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I have pronounced buoy as "booie" and as "boy", depending on who I am with. My seriously nautical friends call it a "boy". I have always pronounced quay as "kway" .... however, I know that, for example, the city of Torquay is "Torkee" not "Torkway."
You also need to remember regional pronunciations, which can really scramble your brain. For example, here, the name Buchanan, is pronounced "Buck cannon" .... and the name Pedernales is pronounced "Per din al les."
My own accent is very non-regional, so there is no mistaking me for an outsider in this area. Half the time the locals can barely understand me (and vice versa). Words like "tow" are pronounced "tao" instead of "toh" ... the list just goes on and on.
I was shopping for skulls yesterday, and could not get anyone around here to understand the word skull as I say it. I ended up calling it "the bony part of the head ... you know, when all the flesh is gone?" Then, I'd get "Oh, thuh skuh!"
The composer, Verdi? His name is pronounced "Birdee" here .... I could sit here and note the weirdness until my fingerprints were worn right off.
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