The Luquer Street Debate
Before abrooklynlife moved to Luquer, the neighborhood street name always had me puzzled, but I'd never given it much thought. Once we picked the apartment, however, things became more serious. I'd have to pronounce the name of my street for many months (years?) to come! After bringing up the pronunciation to our broker (we were paying her, after all), she definitively pronounced it Loo-QUEER. Being that she's lived in the neighborhood all her life, I decided to give that pronunciation a go. Turns out (at least to the power and gas company) living on a street pronounced Loo-QUEER is the equivalent of having the last name of Focker. The explanations and repeated spellings didn't seem worth the effort, so I took to calling it Lu-KER. Still, whenever I say it, it doesn't seem quite right. In my last post about Dennett Place, a reader reminded me of this vexing dilemma, and I thought we'd put it to the test to solve it once and for all. Just how do you pronounce "Luquer"?
(Update: Voting has ended)
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Have you ever seen this forgotten-ny
i've wondered too about your street and how to pronounce it...
it sounds like "Loo-Queer" is the correct pronunciation (or at least what all your neighbors will be saying)
i grew up on Uranus Terrace in San Francisco, and got teased a lot, but it always seemed silly when people tried to call it "YER-an-us".
I'm always telling the late-night cabs and car services that it's LOO-ker, because that's how my realtor, who's lived around here for a long while (and ended up renting me an apartment on 3rd St., a block which calls for frequent drives down Luquer) called it. I'm receptive to change, however.
I had some friends who lived on Luquer street a few years back and even though they were embarassed about it, they still pronounced it Loo-queer. That's just the way it goes, I guess.
how about loo-KWER (the one I say)
or luck-er
I grew up near there and we pronounced is Lu-Queer. Although some of the old timer accents pronounced it Loo-Queer
We actually offended some friends by calling it Lu-Queer.. so we went back to calling it Lu-Ker...
My landlady (who has lived in the 'hood since before the BQE and who still says that we live in "South Brooklyn") says Looqueer.
The first person I heard saying Luker was a Corcoran broker from Manhattan... so...
It's pronounced Lu-Queer. Anyone claiming otherwise is wrong. I'm not sure who called the PC-police and started pronouncing it differently, but it's even more annoying than people who pronounce Schermerhorn with a SHHH sound.
FYI:
** SEE BELOW **
The link in my last comment appears to have been munged. Also, my use of Lu- is interchangeable with Loo-.
Forgotten NY on Luquer St
It's definitely Loo-QUEER. I know many people who grew up in Carroll Gardens and they all pronounce it that way. To say it any other way is almost as bad as people who pronounce Houston St in Manhattan like Houston, Texas -- and a sure sign you're not from here!
Thts really funny because it's spelled more like LOO-Ker. I'm not sure how you get "Queer" out of that spelling? It even seems more difficult to pronounce that way. Hew-ston/How-ston is easily interchangeable but this one is strange. I think we'll just avoid the street entirely so we don't have to wory about it. ;)
Luquer used to be spelled Luqueer, Forgotten New York has the scoop here: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/luquer/luquer.html
I'm not looking to hijack this post, but the pronunciation of Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights has bothered me for years. I had always assumed it was something like "mi-dug" until I heard the chinese food delivery guys discussing it - they concluded it is pronounced "murder" though I think chinese-accented, brooklynese was to credit there more than anything else.
I always assumed that Luquer was pronounced Lu-KUR, similar to the French liquer (Li-KUR). I don't care how the old timers pronounce it, you won't get me to say Lu-QUEER. I also can't bring myself to pronounce Schermerhorn as SKIMMER-horn. Sorry, folks, but the neighborhood is changing, and we don't all have Brooklyn accents!
my friend's ex girlfriend grew up on Luquer, which used to be spelled Luqueer (her parents have been there for decades). One of the buildings still has that spelling etched in its door. It's pronounced lahQUEER.
Maybe if pronunciation isn't that important to you, you should move back to whichever red state you came from. "the neighborhood is changing" is hardly a justification for making up your own pronunciation key. These streets are named after surnames, and you don't get to change them to something else more palatable just because you hate Brooklynites.
Yikes... not the dreaded "Red State" banishment! Lol..
I take Park Sloper's comment as an offense. I have lived in Brooklyn all of my life and the reason Brooklyn is so great and the reason so many people swarm here is not just because of the recent gentrification but by the people that made Brooklyn, Brooklyn many, many years ago.
Without the history of this borough, whether it is the origin of a street name or something else, it would not be the place that it is. People need to respect Brooklyn and not just see it as a new hipster stomping ground.
