Today’s Raging Debate: Mo-KNEES vs. Mo-NISS

Forget Yanny or Laurel.  We explored the strange world between Moniz and Moniz today on the Michael Rock Show.

When Abby announced our $500 Cash Call winner for this morning, she announced Samantha Moniz from Fall River.  No big deal, except she announced it as "Moan-iss".  I said, "Do you mean Moniz (pronounced 'Mo-Knees')?"

"No," she said, "Samantha is from Fall River...so Moniz is pronounced Moan-ISS"

My mind was blown. Is THAT how this works?  There are last names that are pronounced one way in Fall River and another way in New Bedford? One name....two pronunciations?  It turns out, that's exactly what's happening here.

One caller said that she knew a brother and sister...one lives in Fall River...one in New Bedford...and they pronounce their last own name - Moniz - differently!

But Moniz is not the only culprit.

Listeners brought up the name Correia.  Pronounced like "Korea" in New Bedford, while the mayor of Fall River's last name is pronounced "Core-Ray-Yuh".  Then, there's Dias (DEE-az or Die-ISS. And Almeida (Al-MAY-Duh or Al-ME-duh).

Forget whether Sousa is spelled with a "z" or an "s".  Gazelle says he knows someone with the last name Sousa who pronounces it like "Sow-za" instead of the more traditional "Soo-zuh". Another divisive last name is Sowersby. Some people say Sowersby (Sours-Bee) while others say Sowersby (Sars-Bee). Tavares (Ta-Vars) and Tavares (Ta-Var-Riss) and Fonseca (Fon-See-CUH) and Fonseca (Fon-Sicka).

What names did we miss?  Comment on our Facebook page.

Additional Reporting by Michael DeSouza