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When I passed through this area, it was all very confusing to me, but the local residents have no problem distinguishing the three towns.  The Dalles OR and Dallesport WA face each other across the mighty Columbia River, whereas Dallas OR is about 150 miles to the southwest.  I met one young man who was born in Dallas OR, migrated up to Dallesport WA, and crosses the bridge every day to work in The Dalles OR because he doesn't have to pay taxes in OR.  He has absolutely no difficulty differentiating the three towns and seemed surprised when I told him it was hard for me to keep their names straight.

After talking with him (and others) for several minutes, i figured out the secret for keeping the names separate, apart from the spellings.

In their minds, the "The" of "The Dalles" is pronounced with a higher tone and a stronger emphasis than the following two syllables, and you simply must include it — you cannot just call the place "Dalles"; "Dallesport" is one word, with the first two syllables having greater emphasis and higher tones than the final syllable.  And they know well that the name of the third place is pronounced like the megacity in Texas, but has nothing to do with it.

"The Dalles", "Dallesport", "Dallas" — got it?

BTW, the "The" of "The Dalles" is as important and integral to the name as it is for "The Ohio State University".

Oh, and I met a woman here who consistently pronounces "author" as "arthur".

Selected readings

• "The the in The Ohio State University" (9/5/06)
• "Reductio ad THE absurdum" (8/15/19)

October 17, 2024 @ 9:36 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Pronunciation, Spelling, Toponymy

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