Pronunciation: Putting the "cow" in "Moscow"

Recently, Russia was in the news--specifically, the city of Moscow. And I noticed another difference in pronunciation up here.

In the U.S., the city in Idaho is pronounced "MOSS-koe," where "koe" sounds like "toe." The city in Russia, in contrast, is pronounced "MOSS-cow," where "cow" sounds like "moo" and chews grass.

In Canada, they're both pronounced "MOSS-koe," like the toe. That's the opposite of what I expected, based on the Canadian open vowel in "PASS-tuh," which is what we in the U.S. call "PAH-stuh" or, for the under-8 crowd, "puh-SKET-tee."

In such subtle ways we betray our background.