As for the "Brooklyn Accent" comment - it's not an accent thing. It's the street name and that's how you pronounce it. Maybe if it's too hard for you, you should move.
What's next?
Are you pronouncing Houston Street as HEW-STEN as in Texas or do you pronounce it HOUSE-TON like it's meant to be.
Oh those crazy Manhattan-ites and their accents!
The original landholder of that part of what later became Carroll Gardens was an Abraham Luqueer (two e's). See this 1846 map. Someone should find a Dutch-speaker to opine on how the name Luqueer is pronounced.
LOU-ker...
Like Liquor is LI-ker.
Stick with Luqueer, and if anyone gives you grief, you can tell them it's very 1990s Act Up! If anything this neighborhood needs a little more queerness!
In Dutch, "ee" makes a long "a" sound. So...maybe lu-kair originally?
I lived there for a couple of years and got the scoop from Joe on the corner. And on Luquer Street, Joe on the corner has the final word on everything.
It was spelled "luqueer" for many years (as someone noted above), and remains pronounced "loo-queer".
Check out the building on the corner of Luquer and Clinton (I think it is on the South West corner) to see an old street sign with the old spelling still embedded in the bricks of the building.
hey don't I get any credit for bringing this up in a previous thread? shocking.... .
Yes, you did, see the "vexing dilemma" link in the posting above!
It'll be awesome if people start saying this, but the true Dutch pronunciation should be "Luh-KVEER." My understanding is that the Luquer name comes from the Luqueer family. In Dutch, "qu" is pronounced "kv," and "ee" is pronounced "ay," accept for when it proceeds an "r," then it's pronounced "ee."
Go Luh-Kveer Street!
We had enough alternate pronunciations to have another poll.
For those who took offense at my comment ... I've lived in Brooklyn for 20 years and am raising my children here, so I hardly hate Brooklynites nor can I be accused of considering Brooklyn nothing but a hipster stomping ground (I'm too old for that, alas....) And for the record, I'm a blue-stater to the core, so calm down, peoples!
Having been born on the West Coast, I suspect that none of you can correctly pronounce San Francisco, Nevada or Oregon, but I don't take personal offense at it. I just chalk it up to the fact that you're not from there and don't know any better. (And even when I correct people, they seem unable to pronounce these names correctly. Go figure.) Now, the fact is that even after 20 years in the borough, I'm not "from" Brooklyn, either, and will never pick up the accent or idiosyncratic pronunications. (New York has an "r" in it, after all.) And I bet few of you pronounce Schermerhorn as SKIMMERhorn, either.
Seriously, no offense intended -- but when I said the borough is changing, I was alluding to the fact that a fairly large percentage of the people currently living in the borough of Brooklyn originated elsewhere, whether that be Manhattan, New Jersey, California, Bolivia, Lebanon, or what have you. For that reason, it's not unreasonable that some of the old pronuniciations will go by the wayside. Language and culture are not static entities; they are ever-changing, and for the most part I think that's a good thing. We can all benefit from the true melting pot that is Brooklyn. That's why I love this borough and have chosen to raise my family here.
Does anyone here know anything about stock certificates for "105 Luqueer Street Corp" circa 1960?
Please email me if you do, or if you know of someone who might have knowledge of them.
thank you,
Kathi
my fathers family was raised on luquer street in red hook during the 20s and 30s and they always called it laqueer st
It is funny that I came accross this posting. My last name is Luquer and every once in a while I do a search of the name to see if any new information regarding my family history comes up. The history of the name started in 1658 when Jean L'Esquier/L'Escuyier, we are not sure of the initial spelling, came to New Amsterdam on a Dutch ship. He was fleeing France because of religious persecution, he was a Huguenot. The Dutch had a hard time with his name, so over many years the spelling changed to what it is today, Luquer. We pronounce it Loo-ker. He married a Dutch woman and settled in Bushwick where he became the magistrate in 1664. At some point in the history of Brooklyn and my family (Jean had 8 children) a street was named for the family. There is also a street in White Plains and in Rome, NY. I hope this helps you in your quest to find out how to pronounce Luquer.
Karone Luquer
Hey Karone--that's really interesting. Thanks for the info!
I grew up in Port Washington, Long Island, (North Shore) NY. I lived for 13 years at 128 Luquer Road. I loved that town and street. When we moved there, we were told by the natives to say, "loo-queer. Your web site has brought back old memories and I am glad to hear about the origin of Luquer. We always had to spell the address for other people at stores, etc.
It would appear - and this is totally unsupported guess - that DOT changed the spelling to reflect how the name **ought** to be pronounced (in Dutch, via Brooklyn), cuz all the ignorami of 50 years ago were prounouncing "Luqueer" as though it was English. It's worth noting that being wrong longer, doesn't make you right!
