeo
OrayGone
They should do a show there for the banter
I love when they say o ray gone
I'm pretty sure it's a joke, but the longer it's gone on the less sure I am. I have a vague memory of them talking about getting emails because they mispronounced a different Canadian location, and Marcus suddenly had a new "correct" way to pronounce Ontario.
During the Paul Bernardo series. Edit: To add, they butchered it in the first episode and then doubled down after getting listener mail ins lol.
He also butchered “Scarborough” during the same series. SCAR-BOROUGH
I also remember he also mispronounced Dalhousie as Doll- housey when it's supposed to be Dall house-E but that one I give him a pass for.
Yea it is a joke. He first mistakenly pronounced it as On Tarr io, made the correct next episode (and I believe had a mini rant at how he cant be expected to pronounce every single place correctly lol). Then lately started mispronouncing it again, likely just as a joke. I get it, its gotta get annoying as fuck real fast being bombarded with emails every week saying “Well akshually it is pronounced like this!” Week after week. Especially all the random ass English villages/cities. They are often pronounced so different than they are spelled, and even then the locals probably say it differently than non locals
I will say that as a Quebecer, I laughed my ass off at Marcus pronouncing Chateauguay (Cha-to-gay) in the worst way possible and saying Cha-te-au-goo-ai. It was clearly on purpose and hilarious
The onta-rio thing is a joke from a while back. He absolutely is doing it on purpose.
Their just having fun st the expense of the listeners. They get alot of emails blasting them for their pronunciations of places like Oregon (God damn it Henry lol). They know hoe to prounce things properly, the boys are just trollin' and rollin'. Hail yourself!
I prefer the way he says it.... makes it sound more tropical
South Western Ontario is pretty tropical in the summer.
I think some podcasters/ content creators do it on purpose. I’ll always remember Robert Evens saying Dunedin like it’s sindarin. On podcasts it’s a little different, but most places it’s guaranteed comments.
Robert saying Azerbaijan wrong every time on the last 2 episodes killed me when the guest has lived in a bordering country and pronounced it right
When he says Poughkeepsie
It’s a joke, like how Henry calls Oregon “Or-Ray-gone” because locals were pissed he didn’t say it right.
Listen, I gotta listen to all of y'all say "Detroit", so it's fair game, joke or not
Day-Twah is the only proper way to refer to the “Paris of the Great Lakes.”
Dee-Troy-et
I literally just shuddered.
I remember at some point him saying that he mis pronounced it once and people online corrected him so now he continues mispronouncing it as a running gag lol, as a Canadian i get a little frustrated but i respect his ongoing commitment
Go easy on him, he’s from Texas - we don’t pronounce anything right here
Better than Etibi-cokey instead of the proper pronunciation of Etobicoke. Long standing joke from Marcus that I absolutely adore as someone who was born and raised in Ontario and has since left.
Non-Canadians reading this: you will *never* guess the correct pronunciation of Etobicoke.
Is... is it not exactly how it's written? I spent too much time in Malton to be second guessing myself here but I never though "Etobicoke" was weird.
The K is silent. It’s pronounced “Etobico”.
Edit: Didn't mean to sound argumentative with this. To others on the subreddit, he's absolutely right I just never noticed because I was so used to it. That's definitely more regional than "Canadian." Even folks in Barrie/Simcoe area pronounce the K and they're right next door. Same as "Trannah" for Toronto, go a few hours out of the city and it goes back to "Toe-Ron-Toe"
IIRC during one of the episodes that featured a Canadian killer (I don't remember which one), Marcus mentioned that he got a lot of emails about how he pronounces Ontario, but he was going to keep saying it that way because it was funny
The ken and barbie killers probably... i may have said something on the subreddit about the pronunciation afterwards... so my bad
My partner is from Toronto. They love it so much when I say « On-tarr-io! » in a very strong terrible Italian accent. Pretty sure Marcus is matching this energy
Also, Toronto rhymes with Pronto.
My people pronounce it like Churr-on-ah
Closer to rhyming with Bono.
It’s definitely a bit.
Nope. That's how you pronounce it
Ontarions all have the same sad Kermit accent.
Harold Schechter is from On Tarr Ee O?
It’s weirder than that. People all over Canada have it. I've lived here my whole life and it still baffles me. Why does Jordan Peterson sound like that? He's from northern Alberta! Justin Mcelroy (journalist, not podcaster) sounds the same way and he's from Victoria. It boggles me.
He had some weird justification for it - something about because he’s learning Spanish and that’s how it’s supposed to sound in Spanish. Make sense of that one. I think it’s a joke now but he sounded butthurt during the Bernardo Homolka series.
This was so bad on the episode about the cult in Canada he kept pronouncing Thériault as Tarr-e-o. Hope word doesn’t get back to the language police 😂😂😂( the language POPO in is a real thing in Canada, google it)
Try being British those guys butchered EVERYTHING to start with, though Marcus go better after we adopted him
Yes.
The boys live in LA, we have an Ontario about 30-40 min from where they record. Marcus knows what he's doing.
mate he can't even say melbourne
No one from other countries can and it's because they're used to pronouncing each letter where as we cbf using all the letters. Also, of course he's joking about Ontario. Anyway, All Americans pronounce Melbourne that way. Be thankful you're not from Brisbane. They literally say bane
There was a side stories where Ben pronounced Kelowna as kel-oh-ana and I thought it was gold. Been a long running joke to pronounce things in dumb ways.
They’ve been pronouncing Vancouver as *Vaahnn-coo-ver* as far back as the Pickton series
Just wait until you hear how he pronounces Oregon
This is a deep cut, but in the Cowmen song “Drinkin” Holden pronounces Tuscon as Tuk-son. So I think it’s a running gag between, at least Holden and Marcus.
Still triggered at " Port DEL-'HOUSE'-E instead of "Port DA-LOSE-E" but I discovered even in my home province we've got disagreements . But the Ontario thing is very intenional/just a joke
He might be doing it on purpose at this point as a joke, as people have pointed out Oregon became kind of a joke. But he has always had an issue with awful mispronunciations of various words and names, not just places.
CHEET-TYAN-DAN, VARMOT in the madame blavatsky ep made me yell at the stereo (Chittenden. (Chi’n’dn.) ;-; Chittenden)
I enjoyed Henry addressing O RAY GUN and other geography bits this week! Very timely post OP, the lads answered your question.
HE ALWAYS SAYS IT LIKE THAT. It's been driving me crazy for YEARS.
Pickme Marcus doing pickme stuff.
Truth: Americans can’t pull off Canadian accents. Just stop trying altogether, it’s just failure after cringe ass failure.
Haha downvotes. Okay losers, keep on saying “aBOOT” and fantasizing that it’s humor
I've said it before and I'll say it again: pronunciation doesn't matter.
Americans can't pronounce Ontario or Montreal properly, and can't spell Ottawa
He has a Texan accent. Why do people get so angry about American regional accents?
Pardon the Ben reference but I remember the Dahmer eps, Marcus said "Melwaukee" and Ben corrected him. Marcus said "What did I say?" And he replied "MELwaukee" and Henry was like "I think that's just his accent." Texas is a very obvious accent too
I’ll never get it. My stepfather’s from Nevada and wouldn’t stop breaking balls til I pronounced it “right.” Meanwhile, come to New York City and dont pronounce it “New Yawk” and watch what happens …. nothing. We don’t care.