Racial profiling or just that horrible Rochester accent?

Heading into security here at Rochester International Airport (international by virtue of flights to Canada, I’m sure), I was asked what my final destination was. Apparently not hearing me well, instead of asking me to repeat myself, he asked, “North Korea?” I repeated myself, this time adding “Virginia”, and he said, “OHHHH Norfolk” (pronounced Nor-Folk). Should I be irritated that:

a) He didn’t realize that you can’t just fly into North Korea.
b) He assumed I was going to an Asian country. Without my passport.
c) They pronounce Norfolk so damn weird up here.

FYI, other non-Virginians: it’s NOR-fək. That weird character is called a schwa – it’s that indeterminate vowel that’s kind of like “uh” but non-accented.

One response to “Racial profiling or just that horrible Rochester accent?”

  1. wow, he’s lucky you aren’t actually from norfolk proper, in which case you probably would have pronounced it naw-f?k.

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