Mispronounced Streets, Venues & Towns in Caddo-Bossier

According to my GPS, the "Kouns" in Bert Kouns is pronounced "KOWNS" -- which rhymes with "GOWNS." WRONG! It's actually the long double-o sound: "KOONS" -- like in RACCOONS.

Many residents will tell you otherwise, but this Highland-area street name is not pronounced the way it looks. Ask the old-timers, and they'll tell you it's not "JOARdun" -- it's "JURdun".

So LEAGUE is pretty self-explanatory, but what about this DILG word? I found out the hard way that the G is actually silent. It's pronounced "DILL" -- like the pickle. As a side note, DILG is also an acronym for Department of the Interior and Local Government. But I've found no evidence suggesting this street name is in any way connected to that.

Care to fathom a guess on whether there's a short or long A sound at the beginning of Agurs? Turns out, the street near North Common in Shreveport is pronounced AY-grrs (or AY-gurs, if you prefer).

A street and an old creepy school share the name. If we were in a Hispanic country, the double L's would sound like a Y. But here in good ole America, it pretty much just sounds like it looks: EL-ur-bee.

When I was doing traffic on KEEL some years ago, I completely butchered my first attempt at pronouncing this one. I quickly learned it's not MEE-ruh SCOTTS SLOFF (or SLUFF) -- it's MY-ruh SCOTTS SLEW. Thank goodness I also learned that it's in a rural area, and not an incredibly heavily-traveled road in Caddo Parish.

The hotel that's now Ramada Inn Conference Center in Bossier City is not pronounced like the city at all. It's said like everyone THINKS Bossier should be -- the French way: luh bah-see-AY. The city, however, is BOH-zhur.

The catering company on E. 70th Street in Shreveport is not suh-VOYS. It, like Le Bossier, is more French: SAV-wahz.

JILL-ee-um? GILL-ee-um? guh-LEE-um? Wrong on all three counts. The village in Caddo Parish is pronounced GILL-um. Confusing, I know.

O.K., it's not in Caddo or Bossier, but in nearby Sabine Parish, but it's a place we SBC residents frequent. And if you know what it's famous for, you can better understand how to pronounce it -- we love those "Z'wallee" tamales!