You're saying these Long Island towns wrong — even the ones you think you know: ‘Butchered'
This will have you spit out your 'cawffee.'
It's a dead giveaway that someone isn't from Long Island if they bungle how to pronounce local communities – but it turns out even 516 and 631 lifers are doing it wrong.
Teams like the New York Islanders and Long Island Ducks even post videos of out-of-town players brutally mincing Wantagh, Patchogue and other Native-American names.
Advertisement
6 The New York Islanders and Long Island Ducks post videos of out-of-town players brutally mincing Wantagh, Patchogue and other Native-American names.
Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
But you may not have to venture far to find folks messing up Massapequa and Ronkonkoma, which have been anglicized over the past few centuries. Their real pronunciations sound unrecognizable to the modern ear, according to former longtime Unkechaug Nation Chief Harry Wallace, an expert in Algonquian.
'Our language wasn't written in the sense of being translated into English or French — the sound is what they're trying to copy,' Wallace, based on on the island, told The Post.
Advertisement
He compared how Algonquian is the root base of many different Native American languages, some of which were spoken on Long Island, much like the Romance languages, such as French, Spanish, and Italian, all of which stem from Latin.
However, during colonial times, much was lost in translation because the European settlers 'didn't know how to spell,' especially with hard consonants like the letter 'H,' which are vital to the Algonquian language, he added.
From there, readers would only see, but not hear, the real pronunciation. Ultimately, it turned into a telephone game that has been ongoing for a few hundred years.
Advertisement
Wallace recognizes that there's no one official way to sound out some towns, such as Wantagh, which islanders say as 'wan-tah.'
And the local way of saying Patchogue as 'patch-hog' is pretty close to its origin, he said.
These, however, are some Native American-named local towns that even the most bona fide residents are getting wrong, according to Wallace.
Copiague
6 Algonquian is the root base of many different Native American languages, some of which were spoken on Long Island.
Copiague Chamber of Commerce / Facebook
Advertisement
Townsfolk and the recorded voice on the Long Island Railroad alike sound out this Suffolk community as 'co-peg,' but really it should be pronounced closer to 'co-pi-ah-e' with a short 'I' and long 'E,' he explained.
'[Europeans] would elongate the A when they read it…and that's all they would hear after,' Wallace added of what translates loosely to grove or forest.
Massapequa
6 As with other Algonquin hard consonants, the real sound is 'Mass-a-peek' without the open vowels at the end.
Massapequa Park / Facebook
The town that has caught the eye of President Trump over as it fights to keep its Chiefs team logo in the face of a state ban on Native American mascots isn't straightforwardly pronounced 'Mass-a-pequa,' said Wallace, who opposes the school using the name.
As with other Algonquin hard consonants, the real sound is 'Mass-a-peek' without the open vowels at the end, he added, explaining that it means place of great water.
Cutchogue
6 While it's spoken today as 'cutch-hog,' Wallace said the real way is 'cutch-e-hoki,' spelled as 'kecheahki.'
Alamy Stock Photo
Unlike Patchogue, residents aren't remotely close to getting the pronunciation of the quiet North Fork escape spot on.
While it's spoken today as 'cutch-hog,' Wallace said the real way is 'cutch-e-hoki,' spelled as 'kecheahki.'
Advertisement
In the same vein as Massapequa, it translates to mean great place.
Setauket
6 Wallace says it as 'Se-tau-ah-ki' and added its definition is place of streams, something the north shore enclave by the Long Island Sound is known for.
Alamy Stock Photo
Similar to Cutchogue, Setauket, spoken like Secaucus in New Jersey, is a world apart from its perceived pronunciation.
Wallace says it as 'Se-tau-ah-ki' and added its definition is place of streams, something the north shore enclave by the Long Island Sound is known for.
Ronkonkoma
Advertisement
6 Its prototypical 'Ron-cahnk-ama' pronunciation — which Neil Patrick Harris projected on the LIRR 2 a.m. drunk train in a sitcom — should be 'Ronkon-koman.'
James Messerschmidt
That's right, Long Island's showstopper that's been a punchline on 'How I Met Your Mother' and an Artie Lange monologue on an insufferable Yankees fan 'has been butchered,' Wallace said.
Its prototypical 'Ron-cahnk-ama' pronunciation — which Neil Patrick Harris projected on the LIRR 2 a.m. drunk train in the sitcom — should be 'Ronkon-koman,' he explained.
