I have wondered quietly a few times to myself: how is Thames Street pronounced? I usually just say it the British way — “Temz” — without thinking about it, but it’s possible old timers could call it what it looks like: “Thaymz.” Apparently there is similar confusion about Thames Street in Manhattan. Can any natives enlighten us noobs as to the proper way to pronounce it? Or maybe it’s just a Zen thing: whatever you feel like that day.
JW November 7th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Pronounced “Thaymz” in Rhode Island.
Joseph November 7th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I don’t know about the streets but the River in Connecticut is pronounced “thaymz”. You always know someone who is not from the area when they pronouce it the British way.
sr November 7th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I found that most Bushwick locals prefer “Tah mehz”.
John Dereszewski November 7th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
This may not say anything about how to pronounce Thames St., but it will tell you why this street is so named.
Thames St. was named after the once famous Battle of the Thames River, which occured on the Thames River in what is now Ontario Canada during the War of 1812. (I would say this was situated just outside of Toronto, but Toronto did not exist at that time.)
The hero of that battle was General William Henry Harrison, after whom Harrison Place is named. These two streets are even shorter than Harrison’s 30 day term as out 9th President.
I’m sure you were really dying to receive this critical info!
Jeremy November 7th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Cool, how did you find that out, John?
John Dereszewski November 7th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
I got it from Eugene Armbruster’s books about Bushwick, Williamsburg and Greenpoint – Brooklyn’s Eastern District. There are a lot of great nuggets there.
Joe November 8th, 2007 at 10:06 am
As a native, I pronounce it “Temz”…
Jimmy Legs November 8th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
ha, i just bought an amp off a guy who lives there, he pronounced it “thaymz.” perhaps he’s from rhode island?
BenjaminCanFly November 9th, 2007 at 3:41 am
I pronounce it “temz” or “taymz.” My apartment is the one with the black cinder block wall pictured in the photo, just above the semi truck which wakes me up every morning.
stanley November 10th, 2007 at 7:15 am
I think it’s interesting that there’s not any agreement on the pronunciation even among locals.
Not to get to linguistical (or esoteric), but I’ve always been a bit fascinated by the ways in foreign words get Americanized, and the often random-seeming nature of the process.
20 some-odd years ago, I lived on Bartholdi Street in Jersey City (named, of course, after the French sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty). When I first moved there, I assumed it was pronounced “bar-toll-DEE,” as it would be in French, or at least “bar-TOLL-dee.” I was a little surprised to hear that the locals had not only thorougly de-frenchified it, but even added a syllable – the preferred pronunciation was “bar-THALL-a-dee.” It took a little while to get used to.
There are dozens of other examples. While Des Moines, Iowa, for instance, is pronounced like the French (“duh moyne”), the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines has taken on the more American (more Villachaizian?) pronunciation of “dez planes.” And if you ever find yourself in Martinez, Georgia, don’t be surprised if the locals scratch their heads when you use the Spanish pronunciation – they say “mar-tin-NEZ.”
Du Bois, Pennsylvania; Cairo, Illinois; San Rafael, California; Versailles, Ohio… I could go on and on. Thankfully, however, I’ll stop here…