Hi Eileen,
Just thought I would forward this peek at an email I sent out to a website, http://www.soulofamerica.com/detroit-guide.phtml, that has written some history of Detroit which apparently has been picked up and repeated numerous times all over the internet. I call your attention to the first point where this site and numerous others repeatedly state that Gratiot is pronounced "Gray-sha." Oooo! THAT irritated me! Perhaps the French may have parlez-vous-ed it that way, but I never knew anyone from Detroit that said it like that when I was growing up...and I spent a lot of time in and around this street.
They also make a big deal out of Orchestra Hall without seeming to realize that it was only Paradise Theater for a few years of its life and began as — and then returned to — Orchestra Hall.
Anyway, in light of the recent discussions in the Detroit Memories Discussion Group about pronunciations of words (for example Detroit vs. Dee-troit), I thought you might at least find this one interesting. I was shocked at how many times this "Gray-sha" business has been repeated now all over the internet!
Lee Dixon
In French it's pronounced Gera-twa, like Detroit is pronounced Det-twa.
ReplyDeleteDavid
I have to tell you that when I was about 9 or 10 years old I was writing a school paper and for some reason I had to write Gratiot. My mom was looking over my paper and started to laugh. I had the street spelled "Grashit"
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget that.
Mario Fontana
Anthem AZ
And who can forget the song "Three Jolly Fishermen" (Fisher fisher men men men, Fisher fisher men men men) who went to Amsterdam (Amster Amster dam dam dam . . .) and then went to Gratoit (Gra Gra shit shit shit . . .). Boy, we thought we were getting away with saying bad words and regularly asked to sing that song on field trips.
ReplyDelete