Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
Anyhow here's some local place-names to have fun trying to pronounce

Jumilla
Tuolumne
Tujunga
Cahuenga
Trabuco
Jurupa
Tassajara
Ojai
and last but not least Hueneme.
Tuolomne gave me and my friends fits when we went backpacking there in our early teens. We assumed "tow-LOOM-nee" and it wasn't until we got to Yosemite that we were corrected by a park ranger when we picked up our permits. There are two pronunciations that I know of: too-WALL-uh-mee or too-WALL-um-nee, the first being the more common.

Hueneme. Years ago when working in the Bay Area, a native BA co-worker came across this when working with google maps and was clueless to the pronunciation. I bet her $100 that she couldn't pronounce it and after a few comical attempts I told her (why-NEE-mee). I didn't want the money, but she insisted on buying me lunch to make good on the bet.

As a native Socal-er the rest are easy to pronounce because they are all more or less of Spanish origin, and back in the day I could speak passable Spanish but not so much any more (use it or lose it as they say). Cahuilla (near Coachella) could be added to the list also.