Legislator hopes for harmony in state name

CARSON CITY -- It's time Nevadans minded their manners and not pitch a hissy fit every time someone calls their state Nuh-VAH-duh, state Assemblyman Harry Mortenson says.

Mortenson, 79, has been a Nevadan for more than half his life, but he readily admits he sometimes pronounces the state name in that detested, unacceptable way.

Fellow legislators, and even members of the media, typically shout "It's Nuh-VAD-uh" -- as in "cat' -- when he misspeaks.

Gov. Jim Gibbons admitted Wednesday that even he gets irked when people mispronounce Nevada.

"I tell them, if they want to be socially accepted in Nevada, to say Nuh-VAD-uh," Gibbons said. "We have a Ramada Hotel, but it is in Nuh-VAD-uh."

Now Mortenson says he has found a way to quiet the catcalls and quell the controversy. The Las Vegas Democrat is drawing up an official resolution that states Nuh-VAD-uh is the "preferred pronunciation," but "Nuh-VAH-duh" is still acceptable.

He said he's standing up for Silver State civility.

"You should attend Judiciary Committee hearings,'' Mortenson said. "People come in from out of state to give testimony. They are used to pronouncing it Nuh-VAH-duh, the Spanish pronunciation, and they get raked over the coals. I am so embarrassed. I am sorry we treat our guests that way."

As a term-limited assemblyman, Mortenson won't be in Carson City when the Assembly meets next year. But he is confident he will find other legislators willing to introduce his resolution.

Mortenson isn't the first politician to try to get a legislature to rule on the pronunciation of a state name. In 1881, the Arkansas Legislature weighed in on a disagreement between the state's U.S. senators and voted that it's AR-kan-saw, not Ar-KAN-sas.

So far, Arkansas is the only state with a law defining its pronunciation.

Mortenson wants the Nevada Legislature only to pass a resolution -- which has no force of law, or force of anything for that matter -- to encourage people to show tolerance in the face of phonetic diversity.

"I am not trying to change the pronunciation, but I am saying let's not embarrass people who through all their lives have been using what they thought was the correct pronunciation," he said.

Mortenson recalled the anger of a legislator years ago, when he testified before a legislative panel as a citizen.

"I got up and mispronounced Nevada," he said. "One of the senators ragged at me. 'How long have you lived in the state?' I said 35 years. 'You haven't learned how to pronounce it right yet?' "

Not that other politicians haven't made the same mistake. John F. Kennedy blew the pronunciation during his presidency, but so did Ronald Reagan, and he was governor of neighboring California.

Both President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry committed the mortal sin of mispronouncing the name in the 2004 campaign.

Bush quickly learned from his error and later began a speech in Reno by exclaiming how great it was to be in Nuh-VAD-uh.

"I bet you didn't think I would get that right," Bush said with a wide grin.

ABC broadcaster George Stephanopoulous was resoundingly booed by a crowd when he mispronounced the name in 2007 when he moderated a debate in Carson City between Democratic presidential candidates. He sat there, perplexed, until he was told of the preferred pronunciation.

Actress Ann-Margret also got it wrong when she appeared in "Viva Las Vegas" in 1964. Elvis, meanwhile, never uttered the state name in the movie.

Elsewhere in movieland, Roy Rogers made five movies in the 1940s with Nevada themes and got the pronunciation right. He also properly sang "Night Time in Nevada."

So why resolve officially that either way is just fine?

Nevada in Spanish means "snow capped," signifying a place with many snow-capped mountains. So when Mortenson visits the homes of Spanish-speaking constituents, he says he appropriately talks about "Nuh-VAH-duh."

"There are two pronunciations of Nevada," he said. "One used by two million Nevadans and the more cosmopolitan or Spanish pronunciation, used by the other seven billion inhabitants of our planet."

He realizes that many people will find his resolution much ado about nothing, particularly at a time when the state faces a $3 billion shortfall and a 14.2 percent unemployment rate.

"A resolution is not worth a lot, but be tolerant,'' he said. "This is a great state known for its open-minded population."

Not that he denies a more personal motive behind his effort. While he cannot return to the Assembly, he plans to seek a state Senate seat in 2012.

"When I get back in, and I am sure I will, and I pronounce it the wrong way and people correct me, I will say: 'You guys passed a resolution that said it was OK.' "

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@ reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.