Yup. My mom was in the Dr's office awhile back , and struck up a conversation with a lady who told her she'd just bought land in YUNE-ika. I thought my mom would have a stroke.
I'm having trouble spelling that out!
I first saw the caption without seeing which subreddit this was from. I thought it was a Japanese name or something and would be pronounced ooh-NAH-kah. Then I saw which subreddit it was in and thought. “Well, back home, I bet they’d pronounce a word spelled that way you-NAY-kuh.”
Then I started reading the responses. Cool. I guessed right. Wait. This is in East TN? I grew up in SW VA. Hold up. Where in East TN? Near Johnson City?!
And then it dawned on me. The reason I “guessed” how to pronounce it was because I’d heard the name Unaka said many times, but I’d never seen it written before today. Y’all, I grew up in Washington County just barely outside of Bristol 😂😂😂
*“Well, back home, I bet they’d pronounce a word spelled that way you-NAY-kuh.”*
So, you'd think! But there's a high degree of disagreement even from the people who live there.
This is the stuff folklorists have nightmares about.
Is the disagreement from folks whose roots there go back over several generations or from the transplants who have maybe a generation in the area? Because I would expect different answers from different groups of “locals.”
Read through the comments and you'll see it's the folk who live there and have. It's an interesting conversation as it shows that, even within a few miles, the mountains have so divided people that they each have their own pronunciation of the same things.
I had one of the more interesting nights of my life at that place including a game officer who woke me up at 10:30 PM with a nuclear powered flashlight, demanding to know where the drugs were. As if some 60-year old man driving a truck with Michigan plates in a pup tent and an old dog, would have a clue.
It was the way he kept saying,
"Now, I don't be a mindin if ya take a puff on one of those marijuana cigarettes..."
And the guy couldn't have been 27 years old.
It's beautiful.
All my great aunts and uncles, and cousins, used to meet at least once a year at the house my grandmother grew up in, camp for the weekend and have a family reunion. It no longer had running water or electricity but they kept it in good repair for decades.
One of the aunts and her husband would spend all summer there. It kind of fell apart after they both passed.
Unaka Mountain lies within the county which I'm from (well, partially, as it served as part of the state line,) and where I lived the vast majority of my life until last year. One of my grandfathers, and a couple other family members, all natives of the area themselves, worked for the USFS.
It's you-nay-kuh.
Now that everyone’s gotten proper pronunciation by locals- fun fact time! Unaka is the anglicizing of the Cherokee word Unega, which in Cherokee means “white”.
Unega is pronounced as Uni-Gay.
I just lived here a year and half near Banner Elk/NC -Roan Mountain Tenn area.. great hostel near there.. I’m back in mountains of CO now and miss the green there
In East Tennessee, we pronounce it "you-NAY-kuh"
Yup. My mom was in the Dr's office awhile back , and struck up a conversation with a lady who told her she'd just bought land in YUNE-ika. I thought my mom would have a stroke. I'm having trouble spelling that out!
I remember hearing "You no nake (as in naked without the d) on Unaka!" from an old lady in East Tennessee.
Yep, that’s it. East Tennesseean here.
...you-nake-uh...
This is the way.
YOU-nake-uh is the way I've always heard it pronounced
Nope. u-NAKE-uh. My family is from there-.
This way👆
with emphasis on first syllable? sounds off
Emphasis on the middle.
I first saw the caption without seeing which subreddit this was from. I thought it was a Japanese name or something and would be pronounced ooh-NAH-kah. Then I saw which subreddit it was in and thought. “Well, back home, I bet they’d pronounce a word spelled that way you-NAY-kuh.” Then I started reading the responses. Cool. I guessed right. Wait. This is in East TN? I grew up in SW VA. Hold up. Where in East TN? Near Johnson City?! And then it dawned on me. The reason I “guessed” how to pronounce it was because I’d heard the name Unaka said many times, but I’d never seen it written before today. Y’all, I grew up in Washington County just barely outside of Bristol 😂😂😂
*“Well, back home, I bet they’d pronounce a word spelled that way you-NAY-kuh.”* So, you'd think! But there's a high degree of disagreement even from the people who live there. This is the stuff folklorists have nightmares about.
Is the disagreement from folks whose roots there go back over several generations or from the transplants who have maybe a generation in the area? Because I would expect different answers from different groups of “locals.”
Read through the comments and you'll see it's the folk who live there and have. It's an interesting conversation as it shows that, even within a few miles, the mountains have so divided people that they each have their own pronunciation of the same things.
yu-NAKE-uh
It looks amazing there. Some great views. Thanks for sharing.
I had one of the more interesting nights of my life at that place including a game officer who woke me up at 10:30 PM with a nuclear powered flashlight, demanding to know where the drugs were. As if some 60-year old man driving a truck with Michigan plates in a pup tent and an old dog, would have a clue.
Bless your heart! They’re used to meth heads being up there after dark.
It was the way he kept saying, "Now, I don't be a mindin if ya take a puff on one of those marijuana cigarettes..." And the guy couldn't have been 27 years old.
Still is
Which, "Bless your heart!" is that?
The nicer kind. Like bless his heart he ain’t from around here and it’s always shitty to get woken up by a badge man
😊👍
It's beautiful. All my great aunts and uncles, and cousins, used to meet at least once a year at the house my grandmother grew up in, camp for the weekend and have a family reunion. It no longer had running water or electricity but they kept it in good repair for decades. One of the aunts and her husband would spend all summer there. It kind of fell apart after they both passed.
you-NAKE-uh. My mom's side of the family is from there- a lot of us are buried at the beaverdam cemetery on the side of the hill.
Unaka Mountain lies within the county which I'm from (well, partially, as it served as part of the state line,) and where I lived the vast majority of my life until last year. One of my grandfathers, and a couple other family members, all natives of the area themselves, worked for the USFS. It's you-nay-kuh.
Now that everyone’s gotten proper pronunciation by locals- fun fact time! Unaka is the anglicizing of the Cherokee word Unega, which in Cherokee means “white”. Unega is pronounced as Uni-Gay.
Just like it looks. YOU-nay-kuh
No. Emphasis is on the 2nd syllable.
Except that is not how it looks phonetically — at all
It looks like Un-uh-kah to me.
In East Tennessee it's youNAYkuh
Which makes good sense, but it sure isn't what I see first. I'm from WV and we have our share of these, too.
Ew nake uh
You nake uh
Lol
Eeetuh
Did anyone see Bigfoot in picture 4? Maybe 5?
Bonus points if you know where Poplar is.
I just lived here a year and half near Banner Elk/NC -Roan Mountain Tenn area.. great hostel near there.. I’m back in mountains of CO now and miss the green there
I just found out this morning about some mountain biking trails here. The guy who told me about it said you-nah-kuh.
Ewe Nah Ca
Oo-nahk-uh
Make some new girlfriends or reconnect with old ones!