Tomato, tomato? What's with the pronunciation?

Question

Just caught up with CNN news. They were talking about the Litvinenko inquiry from Moscow.

Now, i could be wrong here, but when the CNN reporter pronounced Moscow " Moss - cow" (yes cow as in beef), I was a little confused.

As far as Im aware, the city is known as "Moss-co" (Co, as in coat)...

Enlighten me please, I don't accept for a minute that this is an accent issue.

:)

Answer 1

I have always heard it and pronounced it as "Moss-Cow". Never "Moss-Co".

It does, after all, have a 'w' at the end of it.

My guess is that it probably should be pronounced as Moss-Kov.

Answer 2

What does tomato have to do with Moscow? :P

hmm well i didn't know it was pronounced as Moss-cow B4 .. here in all Arab Countries, we pronounce it as Moss-Co ..

Guess we need a Russian opinion here to get the right pronunciation ;)

Answer 3

its moss-cow in most regions of the world; however, in europe, they generally say moss-co

Answer 4

I say Moscow (cow) but I grew up in New York...and I say ToeMayToe....lol

Answer 5

the correct pronounciation is jitomatl which is the original word in the nahuatl language.