Lawmaker seeks official pronunciation of 'Concord,' New Hampshire's capital city
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![Conquering Concord](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/02/14/16/Conquering_Concord_49813.jpg)
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A New Hampshire lawmaker wants to amend state law to include an official pronunciation of the capital city, one of many communities called Concord across the country. While North Carolinians pronounce the second syllable so it rhymes with ābored,ā New Hampshire, Massachusetts and California are among those who favor something closer to ā in the words of Julius Caesar ā āconquered.ā
Rep. Eric Gallager, a Democrat from Concord, also wants to include an official pronunciation of āNew Hampshireā in state law to make it clear that āshireā rhymes with āfurā not āfire.ā He proposes including the official pronunciations written out according to the international phonetic alphabet in a section of law that lists state symbols such as the official state sport (skiing), song (10 different tunes including āOld New Hampshireā), and spider ( daring jumping spider ).
āThese are the symbols by which you are recognized, and branding is actually something that organizations take really seriously and spend a lot of money on,ā Gallager told a House committee Tuesday.
Rep. Dianne Schuett, a Democrat from Pembroke, asked Gallager if he discussed his bill with āold Yankee folksā who pronounce the capital as āCon-kid, New Hamp-shah.ā
āIāll tell you, Iām fearful that some of them may be offended if we mandated a specific pronunciation that doesnāt jibe with their heritage,ā she said.
Gallager said his bill would not be a mandate, just as the other state symbols are not universally embraced.
āEven though the state fruit is the pumpkin, you can still grow other fruits besides pumpkins, which Iām sure our apple growers appreciate,ā he said.
And while he acknowledged the legislation may appear trivial, Gallager said he tries to āgo for things that other people arenāt also legislating about.ā
āWith a lot of the other more important issues, the trenches are already dug and people have already made up their minds,ā he said. āBut with something more minor like this one, I think we can have a chance to bring people together and actually pass some legislation.ā