16 Louisiana Words Most People Always Mispronounce

Most of the names when it comes to streets, places, or waterways in Louisiana are hard to pronounce because they are not in English. If you don't read Native American, French, Creole, or Spanish languages, For the record, nothing sounds the way it's spelled and nothing be spelled the way it sounds.

Words like " Fordoche" are not going to roll off your tongue. I live there and can't pronounce some of the streets or towns, and I'm not alone. Some folks may do better than others, especially if they take French or Spanish. But sad to say, the struggle is for the rest of us.

I guess this is one of the many things that helps to keep Louisiana interesting. Speaking of things being interesting, imagine how problematic it would be if you needed to catch an Uber but you couldn't pronounce the street. Now that would be hilarious if it weren't for the fact, that you are stranded. Here's the good news, Uber and taxi drivers are pretty familiar with their area.

I'm guessing that the people who named all these places centuries ago, never thought one day, others would have such a hard time. But no worries. We put together a list of words that people have the most trouble with and included the pronunciations.

Algiers - al·jeerz
Amite - ay-MEET or ay-MIT
Bogalusa - bow·guh·loo·suh
Leonidas - lee·uh·nai·duhs
Chalmette - shal·met
Fordoche - four·DOASH)
Grosse Tete - grows·tet
Keachi - Scissors
Natchitoches - na·kuh·tuhsh
Leleux - Le-Lue or Luh-Luh
Lake Pontchartrain - layk·paan·chuh·trayn
Ouachita - waa·hee·tuh
Reaux - Ray-Oh
Tchoupitoulas - chaa·puh·too·luhs
Tangipahoa - tan·juh·puh·how·uh
Thibodaux - ti·buh·dow
Zwolle - svow·luh

If you still have problems with the pronunciation, it's no biggie. Truth be told, there are very few people in the world who can. That includes half of the people living in the state of Louisiana! Now you get to laugh at a few poor souls trying to tackle Louisiana's toughest names. Enjoy!