<p>well, my friend and i were discussing this today, and to lighten the very tense atmosphere of these last few days of application frenzy, i thought i’d ask:</p>
<p>am-Herst? with string “H” sound</p>
<p>or am-erst? without the “H” at all</p>
<p>or maybe both of us are just really strange kids.</p>
<p>It's pronounced Am'erst. The H is purely for decoration.</p>
<p>hahaha Am Herst</p>
<p>I think it's more of a light H...a grazed H :)</p>
<p>Nobody from Massachusetts would pronounce the "H".</p>
<p>like cockney?</p>
<p>When I toured Amherst this summer the admissions rep said most people do not pronounce the name correctly. The h, she said, is silent....so the phonetically correct pronunciation is Am-erst College. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>really? I had absolutely no idea! Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>haha that's good to know.</p>
<p>The college is named after the town. The town is named after Lord Jeffrey Amherst -- a colorful and problematic character. The funny thing about the pronunciation is that Lord Jeffrey Amherst almost certainly did pronounce the H, and numerous towns in other states also named Amherst routinely pronounce the H. Only Amherst, MA has eschewed the H.</p>
<p>I read an amusing story about how at an Amherst sporting event against Williams College the fans from Williams stood up and starting shouting "am - HERST!, am - HERST!" giving special emphasis to the H. ;)</p>
<p>Oh those rascals from from Williams.....If my school's mascot was a purple cow I wouldn't do too much taunting!!!</p>
<p>I can not NOT pronounce the H. I know I'm not supposed to, but it just sounds like it should be in there. </p>
<p>I can feel it trying to get out there when I say "Ammerst." Maybe it's why I got deferred :D</p>
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Nobody from Massachusetts would pronounce the "H".
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<p>Just in Amherst or is this a general malaise? :)</p>
<p>Yes, Kaznack, we overheard you saying "AmHerst." Gets ninety-percent of them. After that we just cut a few spectacular applicants for good measure.</p>