"You're not from 'round here, huh?" That's exactly what you'll hear if you're living in Yakima but not from Yakima and try to pronounce these 8 words. WARNING: One of these words is heavily mispronounced by people who are actually FROM the Yakima Valley!

Washington
I cringe whenever I hear people who are from Yakima say "Warshington". There is no letter R in Washington, there never has been, so why should there ever be? The planet may never know. I wonder if people who say Warshington also say things like, "I'm going to warsh the car" or "I need to warsh my hair." All signs point to YES, yes they probably do!
Wenas
It sure does look like you'd call it "WEE-Nuss" but nope, it's pronounced "WEEN-ASS". Children and some adults giggle right after they say it, too.
Naches
I could have sworn on a stack of AAA Trip Tiks that it's pronounced "NAA-CHEESE". I mean, that's the way most people not from the Yakima Valley call it. My Google Maps voice lady says it like that town in Mississippi, "NAT-CHEZ". Even she gets it wrong (although the Google Maps voices are notorious for mispronouncing stuff".
Buena
"B'wayna" is the way people not from the Valley want to say it. It's pronounced "BEW-ayna" though. Okay, are we going to act like it doesn't look like the Spanish language word for well, fine, and good? Is it just me?
Selah
The Google Maps voice lady says it, "S'LAH" and that's how I used to think it was pronounced, too, until a dear friend told me it's pronounced, "SEE-luh". All those days at church growing up and we were calling it "S'lah", too! Maybe that was just a Tennessee thang?
Tieton
Don't get me started on how the Google Maps voice man says it. He pronounces it as "Titan". I think once I heard him say "Ty-EE-tin". My daughter and I always giggle listening to them say it. Folks from out of town don't even bother trying to say it, they just throw up their hands and look around for someone to say it first.
Ahtanum
Another word you will laugh out loud when you hear your GPS voice attempt to say. "Take a left at "Ah-tenn-im"." Naw, how 'bout y'all take a left at a local who can tell you exactly how to say it correctly. "Uh-TAN-num" is more like it, pal!
Yakima
When I first heard I was getting a job offer to move from Nashville to Yakima, the first words out of my mouth were, "YAKKA WHAT?!" I have since learned, as have all of us who are not from around here find out very quickly, the city is pronounced, "YAKKEM-uh"!

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