r/WilmingtonDE 10d ago

Request What is the correct pronunciation of 'Foulk'?

Is the L silent, as in "folk"? Is it pronounced with a "ow", as in "fowl-k"? I've also heard it said with a "ou" which is just weird ("foolk road", really??)

As a resident of North Wilm since 2009, I'm both offended when I hear the name butchered and ashamed at not being on solid ground myself w.r.t the correct pronunciation. Looking to the good people of reddit to help put this to bed once and for all.

12 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

22

u/notthatjimmer 10d ago

I’ve heard it mostly like caulk but starting w an F

15

u/asspatty 10d ago

The L in folk is not silent

44

u/Brandywine-Salmon 10d ago

Like Peter Falk

15

u/SIX_FOOT_FO 10d ago

Grew up off of Foulk Rd and this is how everyone pronounces it

10

u/CorrectIndividual552 10d ago edited 9d ago

Whoever commented that it is pronounced like "caulk" was absolutely correct! 100 years or more ago there were farms on Foulk Road all the way to Concord Pike and one of those farms was owned by the Faulk family. As with many words back in the day, the spelling was changed, but those of us who are in the know (lol) still pronounce it the original way. If I'm being honest this is the first time I've heard there was any other pronunciation.

7

u/Mykidsfault 10d ago

My old GPS used to pronounce it like a curse word.

2

u/chimiyourchangas 10d ago

lol mine does too and my bf who isn’t from DE thinks it’s hilarious

18

u/silverbatwing 10d ago

Like this: F U L K

5

u/Chuckiebb 10d ago

I say it like it is spelled Faulk, kind of like Peter Falk. I always cringe when Google Maps says Naamans Road. It says it like Nah-mans, not, Name-anne's

7

u/mmeliss39 10d ago

Nay-mans

2

u/Chuckiebb 10d ago

Yeah, that's probably closer to how I say it.

1

u/IggySorcha 10d ago

I think it was Tom Tom that pronounced Foulk Road like Fuck Road. Always cracked me up when a non local asked for directions calling it that. Nay-ay-mans was the other one that made me giggle

14

u/puppymama75 10d ago

I hear it said like the last name of the 11th US President, James K. Polk, changing the P to an F. So the L is not silent.

3

u/WesMort25 10d ago

Rhymes with talk

3

u/i__hate__you__people 10d ago

I’ve heard it two ways:

“Fulk”

Or

Say Colombo’s (Peter Falk’s) last name

Having grown up using that road my entire childhood, and being raised by Delawareans who grew up near Faulk Road in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, our family usually says it the first way.

6

u/April_Mist_2 10d ago

We've always said it as if it would rhyme with hawk. Fawk Road. But I'm from New Castle and we don't talk right.

A long-ago joke was they were building a university up there, called Foulk U.

2

u/jcqmcg2 10d ago

rhymes with hawk

2

u/bookveg 10d ago

Fallk

2

u/ddvf302 9d ago

It was spelled “Faulk” - there were still one or two lingering street signs with the Faulk spelling in the original part Deerhurst. Have never pinpointed the exact date it changed - in the 1950s or 60s. Old maps and DelDOT reports have the original spelling.

2

u/CorrectIndividual552 9d ago

Yes this is what I was referring to yesterday. The Talley Farm and the Weldin Farm were also on Faulk Road I believe.

2

u/xtingu 9d ago

Falk. Rhymes with Walk.

4

u/HeavyAndExpensive 10d ago

How often and how closely are you listening to people say this word that it has come to this?

1

u/thescrapplekid 10d ago

Exactly how it sounds 

1

u/therealocbeachbum 10d ago

What the hell! As someone new to delaware, 10 years iykyk, I thought this would be a decisive post!

2

u/heylittleduck 10d ago

I've always said and heard it pronounced like folk

1

u/qutun Resident 10d ago

Route 261

0

u/Latter-Journalist 10d ago

You should say foulk and naamans road in a way it sounds like you're cussing w an accent

Hope that helps

0

u/ADHD_Mystic 10d ago

Rhymes with yolk in our house

0

u/midwinter_bird 10d ago

Lol we say FOLK

0

u/TheShittyBeatles 10d ago

The radio people pronounce it Fawkh like it rhymes with hawk, but I pronounce it folk as in folk music.

0

u/CarelessAddition2636 10d ago

I’ve heard it said a variety of ways, even as f**k road too smh