Giveaway goofs can out A-Town newbies

Being an Auburnite — or a reasonable facsimile of one — has a language learning curve. It takes some experience to spot all those unintentional gaffes and faux pas that a long-term local sometimes makes by mistake but, more importantly — gives away the presence of a newbie. So in the spirit of civic inclusiveness, Media Life provides this week a random not-altogether-complete cheat sheet to those who fear making the grievous goofs that can haunt an everyday Auburn conversation: • It's not Joeger Road. It's Joerger Road. Stick an "R" in there when you say it. The North Auburn road is named after the Joerger family but the road name was improperly registered and never re-registered correctly. When you need unanimous approval of property owners on a road to change it, suffice to say, forget about it. • It's pronounced Eekeda's not Eye-keeda's. The Ikeda family has had to whither generations of mispronunciations but the go-to Foresthill exit eatery for many locals as well as people making the run up and down I-80 continues to prosper. • It's the Sierra, not the Sierras. Sierra is a Spanish word meaning mountains so pluralizing what is already a noun for a group of mountains is redundant. • It's officially Mountain Quarries Railroad Bridge. The bridge just south of the American River confluence is more than 100 years old. So pay it some respect and get it right. It was built as a railroad bridge to the limestone quarry that continues to be operated in Cool. The tracks were torn up in the 1940s to provide metal for the war effort. The horse community first started calling it No Hands Bridge but that's not the official name. • It's Taw-hoe not Ta-hoe. And you're showing your out-of-state roots if you call a tah-co a tack-o. Or if you order pass-ta instead of paw-sta. • It's the North Fork Dry Dam not the Clementine Dam. Lake Clementine — the upper and the lower — make up the reservoirs for the dam but the structure itself was named for the fork of the American River. It keeps silt and mine tailings from running farther downstream from. • It's the "Why" statue with no question mark. Dr. Kenneth Fox directed the absence of the question mark to keep the meaning of Auburn's war memorial ambiguous. Built during the height of the Vietnam War in 1967, it was probably a good idea to keep the meaning a trifle murky. • It's Newcastle but it's not named after England's Newcastle. It's actually a name that connotes the new "Castle." The old Castle being a Gold Rush community nearby. Castle City mobilehome park is a living reminder of the name's origin. • Foresthill Bridge is not the tallest bridge in California. It's the highest. Bridges like the Golden Gate in San Francisco aren't as high above the water but are taller because of their giant suspension support structures. • One of the more common miscues non-residents make from the get-go is on the word "Placer." Instead of pronouncing it in the same way you would "passer," they blurt out "Play-sir." Media Life suspects that this list only scratches the surface — for many, nonetheless, it's like the surface of a chalkboard being scraped by fingernails. But it's part of life in the foothills and it's part of being who we are, where we are. Media Life's Gus Thomson can be reached at 530-852-0232 or gust@goldcountrymedia.com. A version of this column was previously published in the Journal.