<p>It’s not pronounced Am-Herst, it’s Am-erst!</p>
<p>Yeah, the H is silent, basically.</p>
<p>alumni's blog: <a href="http://www.amerst.com%5B/url%5D">www.amerst.com</a></p>
<p>Yep, I got over it alright (been teaching the fact to everyone I bump into). But there's also this seemingly more stupid issue: is the A pronounced like the A in "car" or in "cat"?</p>
<p>it's pronounced like a in apple, or in am (as in I am going to Amherst)</p>
<p>i have to teach the same thing to everyone around here too, lol</p>
<p>Typical Convo</p>
<p>Where are you going to school?
Am'erst
Is Amherst like in Boston
No, it is in Centeral MA, an hour and half west of Boston, btw... it is Am'erst</p>
<p>or it would go like:</p>
<p>Where are you going to school next year?
Am'erst
Where is AmHerst?
It is in Mass
Is AmHerst like an ivy league school?
nope. by the way, it is pronounced Am'erst</p>
<p>and I have certain variations of these, but for some reason everyone calls in Amherst. Even couple of my teachers who are from Boston, and are really into college admissions (one of them is the main admissions guy for Tufts in Northern Virginia)</p>
<p>ironically though, I heard several people say it AmHerst even when I was AT the school. Like people who actually attend the school. Now that really annoyed me...</p>
<p>Well, that's the local Am'erst accent for you, I guess. We say "route" like "root" instead of "rowte," also.</p>
<p>Only people at Amherst pronounce it that way. Few ppl outside the College do the same. Amerst might have been the correct pronunciation when Jeff first came to the States, but for all I know, according to majority rule, "Amherst" is how common people would say it.
So I don't think we should look at it from a "right or wrong" perspective. Rather, I think it's more of the case that we at the College now choose to pronounce the name that way in order to distinguish ourselves from the common people. As an insidious quote goes at the College, "the H is for peasants" mehehehe. </p>
<p>Certainly there are those at the College who choose to mingle with the Common. Fine, I say, whatever flows their boats.</p>
<p>Conversely, Williams students are specifically instructed to pronounce the word "Amherst" with as much emphasis on the H as possible.</p>
<p>oh man yeah the pronunciation thing is mad annoying!!! i've given up on trying to correct people bc honestly, i think it sounds better with the h...</p>
<p>Last year, a friend, a Dean at MIT, heard us pronounce it with the "h" and let me know forcefully that the h is silent. This was when D was trying to determine where she would go, and she said, "You have to let her go to Amherst - it's a mini-ivy!"</p>
<p>
[quote]
Only people at Amherst pronounce it that way. Few ppl outside the College do the same. Amerst might have been the correct pronunciation when Jeff first came to the States, but for all I know, according to majority rule, "Amherst" is how common people would say it.
[/quote]
**** that! the correct pernounciation is the way people actually from there say it. my name , ian, wouldn't be pernounced eye-ann, no matter how many people tried it. Likewise, Amherst is Amherst without the h because people from Amherst say it that way. </p>
<p>
[quote]
ironically though, I heard several people say it AmHerst even when I was AT the school. Like people who actually attend the school. Now that really annoyed me...
[/quote]
imagine how much it annoys us locals.</p>
<p>Yeah, don't you think it's a bad thing that Amherst doesn't require admission interviews :p just to keep out the mispronouncers and preserve the elitist air:D</p>
<p>the worst is when u tell someone your going to amherst and they say...Umass?...insulting</p>
<p>That's not that bad. Hear in SoCal, very few people have even heard of Amherst. The usual response I get is, "Oh is that a community college?"</p>
<p>Not that many people in Norcal know about it either....I say "amerst" and they usually don't know about it or they say "oh, you mean Umass, right?"
It's like, no.......I'm not confused here!</p>
<p>whatever. The people who matter know.</p>
<p>What I hate the most about it is the way my Dad keeps saying "Yeah, it sounds like Harvard anyway!" You know, he's the typical Azn dad who has only the Ivys in mind. DARN I'M SO SICK OF THIS HARVARD FANATICISM!</p>
<p>I'm from California where most people think Amherst is a community college and some guy came up to me yesterday and asked if I was moving to Amsterville. It took me a little while to figure out what he was referring to. lol. </p>
<p>miaoling: I can totally relate, except in my house its a yale fanatacism :)</p>
<p>One of my teachers was from Boston... pronounced it Am-herst and the class tore him up. It was actually pretty funny, the class would derail every time he said AmHerst by accident.</p>
<p>Gleech can attest to that.</p>
<p>pretty much everyone i know calls it amherst...amerst sounds weird, and somewhat lame at that</p>
<p>I like the sound of Am-herst better, but oh well. Neither way is that great. I like the school a lot more than the name.</p>