Town’s name misspelled on Ohio high school diploma

This Ohio native let out an audible groan upon learning that there was a blatant error in the diplomas that her alma mater issued.

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It reads:

Cuyahoga Falls High School
Cayahoga Falls, Ohio

As a corporate communicator, writer, and editor, I let out an audible groan when I saw the picture of this linguistic kerfuffle on my Facebook page. A high school classmate, understanding my tendency toward grammar nerdiness, correctly assumed it would put me in outrage mode. It did.

I get it. “Cuyahoga” is a tough word to spell, let alone pronounce (go ahead … try to say it … I’ll wait right here). Let me help you out: The phonetic pronunciation is KY-ə-HOG-ə, and it’s a Native American term which means “crooked river” in the Iroquoian language. It has a long, rich history.

That is, when it’s spelled correctly.

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