Nerk

I'm not actually sure if that's how to spell it, but that's about how it sounds. I'm in Newark, Ohio. But it sounds like the locals say Nerk, Ohiya.

This isn't my first experience with pronunciation not matching spelling. Rutherford, North Carolina, near where a lot of my southern family live, often comes out as, roughly, Rofton or Rullaferd. George Kell, the former Detroit sportscaster who hailed from Arkansas, used to end Missouri with an A: Missoura.

I don't mean this as a criticism. We all have accents and that's just how things are. I remember about 30 years ago talking to a local in Toronto, Ontario, Canada who after a few minutes of conversation asked, "So you're from Detroit?" even though I hadn't told him. "How can you tell?" I asked in turn.

 " By your accent. "

I actually replied, with no ill intent and as though it were a perfectly reasonable answer, "I don't have an accent."

 Of course I do. We all do. We just don't often think of it that way.