SPARKS, Nev. - Republican Mitt Romney was ready with the correct pronunciation of Nevada when he made his first appearance in Sparks in October at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel-casino.

What he didn't know was that the people of Sparks have a bit of a chip on their shoulder living largely in the shadow of their bigger, bordering neighbor Reno.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, opened by teasing the audience, saying that just the week before he had been in "Nuh-VAY-duh."

Several in the crowd shouted, "Nuh-VAD-uh."

Romney replied with a smile: "I'm talking about Nevada, Iowa" - which is how that Iowa town is correctly pronounced, with the long `a' like `hay'.

Later in his speech, Romney recalled how his father, George Romney, was giving a speech his first year as governor of Michigan on the Fourth of July in the town of Mount Pleasant, Mich.

"He got up on the stage and said, `It's great being here in Mount Clemens,"' Mitt Romney recalled.

"There was this big `Oooooohhhhhhh' from the audience, and my mother sitting behind him said, `George, it's Pleasant. Pleasant.' And he said, `Yes, it's very pleasant here in Mount Clemens."

"Well, I know I'm here in Reno," Mitt Romney told the Nugget crowd, "don't you worry about that."

To which several people shouted, "Sparks, Sparks."

Romney said, "Well, I LANDED in Reno."

And after much laughter by all, he said, "Where the heck was I?"

"It's very pleasant here in Sparks."