I'm a Lah-queer resident - or at least that's how I pronounce it. Ever since I moved there from Willoughby, I have always found it interesting, and somewhat funny, that the street names, heading south from President St. (with the exception of Carroll Street) have some sort anachronistic social heirarchy thing going on. President, Carroll (maybe first lady), 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place, 4th Place, Last Pl... wait, let's just go with Luqueer. I know it didn't happen that way, but fun to think about the sneakiness of it.
Also, ever notice that the streets around this area, when driving, seem to be telling you to LEAVE! by way of the one way streets that drop you onto Hamilton - which is basically a one way ticket to the BQE or Battery Park Tunnel (or god forbid Red Hook).
Welcome back to the endless debate!
I know I'm a little late in the game for this one but I just wanted to thank all of the posters for this wonderful education I just got about Carroll Gardens! I was online looking for the correct pronunciation for Schermerhorn (growing up in Prospect Heights, we called it Shermerhorn, but we were clearly worng!) I live around the corner from Luquer and so glad I can impress my friends now by calling it luh-QUEER. Thanks again!
ParkSloper: I'm from the west coast too, and have lived in and pronounced correctly place names in San Francisco and Oregon (not ORE-GONE). I've also lived in Brooklyn for a far shorter time than you, and I still make an effort to pronounce place names the way locals pronounce them. It really isn't that hard to say "Skimmerhorn" and you mark yourself as a douchebag by choosing the wrong pronunciation deliberately rather than out of ignorance. If more people were so obstinate, we'd have been walking on HEW-STON street long ago.
Hi ~
I came across your site about Luquer St. It should be pronounced Lah-queer. I have never heard it pronounced differently by anyone who was born and raised here. Maybe realtors and yuppies moving in want to say it differently, but that is not how it is pronounced by those who've lived on this street their entire lives.
I lived on Luquer street for 16 years and called it Loo-Queer St. Every Day.
I can't believe it is even a debate, if you didnt come from the neighborhood, than ask someone who is "originally" from there, not one who claims it is the neighborhood. Its so funny how all the yuppies try to change things, making it more "french" (out of all things) you are crazy and an idiot if you pronounce it any other way than what its supposed to be.
I think this is a very interesting, yet very funny debate. My maternal grandparents and great-grand mother, my mother, my childhood best friend all lived on Luqueer Street (as embarrassing as it was, we always pronounced it LahQueer). My maternal great-great grandparents settled in the area as children with their parents. My paternal grandparents settled on 4th Place. I no longer live in New York and cannot believe that the street sign has been changed to read Luquer. Why on earth would anyone bother to change the spelling of the street after all the years that it has read Luqueer? I don't know, but it seems a little absurd. And, yes I do understand that the neighborhood has changed quite dramatically over the years, but I always thought that part of the charm of the area was the quaint homey feel you get from strolling through the strangely named streets. I know as a child who grew up on Court Street between 3rd and 4th Place, I always wondered about the street names and who the streets were named for. As a teenager, I did a lot of research on the subject, out of idle curiousity and found a ton of interesting articles, maps, etc. But really, it does not make much of a difference. For whatever reason, the natives of the area, call it LahQueer Street--everyone else should pronounce it however-the- hell they like and get over it!! Please know that I am quite annoyed by the idiot who said basically that the area is changing--DUH! While the demographics may be changing, the history of the area CANNOT. It is what it is and was what it was--like it or lump it.
WELL SAID SISTER MINE! I STILL LIVE ON COURT STREET
BETWEEN LUQUEER AND 4TH PLACE AND I WILL CONTINUE TO EDUCATE ANYONE WHO PRONOUCES IT INCORRECTLY!!!!
SO FAIR THEE WELL ASS*OLE!
My great-grandparents, who were Norwegian immigrants, lived on Luquer Street, number 96, back in 1903; in fact, my great-grandmother died there. The death certificate describes the building as a "tenement." I'm doing a family research project, and I wonder if anybody in the neighborhood today might have an old-timey photo of the area. What's there now? If anyone could send me some info and perhaps a link to find an old photo or postcard, why, I'd be in their debt.
Thanks. Tim at vikingheart60@yahoo.com
who the hell cares how schermerhorn is pronounced!! americans have mispronounced european names for decades!! whats the difference!! like the name Graham for example, as in Graham Crackers, its not pronounced GRAM, as in a miligram...its pronounced GRAY-M as in the color, with a 'M' at the end...its a european name and thats how it is pronounced there! But who cares...the changing of the whole city is what makes New York the city that it is...if ya dont like it, buy yourself and island in bermuda and start a new brooklyn heights with new street signs...