There's something we have to get off our chest about the coverage of the Breanna Taylor case and the riots in Louisville. The city ain't pronounced Louis-ville. We know this because our mother was from Livermore, Kentucky, a small town on the Green River about 15 minutes south of Owensboro, pronounced Owensbura. We spent just about every damn Christmas of the 1980's there and both of our grandparents are buried on Cemetery Hill just outside of town by the oil field. Don't tell us we don't have Kentucky roots.
As we take after our mother, with blond hair and blue eyes, one could slip us right into Xmas dinner with our cousins and we wouldn't stand out at all. Picture us wearing a John Deer hat....there you go.
In 2003 we spent three and a half weeks out there helping with our Aunt Elsie's hospice. We only brought three days worth of clothes. We ended up buying ourselves some University of Kentucky T-shirts. When we finally got back to New Jersey, it was like the end of a Western where the protagonist crosses the Rio Grande to start a new life, and in the sequel crosses back in Mexican regalia; sombrero, poncho, crossed bandoliers, gold teeth and a bottle of tequila. Yes, by the end of the three and half weeks this speaker of American Standard English was picking up the Kentucky twang.
Anyway Louisville is pronounced Lulvl. Just swallow the whole damn word. We can't quite say it as a native. On TV, Tucker Carlson comes closest. In fact, last night he had a reporter on who said, 'Louis-ville' and then corrected himself, 'Excuse me, Lulvl.' That's it.
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