How do you pronounce Detroit? (2013) (glossographia.wordpress.com)

Well, that's interesting.

I'm not from Detroit -- in fact, I've never been there, and I don't have any family there either, but I've always pronounced it /ˈdiˌtɹɔɪt/, which according to the article is an uncommon pronunciation only used by locals.

The DEE-troit variant is what I've commonly heard from more rural southern dialects also (a/k/a "redneck" or country)

like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH7u1ZeRK34

I only pronounce it by the original French day-TWAH.

As in Spanish:

Day-troit .

I'm British so my natural pronunciation would be very close to the third example.

However I've watched enough 30 Rock to know that the correct pronunciation is a slow "deeeTROIT".

You use the French pronunciation, [detʁwɑ], obviously. Although when it was founded they might have pronounced [detʀwe].

Edit: but note that in English I would use an English pronunciation.

I grew up next to a canadian family (the Bryants) and the dad worked as a penalty box time keeper for the NHL. I played hockey with his son for years, and went to games regularly with him and his dad; he would drop us off at their seats about 15 rows behind the penalty boxes, and head down ‘work’. He’d often bring home broken sticks - like Ken Dryden’s one game. I also watched 'Hockey Night in Canada' religiously and the announcers always pronounced it the 4th way; I think this is why I pronounce it the fourth way myself, I heard it said by my friend and his dad and those classic CBC announcers more than anyone else I knew.

De-TROY-it!

I went to high school in a city called Latrobe, and while most outsiders pronounce it lah-TROBE, plenty of natives (including myself) tend to call it LAY-trobe. Interesting to see Detroit have some similar variants.

And to all the day-TWAH folk in here - better stay away from Western PA - DuBois (DOO-boys) and North Versailles (ver-sails) would drive you nuts!

My guess is that after saying it for the millionth time, some locals just naturally speed up their conversation by shortening it to the two-syllable version, di-TRITE.

Growing up in the Detroit area, I always associated the DEE-troit pronunciation with exclamations of a hyper-local flavor, like an announcer at an (american) football game saying "DEE-troit Lions!", also with fans chanting at sports games: "DEE-troit! DEE-troit!". I actually can't think of any other way to chant it.

Interesting. The most common pronunciation I've heard was something like "deeTROIT".

Duh-TRERT.

Lived in Indiana as a kid until 13 years old. I pronounce it Deh-troit.

I spent a couple of years in Ontario, including a few months in Sarnia (about an hour and a half north of Detroit), and I certainly heard a lot of the "de-TROY-it" variant. I found it amusing.

"Shhhh-eeet-hole"

Native Detroiter and I've heard all these pronunciations. But I must object to Don Cherry referred to as a blowhard but he is most definitely a character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7PzS1A08Wg

While we're on the subject, there are a lot of interesting names in the Detroit area. There's a street called Livernois Avenue, which is pronounced Liver-Noise, and a town of Milan, that's pronounced MY-lan. I wonder if this is just the result of the melting pot.