Family Argument Over Pronunciation of 'Appalachian' Has Entered Its Third Generation

A family pronunciation dispute over the word 'Appalachian' has entered its third generation after grandmother Eleanor began the argument in 1973, her daughter Patricia continued it through the 1990s, and her granddaughter Megan has now taken up the cause at college, where she corrects classmates with what her roommate describes as 'inherited linguistic aggression.' 'It's app-uh-LATCH-un,' said Eleanor, 84, from her home in Knoxville, Tennessee. 'If you say app-uh-LAY-shun, you're not from here. And if you're not from here, you don't get to tell me how to say it.' 'It's app-uh-LAY-shun,' countered Eleanor's sister-in-law Martha, 81, from her home in Boston, Massachusetts. 'That is the standard American English pronunciation. It appears in every dictionary. The southern pronunciation is regional and the northern pronunciation is correct.' This exchange, or variations of it, has occurred at every family gathering since 1973, when Eleanor married into a family whose northern branch uses the 'LAY' pronunciation and whose southern branch uses the 'LATCH' pronunciation. 'My parents' wedding was the first time the branches met,' said Patricia. 'The argument started at the rehearsal dinner and has not stopped. I grew up hearing it at every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and family reunion. By the time I was twelve, I could argue both sides. I chose LATCH because my mother is more frightening than my aunt.' Megan, 19, now attends a university in Ohio, where both pronunciations are used. She has established what she calls 'a one-woman pronunciation correctional campaign' that has earned her the campus nickname 'The LATCH Lady.' 'I correct everyone,' Megan confirmed. 'Professors, classmates, the barista who mentioned the Appalachian Trail. Grandmother would be proud.' Linguists note that both pronunciations are widely accepted and that the dispute is 'fundamentally unresolvable because both sides are correct in their regional context.' This information has been provided to the family three times and has had no effect. 'We know what the linguists say,' said Eleanor. 'The linguists are wrong.'