Indiana Town Among 'Most Difficult to Pronounce' in the Nation

One Indiana town was recently named one of the most difficult to pronounce in the United States. Do you think you know what it is?

I'm sure that you have taken a little road trip in the past and have driven through some towns that greet you with their "Welcome to (insert town name here)" sign. The majority of these towns have pretty normal names. However, there are always some that you will see that will make you laugh out loud.

There have been a few towns that I have been to that always make me wonder "Who thought this was a good town name?" Sure, it might be catchy, but the jokes that can be made about the town name are endless. The first one that comes to my mind is French Lick, Indiana. While it's a beautiful little town, the name itself just sounds...well, dirty. All throughout the Hoosier State, there are towns with funny names like that. Some of these names are based on Native American culture. However, that doesn't make them any easier to pronounce! As it turns out, one of those towns was recently named among the most difficult to pronounce in the entire country.

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Indiana Town Among 'Most Difficult to Pronounce' in the Nation

Reader's Digest recently found the most difficult city name to pronounce in every state. Many of these are quite the doozie. I don't even know where to begin with pronouncing them. Apparently, there's one in Indiana that gets butchered more than any other city in the state. Luckily, I have been there several times, and if you're from the area, you probably know how to pronounce it just like I do.

That town happens to be Loogootee, located in Martin County. Now, I have family that live in that area, so I've always been familiar with that town's name. However, if you have never heard of it before, you might be scratching your head on how to pronounce it. According to Reader's Digest:

When you see the name of this Indiana town in writing, you might think it’s easy to pronounce if only you could figure out which syllable takes the accent. But you would be wrong. In fact, “Loogootee” is pronounced Luh-GO-tee, which has been described as sounding like something you cough up when you have a cold.

Again, if you are from that area, you know exactly how to pronounce Loogootee. However, if you aren't from southern Indiana, you most likely have trouble with it. As you know, Loogootee isn't the only hard-to-pronounce town name in the state. Here are some other cities in Indiana that are hard to pronounce:

KEEP READING: 40 Real Indiana Towns with Quirky, Weird, and Funny Names

Outside the major cities, the Hoosier state is full of tiny little towns you've probably passed through on your way to one of those cities. Most of them are likely 100 to 150 years old, or older, and have been around far longer than the large metropolitan areas such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Evansville. Typically, they were started by early settlers who found their way to the state and decided to make it home. Eventually, others would join them, and a community was formed. Over time, as the surrounding areas grew, most of them were folded into those areas and governed by the nearest city or county's governing body officially making them "unincorporated," meaning they did not have their own formally organized municipal government.

A scroll through Wikipedia's long list of unincorporated communities in Indiana shows several of them have names that by today's standards would be considered weird, quirky, or just downright right funny. These are my 40 favorities.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

16 Indiana Towns with Dirty-Sounding Names

A majority of these towns were given their names in the mid-to-late 1800s as settlers making their way across the country found unclaimed plots of land and decided to make them their own. While I imagine they thought the names they came up with were innocent, and perhaps a tribute to something in their lives, pop culture has warped our minds to the point since then that we can't help but think of something about the town that was never intended by its founders. Take a look at this list. I guarantee there's at least one name that will make you chuckle.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

33 Indiana Towns with International Names

From Holland to China, Cuba to Switzerland, and everywhere in between, several towns across the Hoosier State borrow their names from countries and cities around the globe.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan