How to Pronounce Lubbock Like You’re From Lubbock
Pronouncing Lubbock used to be a regular debate around here, and things would get heated.
Back in the day, about every three months (it seemed like anyways) a fight would break out on the newspaper's editorial pages about how to pronounce 'Lubbock.' These fights would generally coincide with some new TV reporter or national news story dropping a weird sounding L-bomb. It was as ridiculous as it was regular.
I think all of this still gets debated in some circles, but we've found other things to fight about, haven't we? The worst offense, the one that makes Hub City residents' ears bleed, is 'Lub-BICK.' Then, there are the totally clueless folks who want to call us 'Lew-bach' because they've heard of Luckenbach (in Texas) and somehow mix up the two. Another big problem is people putting the accent on the second syllable. It's kind of a mess, isn't it?
I used to have to explain how to say Lubbock to a number of people. I'd always tell them the last part is between an "awk" and an "uhk," but you kind of say the first syllable and swallow the last syllable anyways.
I was very surprised to call up a pronunciation guide and it was perfect. It's spelled out phonetically and has a good, presumably robot, voice annunciating the name of our fair city properly.
I'm also surprised at how correct my description was, even though it calls for less "aw" than I had. Spelled phonetically, it's 'LUH-buhk.' With that in mind, here's a video from pronouncenames.com that I feel nails it once and for all.