Missour-EE or Missour-AH?

By JEN CHEN

The great debate about how to pronounce “Missouri” made national news yesterday. Check out this video from last night’s NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. In it, reporter Mark Potter concludes that the Democratic urban areas call it “Missour-ee,” while the Republican rural counties go with “Missour-ah.”

Then, watch this video (via Jezebel) of Sarah Palin’s rally in Jefferson City yesterday. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd chastises Palin for saying “Missour-ee,” before Hank Williams, Jr. butchers the National Anthem.

Poor Hank – not only does he supposedly warble “the dong’s early light,” but he’s wearing a Derrick Thomas jersey tucked tightly into his jeans, which is not a good look. Anyway, the Jezebel commenters also debate the “-ee” vs. “-ah.”

I vote for the former.