Published September 2, 2004, in issue 0335 of the Hook

I just had a chance to look through your Annual Manual [August 7]. Are you aware that local "old timers" pronounce Monticello as mont-i-SELL-o?

It's kind of incongruous to say that because the locals say RYE-oh, that-- rather than the Spanish-- is the correct pronunciation, and then defer to the "intelligentsia's" Italian pronunciation of Monticello as the proper way to pronounce the name of Jefferson's home.

I'm sure Jefferson said "mont-i-CHELL-o," but it seems a bit insulting to the locals to say the (usually) transplanted intelligentsia rule in one case but not another. Food for thought.

Marlene Condon
Albemarle

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