re: Why is JORdan-Hare pronounced JURdan-Hare?

I have heard Jordan pronounced Jur-den most of my life. Most of these pronunciations, if you go back in time, are the way the English pronounced those words. I have also heard Houston pronounced as House-ton most of my life, for the same reasons.

I traveled into Illinois near Cairo once and stopped at the Welcome Station. I asked they guy working there how do the natives pronounce Cairo - he said Kay-ro. My response was -same as in Georgia. A Houston street in Manhattan is pronounced House - ton, same as in Georgia.

I remember a Wisconsin fan, a few years back, denigrating the term football britches saying it was a Southern backward term. I told him it was actually a derivation of the old English word breeches, which means short pants covering the leg to the knees.

None of these words are new or backward, just products of our English culture.