Advertisement
The town name derives from its kettle lake, formed by the glacier that carved North America, which was sacred to its native population.
One translation for Ronkonkoma is 'deep cavern place' in reference to the lake, which is tied to urban legends of hauntings and drownings attributed to a Native American-related curse — a story Wallace has explicitly called bunk on.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Python Huntress' takes on invasive snakes in the Everglades
By Maria Alejandra Cardona OCHOPEE, Florida (Reuters) -Amy Siewe was a successful real estate agent -- but her life changed after she captured her first python in Florida's Everglades. "I just had this fascination with snakes. So when I learned that there was a python problem here in Florida ... I went on a hunt, I caught a nine-foot (2.75-meter) python, and that was it. I was hooked!" she said. Within two months she had sold her business in Indiana and moved to Florida to become a python hunter. Now, with more than 600 dead pythons under her belt, she is known as the "Python Huntress" -- one of a handful of women amongst hundreds of men hunting the invasive Burmese python in Florida's Everglades wetland ecosystem. "This python is about 10 feet (3 meters) long," she says as she wrestles a snake she has just captured in the tall grass in the middle of the night. "It's probably about three years old, and to date it's eaten about 200 of our native animals, including mammals and birds." Burmese pythons have been spreading through the Everglades National Park since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 destroyed a breeding facility for the pet trade, freeing some 900 snakes. Originally native to Southeast Asia, the python can grow up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) long and has a voracious appetite, consuming the local wildlife, including mammals, birds and even alligators. The Everglades is a unique subtropical ecosystem, with the largest continuous mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. It is home to a vast array of unique species, including the endangered Florida panther, the American alligator and the American crocodile. But it provides no natural predators to the Burmese python, allowing the population of the invasive species to balloon. Scientists have noted dramatic declines in raccoons, opossums, bobcats, and rabbits in the region. "There's an estimated 500,000 pythons out there," Siewe said. The pythons, which are hunted by night, cannot legally be transported alive, so they are killed on site after being captured and measured. Once home, Siewe skins the dead snakes, and then has the skins professionally tanned into leather to be made into purses, wallets, watch bands and other goods. It takes an average of 12 hours to catch one. "So it's not that effective, right," she admits. "We're always going to have pythons in Florida. What we're trying to do is figure out how to decrease their numbers. Hunting right now is the most effective tool that we have."
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Photos Reveal US Air Force Spying Capabilities
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Recently released photos show a fleet of specialized United States military aircraft staged on a flight line, highlighting their capabilities for a wide range of intelligence-gathering missions. The 55th Wing of the U.S. Air Force, an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance unit headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, told Newsweek in a statement that its aircraft and personnel conduct missions that defend the U.S. and safeguard global security. Why It Matters The U.S. Air Force often deploys its reconnaissance aircraft overseas to gather intelligence on America's adversaries. Forward deployment locations include Kadena Air Base in Japan, Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom, and Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. American spy flights off the coasts of Russia and China have been intercepted by Russian and Chinese fighter jets. Moscow has stated it will not allow its borders to be violated, while Beijing has accused Washington of conducting "close-in reconnaissance" near its territory. Several U.S. Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint aircraft park on the flight line at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on June 1, 2025. Several U.S. Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint aircraft park on the flight line at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on June 1, 2025. Chad Watkins/U.S Air Force What To Know A set of seven photos released by the 55th Wing over the weekend shows several U.S. Air Force aircraft parked on the flightline at Offutt Air Force Base at night on June 1. These aircraft included the RC-135U Combat Sent, the RC-135V/W Rivet Joint, and the WC-135 Constant Phoenix. They are developed from the C-135 Stratolifter transport aircraft. The Combat Sent can locate and identify foreign military radar signals, while the Rivet Joint detects, identifies, and geolocates electromagnetic signals. The Constant Phoenix conducts air-sampling missions, collecting particulates in the air for detecting nuclear explosions. A U.S. Air Force RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft, right, parks on the flight line at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on June 1, 2025. A U.S. Air Force RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft, right, parks on the flight line at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on June 1, 2025. Chad Watkins/U.S. Air Force In the statement, the 55th Wing stated that the unit has global reach and enduring strategic impact by maintaining forward-deployed units around the globe, ensuring what it described as "rapid and persistent global ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] coverage." In addition to the aforementioned specialized aircraft, the Nebraska-based unit operates the so-called "rapidly deployable" RC-135S Cobra Ball, which is designed for collecting data on ballistic missiles, a vital information that cannot be obtained by "any other source." What People Are Saying The 55th Wing of the U.S. Air Force, in a statement to Newsweek: "While we do not disclose operational status or comment on specific interactions with foreign military aircraft for operational security, the 55th Wing remains steadfast in executing its mission with precision, professionalism, and strict adherence to international standards." Offutt Air Force Base, on its website: "[The 55th Wing's] mission is to provide dominant information warfare forces through electromagnetic spectrum operations, information operations, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and nuclear command, control and communications to the Joint Forces and national leadership, any time, any place." Two U.S. Air Force WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft, left and center, and an RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft park on the flight line at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on June 1, 2025. Two U.S. Air Force WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft, left and center, and an RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft park on the flight line at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on June 1, 2025. Chad Watkins/U.S. Air Force What Happens Next It remains to be seen how the U.S. military maintains its worldwide airborne spying missions amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula, across the Taiwan Strait, and in the Middle East.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Are dads doing enough? What the data tells us about the state of modern fatherhood.
