Pronunciation Debate: Ouellette Avenue

Welcome back to our series where we explore various street names in Windsor that have different pronunciations based on the person you ask.

This time let’s head to Downtown Windsor and talk about one of our city’s main arteries that carries traffic north-south, Ouellette Avenue. A 4.5km stretch of road bookend by Dougall Avenue and Riverside Drive, Ouellette carries traffic to and from the downtown core to the residential areas of South Windsor, home to some of the most sought after homes in the Windsor real estate market today. Ouellette Avenue is home to a variety of businesses but in recent times, it is the bar district for the city, home to a variety of clubs, bars, and restaurants. You’ll also find businesses right on Ouellette or on one of it’s adjacent streets, including the pride of Downtown Windsor, Caesars Windsor. You’d be surprised when you can ask a Windsor REALTOR ® how they pronounce the street name. While not as divisive as Pierre, the French roots once again cause some pronunciation disagreements.

Once again, after polling our Jumpers, there seems to be 3 main variations of the pronunciation of Ouellette. The first is the pronunciation “O-let”, this was by far the most common pronunciation heard. That French background we discussed comes in to play for the next two ways of pronouncing it. The second pronunciation we heard was “Ouu-let”. Say the first part like when in grade school someone said someone else liked someone and all the kids say “ouuuuu”. The last pronounciation was a version of number two, but with a bit more of the French background involved, “wha-let”, like the word ”what”, but without the “t”. So again, which one is correct? Well, the argument made last time was about the French pronunciation being right, however, it seems many including some of French background, have dropped the pronunciation and have gone with the popular “O-let”, however, you’ll still many using some version of the other two we’ve heard.

Take a look below at a cool “Then and Now” picture of Ouellette Avenue!

Here at Jump Realty, no matter how they pronounce a street name, our agents will give you honest advice on what course of action is best for you in their professional opinion and will always put taking care of your best interests first! With offices in Windsor, Tecumseh, Kingsville, and Chatham, no matter where you are a Jump agent is ready to help. Please contact us for any housing needs and let us give you a better real estate experience!