Vegas Nev
What is the correct way to say Nevada?
I have lived in Las Vegas Nevada for 14 years. I haven't heard any locals since I moved here say Nev-aa-da. Its always been Nev-ad-a. Certain newscasters pronounce it that way, but none of ours do.
Incorrect pronunciation is perpetuated by the provincial East Coast news media. They learn how to pronounce Kazakhstan but won't trouble themselves to take 20 seconds to learn how to pronounce Nevada or Colorado.
I am certain that if NBC's Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, Joe Scarborough, Dan Abrams, John Harwood, Willie Geist, Mika Brzezinski, Monica Navotny, Dana Milbank and many more pronounced Illinois as "Illi-noise", New Hampshire as "New Hamp-shyre", or Des Moines, Iowa as "Dez Moynz", they would be considered by most as lacking education.
Yet almost half of the national news media haven't made any effort at basic regional education about proper pronunciation of Nevada and Colorado.
Correct pronunciation: Ne-va-duh ("a" as in cat)
You can hear proper pronunciation here:
http://lasvalley.com/audio-player.html?nevada.wav