NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Take the ‘Nor’ out of Norfolk, and you’d get something neither said nor done in polite company, but you’d be halfway home to properly pronouncing it, according to a pinned Facebook post from The NorVa.

That post from the entertainment venue called attention to the unintentional butchering of the Mermaid City’s name by entertainment acts for years.

Seemingly tired of the fingernails-on-chalkboard sounding mispronounciations, it decided to handle it in a very NorVa way.

It’s a simple post, really, if not a simple way to pronounce the NorVa’s home city.

Captioned, “We gotta let ’em know…,” it posted a photo of its pronunciation guide.

Read from the bottom to the top of the steps leading to the stage:

IT’S NOT

NOR-FOLK

IT’S PRONOUNCED

NOR-FUK

The post has gone viral, with more than 3,300 comments and 6,500 shares.

Norfolk, though hardly the only city or town in Virginia – or elsewhere – to have its name mispronounced, has been through the vocal ringer.

Comments on the post vary from confusion on how people are supposed to read what’s on the steps …

“Don’t people normally read things top-to-bottom, even when it’s written on stairs? Could take a while to sort out ‘Nor-fuk it’s pronounced Nor-Folk it’s not’ in your head while running up on stage, unless you usually talk like Yoda.”

To creative ways to remember how to pronounce it …

“Say the F-Bomb. Yes, it really is pronounced that way”

“We don’t drink, we don’t smoke, norfolk, norfolk. That little ditty tells you how it’s pronounced. Heard this from a Norfolk native 30 years ago.“

Some, though, want us to say it this way …

“It is Naw-fuk, people.”

Naw? Nor?

Fuk? Fik? Folk?

Taking a step-by-step approach, The NorVa wants artists to know by the time they reach the stage how it thinks the Mermaid City’s name should be said:

NOR-FUK.