What’s in a name?
A few years ago, I was getting an EKG and chatted with the nurse doing it about where she lives. Zion, she told me.
“Oh, Zion! I don’t know much about that town!”
“IT’S ZY-IN, NOT ZY-ON!!!”
Geesh. I didn’t get to ask her much about Zion, since I effed up the pronunciation so much! I’d only ever heard that name in The Matrix before, and that was the way they pronounced it in the movie. I’ve never mistakenly said ZY-ON again. ZY-IN, ZY-IN, ZY-IN. Got it.
Not our water tower – we’re on a well!
I really DIDN’T know much about Zion at the time – just where it was located (near the lake, and far away from our townhouse). I hadn’t heard about the Zee Bee Run 5K Run Series yet. I didn’t have a reason to go over there.
But now… you guessed it. Now we live in Zion.
Unincorporated Zion, actually. We’re so far away from the town of Zion, it’s kind of silly we’re even considered unincorporated.
Zion doesn’t have a fantastic reputation. I became more aware of this as we told local people we were trying to buy a house there. Almost every person responded with a bewildered look and asked “Are you sure?” Followed by “The school district is HORRIBLE!” Then whatever random story about Zion’s reputation they could remember. Even our townhouse neighbor who moved in from a rough part of Chicago thought we were loco. Ha – my mom witnessed our movers do it to us (and was surprised by it) – when they were at the rental house, they straight up asked “Why are you moving to Zion?!” I told them they’d see when they got to the house. (A few people did have nice things to say – but the overwhelming response was “WTF are you thinking?!”)
I appreciated that people were concerned for our well-being. Heck, I just did that to a friend when they moved – “make sure you’re on the south side of the train tracks!” But here’s the thing (which I always explained) – we’re over six miles from downtown Zion. We’re a mile and a half from the city limits. And we basically live in horse country – most of our neighbors have property with horses and sometimes other wildlife (yesterday I saw a horse playing with a donkey during my run, and during my first run from the new house, I saw horses, donkeys, and bison!). We’re not so much concerned about city crime – not to say we’re oblivious – it’s just that there are other things to think about for security, where we live. And the school district thing isn’t an issue, since we aren’t having kids.
I’m not sure what’ll happen if you say Zion wrong around here though. So I’m definitely being cautious about that. Ha!
Themocracy
Well f*ck I’ve been pronouncing it wrong this whole time…
Good thing you know before you come to visit! LOL!!!! :-*
I admittedly don’t know anything about Zion except for that Ragnar has an exchange point there…
Although, I remember one time you and I were talking about Zion and I pronounced it (apparently) correctly and you wondered how I knew to say it that way. I honestly have no idea! Maybe it’s because I grew up in Illinois and it’s, like, an Illinois accent or something?
But in central Illinois there is a town called Le Roy and I pronounced the “le” like in French and was quickly corrected and told it’s pronounced “Leeee Roy.” So clearly I don’t know how to pronounce all Illinois towns correctly!
I was thinking about that exchange point the other day!
Ha ha! Maybe it is the Chicago accent! Town names can be so weird – when I was in college, I was next to a town called Nevada but it was pronounced differently than the state name and that totally confused me.
We got some of that when we moved to our house too. It’s near a neighborhood with a bad reputation, but we’re not in that specific area and the school district isn’t the best but we’re not planning on having kids either. I guess it’s nice that people are concerned but also weird that they didn’t think we also researched before making a decision as big as buying a house? It sounds so cool that you’ve seen all those animals on your run! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bison other than in photos.
You totally get it – you’re in the same situation!
I felt that way too. I actually said to someone last week – “Don’t worry, I am moving there on purpose.” LOL!!!
Haha, oh, everybody loves to share their opinion. Your new place is gorgeous, and in every town exactly where you live does change the vibe. Just keep loving your new place and ignore the haters, which I know you’re already doing. 🙂
Thank you! That is TOTALLY what I am doing! And towns change! And we’ve lived in “crummy” towns before and been fine so… yeah 🙂
I think I’m that friend (who DOES live south of the train tracks, thankfully!) and I totally appreciated your advice! 🙂 When Jessie and I were moving to our apartment in Edgewater, we had NO IDEA how unsafe that area was at the time because we didn’t know anyone else in the area, so yeah, I always appreciate hearing about an area from someone who has lived there for a long time.
And we definitely had people asking why we were moving “all the way out there” or to the specific town. Because it’s cheap, spacious, and close to work? I don’t know, what else do you need???
LOL on pronunciation… it must be the Illinois accent. There’s so many towns and street names in the city that I would pronounce differently (wrong, apparently).
You are! Ha! 🙂 And that is good someone told you about Edgewater! I bet there are lots of pockets in the city that aren’t so good :-/ (just as there are, everywhere!)
Isn’t it funny? Like instead of “Oh, what do you like about the area?!” It’s “WHY WOULD YOU EVER?!!!!” Ha.
Roosevelt is on that list of streets for me. I didn’t learn it as “rouse-a-velt.”
Oh I wasn’t clear – no one told us about Edgewater! I didn’t know anyone here, and I don’t think anyone she knew was familiar with the area. So finding out the hard way is not fun!
Yep, same here on Roosevelt. Devon (deh-VAHN) and Paulina (puh-LINE-uh) are others that I’ve always found… odd. Oh, and saying the first “S” on Des Plaines.
Oh, eek! How long did you live there?
Puh-line-uh? For realz? Yeah, the Des is weird for me too, since the capital of my home state was Des pronounced “duh.” Ha.
