Facebook arguments don't make it to the news much unless someone gets killed over it. Day ain't over yet...
Little things mean a lot to locals. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It ain't what you say, but how you say it.
No catchphrase solves the issue of How To Pronounce Quincy.
It is not a unique debate. I spam these articles around various town Facebook pages for a living. Our range is Boston to North Attleboro to Westport to the end of the Cape. By being in all of these groups, I also get the posts from 75 town pages or so. It's a Veidt-like existence, but it keeps me very informed.
Versions of the Quincy argument exist in Hingham, Duxbury, Swansea, Chatham and other towns. Berkley, which has 5000 people or so in an area about the size of Brockton, has a sizable number of people who pronounce it somewhat like "broccoli."
I was shocked to see Quincy being the town on the news with this, because I believe that blood has spilled over this issue in Eastham.
Before I answer this, I should add that I was a Quincy resident once. That's my old Grenwold Road house in the picture above. I didn't live there long, but I lived there during the critical learning-to-talk part of my life. There is some Dorchester in my accent as well, but we're probably looking at 3 miles or so between my two homes as the crow flies.
When I moved to Duxbury, I was taken from class once a day for Speech therapy. I don't have a lisp or anything, these lessons were an attempt to exorcise my ferocious Boston accent. I remember having to say "farther" and "Jimmy Carter" a lot.
It didn't work, and I maintain the accent to this day. I, like most of you reading this, know the answer already. I know it instinctively, just like you do.
It's Quin-zee.
Quincy is named after John Quincy, who was an ancestor of Abigail Adams and the namesake of Old Man Eloquent, John Quincy Adams.
The word "Quincy" is of Anglo-Norman descent. "Quince" is French for fifth. Quincy came to mean "estate of the fifth son" if you chase the etymology back to Cuinchy, which is in Pas-de-Calais, France. Cuinchy is the town from that John Quincy's name comes from.
How a word like "Quince" that doesn't have a Z in it came to be a town with a Z in her pronunciation is one of those mysteries of history. The mystery deepens when the source of the name is a town with two Cs in it.
It could be a French thing. One of our authors was born in Rouen, and she adds unnecessary Zs to everything. It's subtle, but she starts words like "this" with a Z.
The Quincy family is a political dynasty which dates back to England and Scotland. It dates forth to John Quincy and John Quincy Adams. All members of this dynasty use a kwinzi pronunciation.
That pretty much settles it, at least in America and England.
If you go to Wikipedia and look up both Quincy, Massachusetts and Quincy, Illinois, you will see two different pronunciations. The one from Illinois is incorrect.
Illinois falls into the trap of the English accent. If you can do impressions at all, try saying "Quincy" with an English accent. You end up using the C. In an era where there was no TV or radio, you can almost forgive Illinois for looking at a word with a C in it and pronouncing it with a C. Almost.
I should add that the Jack Klugman character on Quincy, M.E. pronounces his name wrong.
I should also add that my phone is auto-correcting my attempts to write "Quin-zee" and is making it "Quin-see."
Now, about that Houghs Neck thing...
