Top 5 Words Only Yakima Valley People Know How to Say Correctly

• Can you say 'Yakima' right? Probably not correctly, if you aren't from around here! How about some of these other words that only locals know how to say?

It's comical at this point: there are some very specific words that ten times out of ten people who don't live in the Yakima Valley will say incorrectly. Even that map app in your "smart" phone doesn't get it right

*laughs in Waze and Google Maps*

The Most Mispronounced Words You'll Hear in the Yakima Valley

Quick, somebody come get GPS on the phone and tell them to stop saying "SELAH" wrong. Throw in the words "AHTANUM ROAD" and "NACHES AVE" in there, too.

While we're at it, I know I'm not the only one who cringes when out-of-towners try to say Buena (it's pronounced Bew-waynuh).

The biggest word of them all that gets mispronounced when people are talking about the Yakima Valley is the word YAKIMA itself.

I'm even guilty as charged. Before I moved to the Valley, I thought it was pronounced "yuck-EYE-muh."

At least newbies always get the first syllable right. That's easy--it's just Yak. But to tell you how to correctly pronounce the entire word of Yakima, think of it this way:

YAK

+

EMMA

🗣️It's YAKIMA!

SEE ALSO: CBS TV Newscaster Goes Viral for Mispronouncing ‘YAKIMA’

Here's how my GPS says:

AHTANUM: Oughtta-num

Here's how it's supposed be pronounced:

Uhh-tannem

Here's how my GPS says:

SELAH: Say-LAHHH

Here's how it's supposed be pronounced:

SEEEEE-luh

Here's how my GPS says:

NACHES: Notches

Here's how it's supposed be pronounced:

Nahh, cheese!

KEEP READING: Now that you know how to say YAKIMA the right way, check out some of my favorite places to go in YAKIMA in the photo gallery below! 👇