Results: Most Difficult-to-Pronounce Town in Every State (Part Eight)

Oklahoma: Pawhuska - What makes Pawhuska, Oklahoma, so hard to pronounce is that it kind of feels like something is missing between the W and the H. Once you get past that urge to stick another sound in there, you're left with Paw-HUS-Kuh, which is more a challenge to the mouth and the tongue than to phonetics. Have you ever visited this town?

Oregon: Yachats - Yachats, Oregon, is a small coastal city in Lincoln County. The name derives from the Siletz language and means "dark water at the foot of the mountain." In 2007, Budget Travel magazine named Yachats one of the "Ten Coolest Small Towns of the U.S.A." Now, about that pronunciation. Forget that there's a C in there at all and just say "YA-hahts." Have you ever visited this town?

Pennsylvania: Shickshinny - Shickshinny, Pennsylvania is a small municipality located in Luzerne County. It's named after the Shickshinny Creek, which runs through it. And according to the Shickshinny Historical Society, Shickshinny means "five mountains." While Shickshinny may not be the hardest Pennsylvania place-name to pronounce (for that, think: Lititz, Ephrata, Quakake, and Versailles, among others), Shickshinny sure does make for a fun tongue twister. Have you ever visited this town?

Rhode Island: Quonochontaug - Speaking of tongue twisters, try saying "Quonochontaug" five times fast. The question is: Do you know how to say it even once? Hint: It's pronounced KWAHN-ah-kahn-tawg. Quonochontaug is a village that's part of Charlestown, Rhode Island, which is located in Washington County. Looking on the bright side, at least Charleston and Washington County aren't hard to pronounce. Have you ever visited this town?

South Carolina: Chechessee River - So many places in South Carolina are frequently mispronounced, that the South Carolina Information Highway (SCIWAY, which is pronounced "sky-way") has developed a comprehensive guide to pronouncing South Carolinian places. Scanning the hundreds of entries, while many were provided by South Carolinians, many were also requested by South Carolinians. In other words, even people who live in South Carolina don't necessarily know how to pronounce some of these more hard-to-pronounce places. The Chechesee River is pronounced Chu-CHESSEE, with the last two syllables "sort of run together" such that really all the syllables end up "soft-sounding and fluid, just like the river that bears its name!" Have you ever visited this town?