PISGAH PRONUNCIATION REPORT
Something I learned from the Science Hill dedication ceremony was that people pronounce Pisgah differently – even Pisgah folks. It was a funny moment at the event when one of our Pisgah elders, Helen Wood Burnett, stood up to “correct” the pronunciation of some people who spoke ahead of her. It was even funnier when folks speaking after her continued with the other pronunciation and she stood back up and withdrew her “complaint”. (I use the terms “correct” and “complaint” very lightly, for those of you who were not there. It was a funny moment!) I didn’t realize there was more than one way in which people pronounce Pisgah.
So that got us thinking… Why are people divided on how to pronounce Pisgah? How many people use each pronunciation? Which is the most popular pronunciation? What is the origin of the alternate pronunciation? And what is the correct way to pronounce Pisgah? Well, it depends on who you ask.
We wanted answers, so we asked folks from our ‘Pisgah Illinois History’ Facebook group as well as the folks from the ‘I Grew Up In Jacksonville, Illinois’ group how they pronounce Pisgah. Do you pronounce it “PIZ-gee” or “PIZ-gah” Here is what they told us.
Janene Nichols told us, “Pizgee for me.. That is the way I have always heard it.”
Mary Lee Williams said, “Piz-gee for me. I graduated from Franklin High and always called it Piz-gee.”
Andy Whalen exclaimed, “To the locals, it’s Piz-gee. End of story.”
But is it really the end of the story? Not according to other locals…
When we had 67% of the poll takers saying “PIZ-gee” was the way it was pronounced, Tom Winner took exception and joked, “67% are wrong.” I was told the late Steve May agreed with Tom. Steve always said “PIZ-gah” and he was adamant about it. Well, I can only mark Steve’s vote down one time, but I will make note of the fact that he felt very strongly about it! Good fun from Pisgah people. Hahaha!
I (Mike Smith) pronounce it PIZ-gee because that’s how my grandpa pronounced it. Chris Watson pronounces it PIZ-gah because that’s how her dad pronounced it. So, is it a matter of which family you grew up in as to how you pronounce Pisgah? No, that doesn’t appear to be a factor. You see, Chris Watson is my cousin. Her dad, Ray Witham, and my grandpa, Tom Witham, were brothers and they grew up in the same household in Pisgah, yet they did not share the same pronunciation. Chris remembers that her dad would correct people if they saw his hat and asked him where Pisgah was. He would say, “It is pronounced PIZ-gah.”
The same thing happened in Craig Wood’s family. Craig further adds, “Our family was split. The Wood family humorist side always said Piz-gee. But my Grandmother Bessie Wood, who was a MacMurray Graduate from 1908, would correct we Wood wise crackers and tell us it is Pis-guh. She would then repeatedly show us the way to Numbers 21:20 and 23:14 then again in Deuteronomy 3:27 in the Bible and explain to us that Pisgah was a biblical name.” Craig says he is sticking with the colloquial version of “PIZ-gee” around his friends in Illlinois and “PIZ-gah” for those who don’t know the “local pronunciation”.
The debate isn’t just between “PIZ-gee” and “PIZ-guh”, though. Chris Johnson reminds us that there are a whole bunch of other people who have no idea at all how to pronounce Pisgah.
I agree with Chris. When I was married, my wife called it “Pish-gah”. I corrected her, but she still called it Pishgah to tease me. Terry Wood Cully told us, “On vacation, people would ask us how to pronounce our car plate…one guy asked, ‘Is it Pi-shaw?’ Another said Pi-saw-guh.” Tom Winner tells us that Arvell Knapp would even oftentimes refer to our little town as “Piggy” and Gail Benton usually calls it PIZ-hug!
So, Roberta Rider Gideon starts to steer us back onto the right track when she said, “I’ve always said PIZ-gee, but I know the correct pronunciation.”
Craig Wood agrees, “PIZ-gah is definitely the proper pronunciation but the local Yokals, including myself, have always purposely mispronounced the word to Pizgee.”
I agree with them. We know that PIZ-gah is the correct and proper pronunciation. Even though I’m a PIZ-gee guy, myself, I’m positive that pronunciation is a local variation and probably not used by others outside the area who don’t know about that version of the local pronunciation. Remember, our name of Pisgah came from our early settlers’ home church in Kentucky, which was named Pisgah from Mt. Pisgah in the Bible. Terry Wood Cully tells us that in 2021 when she visited the still active Pisgah Presbyterian Church in Versailles, KY where our early settlers came from, “they definitely pronounced it PIZ-gah.”
POLL DATA
It’s time to settle the debate. We asked members of the ‘Pisgah Illinois History’ Facebook group and the ‘I Grew Up In Jacksonville, Illinois’ group how they pronounce Pisgah. I made a note of who voted and how they voted so there would be no repeats. 96 people responded in the following way.
PIZ-gee: 66 votes, 69% of the respondents
PIZ-gah: 18 votes, 19% of the respondents
I use both: 12 votes, 12% of the respondents
People use the variation of PIZ-gee over 3x more often than the correct and proper pronunciation, PIZ-gah. So how did this nickname of “PIZ-gee” come to be? There has to be a fantastic story here. How did a nickname completely and overwhelmingly overtake and replace the real pronunciation by a vast majority of the people who use it? And how long has it been used?
Craig Wood tell us, “If my Grandfather were alive he would be 132 years old and he said it once in awhile. I don’t know. I’m pretty sure that Ernie Winner and Gus Kilver said it. It probably rolled out of someone’s mouth one day and all who heard it laughed and started to use it. I remember my Dad saying to a friend in Jacksonville that it was time to head home to Piz-gee.”
So, it has been around for a long time. And we don’t really have any concrete answers as to how it started. Craig’s theory is as good as any I have heard. The story as to the origin of the PIZ-gee pronunciation remains one of our “Pisgah’s Most Wanted” pieces of information. In the meantime, feel free to use use “PIZ-gah”, which we are certain is the correct pronunciation, or you can use “PIZ-gee”, the more popular and widely accepted alternative. One thing is for certain…whoever first said “PIZ-gee”, it definitely stuck, didn’t it?!