12/18/2024
With it being the Holiday Season, we know many folks will be traveling to and through Perry County and experiencing for themselves "Rural Arkansas at Its Best."
To help them prepare for their travels, we've put together this basic primer on local place names and how folks around here pronounce them to ease with any confusion when speaking with locals --
Fourche. This word is found all around the county. It's the name of a town and found in the name of two of our rivers. It is pronounced like "push" but with an f sound. Pretend the "r" isn't there...
LaFave: Two of our rivers in the county are the Fourche LaFave and South Fourche LaFave -- French for LaFave's Fork and the South Fork of the LaFave Fork. LaFave is pronounced locally as "Luh-Fave."
Bigelow: One of our towns here in the county, it is pronounced like "Big-Uh-Low"
Ouachita: You'll see this everywhere. It's the name of our local national forest and the name of our mountain range. Its pronounced like "Wash-uh-tah"
Petit Jean: Best known as for the mountain and state park, Petit Jean is also the name of one of our local townships and rivers. It is one of the most often mispronounced words in all of the state of Arkansas by outsiders. Locally, it is pronounced like "Petty Gene"
Forked: The name of one of our most prominent mountains near the Hollis community, the key to pronouncing Forked like a local is by pronouncing it with two syllables, "For-ked"
Saline: Best known for the county to our south, few people realize that the Middle Fork of the Saline River's headwaters are in southwestern Perry County. Saline is pronounced by locals like "Suh-Leen"
Casa: This town in northwest Perry County is a southern gateway for Petit Jean Mountain and is pronounced by most as "Kay-Suh" but you might still find some old timers who pronounce it "Casey"
Little Italy: This Italian community in southeastern Perry County is pronounced like "Little It-Lee" or many just say "It-Lee" to refer to the community
Saint Boniface: This Catholic Church in the small community of New Dixie and center of the the namesake German community of the area is pronounced like "Saint Bon-Uh-Fuss"
Satuma: This small, unincorporated community surrounded by the mountains and the Ouachita National Forest is pronounced like "Suh-Too-Muh"
Aplin - seemingly simple but we hear it mispronounced a lot; it's pronounced like "App-Lynn" - with the emphasis on "App"
Adona - pronounced like "Uh-Dough-Nuh"
Perryville - our county seat in Perry County has two correct local pronunciations -- as it is spelled, "Perry-ville," or as a lot around the county pronounce it, "Pair-Vul"
Toad Suck - ha! No primer needed, it's pronounced just like it looks
So be sure to "like & share" with your friends and family -- they'll thank you for it!
Credit for this ‘primer’ goes to Perry County Chamber of Commerce!
