Place Names Guide … for C-F-As

Today, class, we will be providing some help for those who will be visiting Nova Scotia during the Christmas / New Year's holidays.

Place names in this province can present a real minefield for those who are not familiar with local pronunciation.
To save folks from being labeled as C-F-As (“Come From Away's”), we present this handy guide, which, at best, is a good start.
(Nova Scotia Tartan)
When my wife was visiting certain areas of Cumberland County a few years ago, she discovered a number of towns and villages whose names were tricky. On a map, you see three such towns close together: Maccan, Nappan and River Hebert. The casual observer might say: “mac-CAN,” / “na-PAN,” and / “River HEE-bert” or even (the Acadian) “Ri-ver-A-bear.”
But here, you have to be careful, because the local pronunciations are: MAC-CAN, -- which has an agricultural research station, and a weather station -- / NA-PAN (both village names have both syllables stressed), and / River HIBB-bert.
Feel better?
In the Annapolis Valley, local town names are said rapidly: Wolfville -- home of Acadia University -- becomes: WOLL-ville, and Berwick is: BER-ick.
Other parts of the province, who sport names of Gaelic or Native origin, carried their own challenges: Antigonish (often mispronounced by Upper Candians as: “An-TIG-on-nish”) -- home of St. F. X. University -- is: An-ti-go-NISH.”
In New Glasgow, you drop the 'g' and replace it with a 'c' to give you: New GLASS-co. (They probably have the identical problem in New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island, which itself , curiously, is called: The Island by everybody here, including folks from Cape Breton.)
Speaking of Cape Breton, people also engaged in similar shorthand, dropping parts of compound names: New Waterford is called: Waterford, while Port Hawkesbury is called: Hawkesbury. However, when referring to Lochaber, near Garden of Eden (we DO have beautiful place names!) on Highway #7 in Antigonish County, you have to insert a letter: Lockk-AR-ber. Check out this beautiful area on their website.
Just to drive you crazy, there are TWO “Lawrencetowns,” one in the Annapolis Valley, and the other on the Eastern Shore. And, as a public service, we present: Musquodoboit, in which the third 'o' is silent: Mus-co-DOB-it.
For "Newfoundland," of course (often mispronounced: “New-FOUND-land" by C-F-As) we ask: “What don't they underSTAND?”) it's: New-fund-LAND. Now, it's a moot point, anyway: the province is officially called: “Newfoundland and Labrador"!
Back in Nova Scotia, you may also encounter difficulty with Acadian place names: Church Point is referred to -- in French -- as: Pointe-de-lay-GLEEZE,” and Petit-de-Grat, as: (ugh!) Petty the GREAT.” Depending on whom you are speaking with, Dear Reader, do try for the Acadian name, for you will earn extra points.
Hope this guide has been helpful. I welcome your examples, found during your extensive travel.
We leave you with perhaps the toughest challenge for the unwary C-F-A, found just down the coast, in the village of L'Ardoise, where you can take the (ugh!) easy way out: "LORD-ways", or try the Acadian name: Lard-WAZ.