Now that I call Philomath home, it makes me wince when people mispronounce the name of our city. As you might expect, it happens most often when folks visit and bring attention to us in some way — such as the skateboarder who came through on his worst skatepark tour — but there are newcomers and others in the region who also flub it up before getting the hang of it.
Back in 2016, the Oregonian published a piece under the headline, “Are you mispronouncing these Oregon words? Probably.” The newspaper published it again earlier this month at OregonLive.com.
Philomath made the list and the entry included the phonetic pronunciation: “Fi-loh-myth.”
So, in my mind, that “Fi” at the beginning could be confusing even though it may be correct under phonetic spelling guidelines. I’ve seen others spell it out phonetically as “Fil-oh-mith” or “Fil-oh-muth.” The Oregon Pronunciation Guide, published by the University of Portland, shows the pronunciation as “Fill-OH-math.”
I think out of those, I’d go with “Fil-oh-mith.”
You don’t get much help online. There are pronunciation websites and apps that are supposed to help you say things correctly. I did a Google search on “How do you pronounce Philomath, Oregon.” The first thing to pop up tells me that Philomath is a city in Oregon and sounds like “fi-low-math.”
Then you click on the “play” icon and listen to the AI app pronounce it wrong (“fillow-math” — as if it rhymes with “pillow math”). But as you might’ve heard, the internet’s never wrong.
2. More ODOT work
The Oregon Department of Transportation’s project update email I received last week featured the subject line, “Starting next year, we’re coming to Corvallis and Philomath to work on a curb ramp near you.”
Like many of you in the community, I’m experiencing construction crew fatigue from the streetscapes work going on here in town. As a result, I didn’t especially want to receive a notice that ODOT will be coming to Philomath next year to do more work.
So what’s it all about? ODOT is launching into the challenge of rebuilding or installing over 230 Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps in the Corvallis-Philomath area starting as early as the spring 2025.
According to an interactive map that shows where the curb ramps will be improved or installed, Philomath’s work will all be done east of the couplet. The locations are all along Main Street, of course, at the intersections of 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st, and at College Street, Green Street, South 24th, South 26th and Newton Street.
The map indicates that all of Philomath’s locations are considered to be Stage 1, which are “construction ready.” (There are some spots in Corvallis that will require additional coordination and design in future stages).
OK, so maybe next year’s work won’t be as intrusive as the current one in the downtown stretch (let’s hope not). It’s the construction fatigue talking.
3. New OSU plate
You can now purchase a voucher for a new, specialty Oregon State University license plate that features the beaver logo and tree rings in the background.
The new license plate, designed by an OSU creative team, incorporates black, orange and white to represent the university’s colors. It includes the words “THE BEAVER STATE” at the bottom, referencing the university’s mascot, the state’s nickname and state flag.
The tree rings in the background are a design element used by OSU and provide a connection to the standard Oregon license plate with the Douglas fir, Oregon’s official state tree, in the center.
The $40 voucher can be purchased online here.
Once 3,000 vouchers have been sold, the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles will begin manufacturing the plates, which is expected to take four to six months.
The current Oregon State license plate, which features the traditional Oregon plate design with the orange beaver sticker, will no longer be offered once the new plate is available. Customers with the current plate are encouraged to switch to the new plate design but it’s not a requirement.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
