How do you say Lubbock? The City wants to know.

Is it "LUH-BUHK" or "LUH-BIHK"?

The proper way to pronounce the city's name is a debate as old as Lubbock itself. Now, the City of Lubbock wants to settle the argument once and for all.

The City of Lubbock posted a poll on its official Twitter account Thursday asking the simple question, and tweeters can't seem to agree.

In fact, staff in the city's communications and marketing department who concocted the poll can't come to a consensus either. Lauren Adams, lead communications and marketing specialist for the City of Lubbock, told the Avalanche-Journal the office is pretty much 50/50.

"We're split, and most of us are from here," Adams said. "I am an 'UHK' person. I saw somebody had posted earlier, 'Team LUB-BUHK because we're not icky.'"

When asked if there were other viable options besides "LUH-BUHK" or "LUH-BIHK," Adams' answer was an unequivocal no.

"Occasionally you get some rando that reads (Lubbock) and says 'LOO-BAHK' — and that doesn't even make the voting because that's insane," she said, only partly joking. "I'm pretty sure that's like straight-up phonics. The double B determines if it's a long or short vowel … so why would anybody say 'LOO-BAHK'?"

Adams said she hopes this survey and similar future projects will help start conversations that foster a sense of community pride in a lighthearted way.

"It's been a very heavy couple years in the city, and we wanted to engage the citizens over something that isn't so heavy … and maybe also get a little bit of local pride going again," Adams said. "We're hoping to (start) some positive chit-chat, just getting everybody connected and engaged, talking about the city not in a negative capacity."

Citizens can weigh in at twitter.com/cityoflubbock or mylubbock.us/luvlbk.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: How do you say Lubbock? The Texas city wants to know