As Father's Day approaches, American dads insist they're doing a lot more parenting than the men who raised them, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. Some dads even claim they're doing more than the women they're parenting with. Yet the survey of 1,560 U.S. adults also taps into the complexities and contradictions of contemporary fatherhood, revealing that even the most egalitarian dads might see themselves in ways that don't quite match up with how others see them. Their partners included. I know a little something about this. One of my duties as national correspondent for Yahoo News is to collaborate on our monthly polls with YouGov, a leading public-opinion firm. I write the questions, then analyze and report on the results. At the same time, my wife and I are trying our best to help our two kids — a 9-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy — grow up to be good people. Like many other millennial parents — I just turned 43 — we aspire to contribute equally to that effort. And so I figured Father's Day would be as good a time as any to ask my fellow dads some of the questions I'm always asking myself. How much are we really doing these days? And is it enough? Gender roles are a perennial topic in the parenting world, and the general consensus is that even though more opposite-sex couples than ever believe in 50/50 parenting — and even though dads have become more involved over the years — moms still do most of the domestic labor. According to a 2023 study by the Pew Research Center, for example, wives in so-called egalitarian marriages — that is, couples where each partner earns about the same amount of money — still spend more than twice as much time on housework than their husbands, and almost two hours more per week on caregiving, including tending to children. 'Egalitarian' husbands, meanwhile, spend three-and-a-half more hours per week on 'leisure activities' than their wives. Yet there may be more to the data than meets the eye, at least based on the results of the new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. For one thing, nearly two-thirds of American dads (63%) now say they spend more time with their kids than their fathers spent with them — and a full 37% describe that generational difference as 'significant.' Dads feel like they're putting in the hours and making progress. What's more surprising, however, is that a third of fathers (34%) also say they carry more than half of their family's "mental load," while another four in 10 (39%) say they shoulder about half. Combined, that's roughly three-quarters of dads who believe the balance is either 50/50 or skewed in their direction. In contrast, just 28% of dads admit to bearing less than half (14%) or none (4%) of their family's mental load. It's fair to say those numbers contradict what researchers have found — and what most moms would tell us if we asked them the same questions about the fathers in their lives. When I shared the poll with my wife and asked how she would answer for me, we agreed on everything — except mental load. And when I told her how many dads seem to believe they shoulder at least half the mental load, she scoffed. My sense is that this disparity reveals a lot about the state of dads today. For the record, I don't really think I take on more of the mental load than my wife — not as the term is typically defined. But I also think the tasks we typically define as 'mental load' fail to fully capture what dads tend to contribute. Here's how the poll put it: 'Mental load refers to the cognitive and emotional effort involved in managing and coordinating household tasks, responsibilities and relationships. As a father, how much of your family's mental load do you believe you carry?' Again, nearly three out of four dads say they do half or more of this invisible labor — these hidden forms of care. Yet when asked which specific parenting responsibilities they 'regularly take on,' relatively few fathers with children aged 18 or younger pick things like 'make the kids' doctor appointments' (36%), 'sign up the kids for camps/school activities/lessons' (26%), 'schedule playdates with the kids' friends' (18%), 'volunteer for school activities' (15%) or 'book babysitters/child care' (10%) — i.e., the classic mental load stuff. Instead, these dads are much more inclined to say they "play with the kids" (72%), "help with homework" (54%), "take the kids on outings" (52%), 'put the kids to bed' (44%) and 'make dinner' (42%). So it's not like dads are deluded. When asked point-blank about their role — Who are your kids closer to? Who spends more time parenting? Who would your kids' school call first? — a majority of fathers answer either 'me' or 'it's about equal.' But an even larger majority answer either 'it's about equal' or 'their mother.' In other words, dads understand that the parenting scales still aren't perfectly balanced. Why, then, do so many dads seem to think that we're carrying more of the