What’s in a name?
It depends on how you pronounce it. Arizona has a lot of names derived from other cultures. Thus, the way people say the names of places like Casa Grande or Ajo or Tempe or Mogollon or even Mesa can vary, especially between people who grew up in Arizona and people who moved here.
Sometimes it can be funny, with no harm intended. Sometimes it can be more serious — more serious than you might think. Pronunciations touch on more than just the way you say the name of a city or a town.
This week on Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, I spoke with Bob Boze Bell, a lifelong Arizona resident who knows all about the state and its culture — including the various ways people pronounce, and mispronounce, names of places.
I also spoke with Vanessa Ruiz. She’s a former anchor at 12 News in Phoenix. She grew up in a bilingual household, and when she started work in the Valley in 2015, she pronounced names like Mesa and Casa Grande with a Spanish-language pronunciation. She thought little of it — until viewers reacted and she became national news.
Vanessa Ruiz, former Channel 12 anchor.
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This episode was produced by Amanda Luberto and Abby Bessinger. You can reach Amanda at aluberto@gannett.com or follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @amandaluberto. You can reach Abby at abby.bessinger@gannett.com.
Catch up on previous Valley 101 episodes here:
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What’s in a name? How to say Casa Grande in AZ
