Newcomers to Massachusetts are often baffled by unusual city and town names and their pronunciation. The first thing I learned is that Wooster and Gloster are actually spelled Worcester and Gloucester, probably thanks to the British with their tongue twister of a condiment, Worcestershiresauce. You’re immediately outed as a non-native when pronouncing Peabody as if you were putting peas in your body. Leominster sounds more like lemon than leo and Berlin has an emphasis on the first syllable, one of many things that distinguish it from the German capital.
If you get lost on the way to the Patriots game in Foxborough, which is also sometimes spelled Foxboro, make sure you don’t accidentally get sent to Boxborough (of course, you can avoid getting lost in the first place by taking the Patriots train). Then there is Southborough, Westborough and Northborough, but Eastborough - nowhere to be found. Instead visit Florida and Peru without leaving the state.
Just in case you ever have to go to Haverel, know that you need to locate Haverhill on the map. My latest favorites are Medford and Bedford. Although I learned early on that the same spelling can be pronounced numerous different ways in English, it never occurred to me that these towns would sound different. Think again, “Medfid” sounds nothing like Bedford, which incidentally is different from and nowhere near New Bedford. Like New Braintree, which is quite a few miles west of Braintree, and I assume that both names indicate an utter lack of creativity on part of their founders. Or possibly just the fact that they were preoccupied with staying alive during New England winters.
Now add to all that a Massachusetts accent and voila, confusion abounds. Of course, when you have all this down, try pronouncing or spelling Scituate, Holyoke and Mattapoisett. Welcome to Massachusetts!