3 years. I was still young (read: naive haha) and fresh off of a semester of self-defense classes, so nothing scared me 😉
the pronunciation of names here is weird- as Anne pointed out above. I love how people who don’t really know much about a place are quick to offer up their over generalized concerns. When I told my dad I was moving to Merida, Mexico he immediately blurted out how unsafe Mexico was. My mom was the same way (but she’s scared of her own shadow) a year later my dad had bought 2 houses there. The area you live in sounds so nice with all the 4 legged friends roaming around. 🙂
Oh gosh! That is reminding me of how people were worried about us visiting Mexico last year! People who hadn’t been there… it would make sense if they were familiar with the area.
So funny your dad ended up buying houses there!
It’s so cool to see all the animals!!!
Well I am glad you’ve educated me on the pronunciation because I have definitely been saying it wrong. And when I found out you were moving to Zion, I didn’t think any of those bad things because I know/knew nothing about Zion! I feel like there are bad parts of every place. It can be helpful for people to let you know to watch out for certain areas but I think there are better ways of saying it!
When I say Des Plaines I always follow it with Illinoissss with the “s” because I think its silly that some “s” are pronounced are others are supposed to be silent. And the Iowan in me thinks the correct way is the way Des Moines is pronounced! 🙂
There are bad pockets of most cities, that’s for sure! And then there is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But yeah, totally better ways of saying it. And not making a face, too. Ha!
I totally want to pronounce Des the Des Moines way too. LOL about the Illinoisssssss. Ha ha ha. So many pronunciations that are hard to remember. Can you imagine English not being your first language and trying to remember them all?
haha the face is unnecessary!
I cannot imagine trying to pronounce MANY English words if I was trying to learn English. There are so many exceptions to rules and random exceptions! This is a good reminder to not rudely correct people when they say words wrong! (Zy-in…..)
Yes! I say words wrong ALL the time and appreciate it when people correct me (so I know) but aren’t asses about it (like many are, unnecessarily).
Hmmmph, since I know not a thing about the area, I am just going to assume you must have liked it and feel okay with it obviously, so enjoy 🙂
A close commute makes for less stress.
LOL! Exactly!
It’s actually a further commute, but we wanted land and quiet, so that’s fine with us 🙂
The town next to my hometown is Matteson and people still debate the correct way to pronounce it. Matte-son or Matt-e-son, but never EVER pronounce it like the capital of Wisconsin.
I love that people point out the bad schools to you. Whelp, guess you’ll send Data to private school.
Ha! I had a project there once for work and heard it pronounced both ways as well! I just stopped calling the project by its city name 😉
LOL! Bobbi actually said “the school districts are bad but that doesn’t matter for you guys!” She gets it 🙂
I’m almost positive the Metra announcement pronounces it the way you do. I’ve never heard it any other way!
I just did that to a friend of mine who moved to a particular part of the south loop. I knew the building had a terrible reputation, but they needed a place where 3 kids could live that was a reasonable commute to the office and in a good school district. So their options for a nice place were limited. I waited until someone else chimed in on Facebook and then just said, “Well, on the bright side you are getting a good deal on a big place.” 😉
And I am with you–so happy that if P & I ever move, we only need to think about our commute to work and not much else!
It’s funny you say that because on the Metra ride home last week I listened really hard and thought the announcement said ZY-IN like the lady said to me! Ha! Now I am just losing it.
It sounds like your friend had to weigh those options! Interesting that a building could have a bad enough rep that you would know about it! Was it because you knew someone else that lived there?
I can’t imagine having to do all that school district research! Power to the parents for figuring it out!!!
I don’t think I knew much about Zion before this post, but now that you mention it, I think I remember hearing not-so-great things about it back in the day. I went there once – maybe for basketball? Not cross country/track, I don’t believe, and I remember it being a small town. I’m sure you’re location isn’t as bad as everyone seems to think it is!
I bet you did hear stuff about it when you lived here! It does seem like a small town to me. I actually became FB friends with the guy who takes pics at the Zion 5K races, and he posts TONS of pics of what is going on around town, and I really like that! I feel like I am getting to know the city through him (and from actually going places, lol).
But yeah, it’s not bad at all where we are.
I thought the same thing about the school district. 🙂 I’ve been pronouncing Zion wrong too. Oh well. Now I know.
Harrison had heard of Zion, but I just corrected his pronunciation after reading his blog. This is actually something we used to roll our eyes at ALL the time when we lived in Illinois, names of cities that are differently pronounced than the more well-known city of the same name, like Versailles(“Ver-sal-es”) and Cairo (“Kay-ro”) being the two we remember off the top of our head.
Kay-ro! WTF! Ha ha ha! The neighbor we met yesterday has lived in Zion since the 1930s! I was trying to listen to how he pronounced it, but his speech was a bit off. I should just ask him which it is 🙂
I am very familiar with the word Zion. But not in an Illinois way. Zion is a Mormon term that Utah adopted back when the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake valley. I wonder if there’s a Mormon related reason for Zion, IL? Is it near Nauvoo, IL? If so, that could explain the name.
I think we pronounce it ZY-IN here.
From a drinking perspective, I hear Zion a lot as “Zion Curtain” refers to the large partition that sheilds alcoholic drinks being made from minors.
It’s not near Nauvoo, but the founder of the town had very specific religious beliefs! Maybe it came from Mormonism? I ordered a book about Zion to learn more. Interesting you pronounce it the same!
Wow! I have never heard of that! This apparently was a dry town, when it was founded. Hmm….