mental load than we get credit for? My guess is that we consider that category to be a little more capacious than our partners do. For the initial draft of the Yahoo News/YouGov Father Day's poll, my editors — both moms — floated a fairly narrow set of options for the 'parenting responsibilities' question: booking babysitters, volunteering at school, making doctor appointments and so on. I responded with some additional choices that 'might capture more of what most dads do': playing with the kids, going on outings, cleaning up after dinner, etc. I also told my editors that 'in general, I think mental load conversations miss things like this (even if they are more about household management than parenting, per se): take care of the house, take care of the yard, take care of the car, take care of the garbage, take care of the finances. We didn't end up asking dads about those duties. But looking back, I can't help but wonder if they would have polled even higher than, say, playing with the kids — and if they were the kinds of responsibilities our dad respondents had in mind when assessing their own share of the mental load. For me, I think the answer is yes. In 2010, I wrote an essay for Newsweek explaining why marriage mattered so much to me; it was a direct rebuttal to a piece by two of my female colleagues about why the institution is 'quite simply, no longer necessary." I agreed with my coworkers that all of marriage's 'antiquated ancillary benefits — its grubby socioeconomic justifications' — no longer really applied. But that, I argued, was 'the point.' 'Dustin and I are not 'getting anything' out of this deal,' I explained. 'Or at least we're not getting what previous generations of men and women were conditioned to expect. I'm not getting a cooking, cleaning, child-rearing machine. She's not getting a bringer-home of the bacon. I clean. Both of us cook. Sometimes, Dustin earns more money than I do. Sometimes she doesn't. We both go to work every day. We both have careers. And when we have children, we'll both take turns staying home to raise them. 'In other words,' I continued, 'our roles within the relationship are not defined by gender. They're defined by who we are as people. … In a world where the practical reasons for marriage no longer apply, the only reason left is love.' Fifteen years and two kids later, nearly every word of that essay still rings true to me. I do all of the laundry — and almost all of the cleaning. She packs lunches; I make dinner. She works longer hours. I drop off the kids at school in the morning, then pick them up in the afternoon. I coach their soccer teams. She plays with them more. We both read books at bedtime. But if I'm being honest with myself, our 'roles within the relationship' are still somewhat 'defined by gender.' As my wife was quick to point out when I shared the mental load results with her, she's the one who makes the doctor appointments, schedules the playdates, books the babysitters and signs up for summer camps. 'OK,' I said. 'But what about all the 'invisible labor' I do?' I mentioned the finances, the house, the yard, the car, the garbage. 'That doesn't have anything to do with parenting,' she responded. 'It's household management,' I responded. 'Someone has to do it.' 'But someone would have to do it even if we didn't have kids,' she said. I think we both have a point here. I feel like I'm doing about half of the hands-on parenting, plus a bunch of hidden work that keeps our lives running smoothly. She feels like she's doing about half of the hands-on parenting, plus a bunch of hidden work that keeps our kids' lives running smoothly. We've gravitated toward these roles — mine indirectly related to parenting, hers directly — because of gender. Or, more specifically, because of gender expectations. The truth is, I don't feel judged for not volunteering at school, or not packing a particularly healthy lunch, or not hosting a playdate. My wife does. She even judges herself. As a dad, I tend to feel OK about how much I do. As a mom, she tends to feel guilty for not doing more. We've inherited and internalized different standards of what it means to be a parent — and hers are higher. That's hard to shake. Egalitarian dads might think they're shouldering half of the mental load, or more. But as hard as we're lifting, most of us still don't know what that feels like. __________________ The Yahoo News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,560 U.S. adults interviewed online from May 22-27, 2025. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 election turnout and presidential vote, party identification and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Party identification is weighted to the estimated distribution at the time of the election (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). Respondents were selected from YouGov's opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. adults. The margin of error is approximately 2.9%.
