CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — Leave it to social media to get all of us fired up in the WKYC newsroom!
There was a post on one of our show Facebook pages over the weekend discussing the pronunciation of Cuyahoga County. That, of course, led to debate in our news meetings and among staff members on Monday. How do you really pronounce Cuyahoga?
Is it "Cuya-hoe-ga"? Or "Cuya-hogg-a"?
Keep in mind, this is the same newsroom that had an ongoing debate for hours over the proper pronunciation of the city of Huron, Ohio. Most of us probably call it "Hur-Ron," however if you come from that Sandusky Bay area, you probably refer to it as "Hur-Rin." I've also encountered similar back-and-forth from the Wayne County village of Dalton. If you're not from that area, you probably would call it "Dall-ton," but locals call the village "Dahl (rhymes with Cal) -ton."
So back to Cuyahoga County (and the Cuyahoga River, Cuyahoga Community College, etc.) for a second. I decided to take a trip around our newsroom and ask some of our anchors for their opinion on how to pronounce "Cuyahoga." Jay Crawford, Mike Polk Jr., Stephanie Haney, Sara Shookman and Russ Mitchell all took part. You can see what they had to say in the player above.
Jay also reminded me that in case we aren't sure, it's a good idea to check with Randy Newman, who sang "Burn On," which can be heard in the opening of the 1989 movie Major League.