Columnist Susan Snyder: Don’t open up and say ‘ah’

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001 | 8:16 a.m.

All together now, with feeling:

"The columnist is a ninny."

I lived in Utah for five years and paid extra for a license plate that carried the image of Delicate Arch. I cannot begin to count the number of times I visited Arches, Canyonlands and Zion national parks.

I know we ran a correction about this last week. But I amazed even myself last Tuesday by moving Delicate Arch out of Arches National Park and into Zion with a few erroneous keystrokes. Not even sure where the folks over in Zion would put the Arch.

I apologize.

Now let's move on to Nevada Day, which is officially Wednesday even though the state government celebrated it Friday so state employees could have a three-day weekend, and the official Carson City parade was hosted Saturday so residents -- most of whom worked Friday -- could watch it.

We'll start with helping newcomers learn the first and most important thing about Nevada.

It is "Nevada" with an "a" as in "apple," not "Nevahhda," with an "ah" as in some pretentious East Coast blather that immediately tells everyone you ain't from around these parts and think you're too good to be.

I hadn't lived in Nevada long enough to pay my rent a second time before The Elves sent me up to Carson City to cover the Nevada Legislature. Having lived next door to the Silver State for a few years, I knew how to pronounce it. The Capitol Police (Don't ask. I just had the occasion to talk with them.) were impressed.

"Well, you're new but at least you know how to say 'Nevada' the right way," one officer remarked.

Whenever I meet someone who has recently moved here from someplace inferior (Why else would a person move here?), I try to make sure he or she knows the proper way to pronounce the state name.

This is not about asking someone to sacrifice his or her native dialect. I would never ask my Minnesota-born friends to stop saying "sooda," or demand Southern-born acquaintances drop "y'all."

I simply learned while living in Utah that there is no point arguing with the locals about how they pronounce the names of their towns or their state.

For example, I lived in Florida for 16 years and never was hit by a "hurricun." Drive a little northeast of St. George, Utah, and visit the town of Hurricane. It is pronounced, "hurricun."

Why? Because the people who live there say so. And yes, that is a good enough reason.

Sure, we've made mistakes in Nevada. The state flag design wasn't adopted by the Legislature until 1991 (the 1929 bill changing it was misplaced and forgotten before the end of that session).

And some gaffes have become mythical. But state historians assure us there are no workers buried in Hoover Dam, and Butch Cassidy did not accompany the Wild Bunch when three members robbed Winnemucca's First National Bank in 1900.

However, it is true that the state fish, the lahontan cutthroat trout, can survive almost anywhere -- cold, alpine lakes, warm, intermittent streams or alkaline basins. It's a veritable cockroach with fins that teaches a lesson in adaptability.

If a fish can adjust, we can, too.

Nevada with an "a" as in "apple."

Leave the "ahhs" to the tourists.