Pronunciations

[SandyM]

Okay, I'll bite (because I knew someone would eventually, after the chi-POH-tlay thread.......)

What are some food pronunciations that make you think twice, or drive you mad?

Sarah Moulton (love her to death) pronounces the dish where you take baguette bread, toast it, rub with garlic, top with fresh tomatoes and garlic tossed in balsamic vinegar - she calls it
bra-SKEE-tah. I always thought it was bruh-SHET-tah

I have also heard her pronounce the word spelled gratin as
grah-TAAAAN, where I say GRAH-tin.

I'm not saying I'm right, mind you, it's just a curiosity for me.

Any others?

[beejayw1]

I was wondering how long it would take for a thread on this to start...

How about Par MEE see an for Parmesan?

Then there's my neighbor who uses 'byoo mon DAY' seasoning ('Beau Monde')

The owner of a Greek restaurant I go to winces whenever someone asks for a 'JIE (rhymes with pie) row' sandwich instead of a gyro (which he pronounces 'HEE row') ;)

[kwormann]

WHat about Martha and her Herbs which I pronounce Erbs.

I have always heard the gyro as Yee-ro

I honestly have trouble with the cheese that starts with an "A"

I have heard AAHHS-Waygo and I have heard AA -SEE-AAHgo

Anyone, Anyone????

[beejayw1]

It's 'ah see YAH go' (helps if you study romance languages)

[lorilei]

Originally posted by kwormann
WHat about Martha and her Herbs which pronounce Erbs.

What about Martha?!?
What about me? I'm an "Erb" gal myself...

***

Alright, I got really curious. So I looked it up in the dictionary.

I'm afraid Martha and I are safe. :) Even Webster agrees that "Herb" is pronounced (h)erb (make that a schwa "e" for me, will ya?)

:)

[aggie94]

Sandy,

I've always said broo-SHEH-tah as well, but I think the technically correct pronunciation is broo-SKEH-tah (definitely not bra-SKEE-tah).

Some of my pet peeves, a few of which I've mentioned before (food and non-food):

ah-SAH-gee-oh (or any of the aforementioned mispronunciations), instead of AH-see-AH-go

foh-ca-CHEE-uh (for foccacia) -- my DH's best friend said that at an Italian restaurant once when we were with him, and I was so embarrassed!

ray-mee-awn (for Ramen) -- that was my college roommate's

supposably

orientate (NOT a word!)

I'm sure more will come to mind as people add to this thread!

By the way, how do you pronounce quinoa?

[beejayw1]

By the way, how do you pronounce quinoa?


Well, I said 'kwin OH wah' until I was corrected to KEEN wah. I understand my red face is worth seeing...

[lorilei]

Originally posted by aggie94
By the way, how do you pronounce quinoa?

I can help out with this one:

It's KEEN-WAH... :) Just like you expected, right?

[Heidi]

I made quinoa on Sunday night and I pronounce it "KEE-nwa" with the emphasis on the first syllable. I can't remember exactly what it said on the back of the box, but it was something to that effect.

By the way, I thought it was extremely yucky, no matter how you pronounce it. It looked just like birdseed.

And how do you correctly say foccacia?

[Wendy w]

Originally posted by lorilei


What about Martha?!?
What about me? I'm an "Erb" gal myself...

Martha's pronunciation of marinade makes me nuts. She says mah rin ahd. The rest of us pronounce it mare in ade.

[kwormann]

Originally posted by Heidi


And how do you correctly say foccacia?

I say Fo(long o)-CAHH ch-uah (hope the phonetics make sense...)

[lorilei]

Just thought of a good one, actually.

My mother-in-law calls tiramisu "TARA-MAT-ZU"

Yes. It's true.
We can't get her to stop.

[SandyM]

Originally posted by kwormann
I say Fo(long o)-CAHH ch-uah (hope the phonetics make sense...)

Hmmmmm.....this is how I say it ...........

fo (long o) - KAH-sha.

[aggie94]

Originally posted by SandyM


Hmmmmm.....this is how I say it ...........

fo (long o) - KAH-sha.

Me too.

And KEEN-wah? Who woulda thunk? (beejayw1 - don't feel bad. I would have guessed the same as you!)

[emilycat]

I love this thread!
You knew I'd have to pop in here sooner or later ;)

Here are mine:

These are horrendous -- a fellow foodie was raving about how she wanted to try more RICE-ling (ack! of course, she was referring to Riesling)
and raved how much she loves gor-GON-zola and gwa-YAY. She should never be invited to a wine and cheese party.

One of my co-workers mentioned some a-NISE in a dish he'd had, but I bit my tongue (and he's a copy-editor, no less).

When in doubt, I visit Epicurious's Food Dictionary -- I have a blast there looking up pronunciations for all the French terms I'm not sure how to pronounce.

BTW, I love to say Ratatouille and Prosciutto -- they're so much fun. :D

[gertdog]

A couple I know insists that you don't pronounce the final vowel in most Italian words. So they say "foh-kahtch" for focaccia, "broo-sheht" for bruschetta, rigatone (rhymes with phone) for rigatoni, and the one that makes me most crazy, "mah-sah-rell" for mozzarella. Funny, they don't say "spah-get." They say an Italian man they met in New Mexico taught them correct pronounciations; I say they got their legs pulled. The woman in this couple was telling me recently about this great magazine she found, "Savior"... I thought she was talking about a religious magazine until she started describing recipes. Then I understood she meant Saveur.

I'm curious to hear the correct pronounciation for "gratin"... I'm pretty sure I've pronounced it ten different ways, none of them correct. :)

[KValley]

I've always said broo-SHEH-tah as well, but I think the technically correct pronunciation is broo-SKEH-tah (definitely not bra-SKEE-tah).

Brava! Yes, bruschetta is pronounced broo-SKEH-tah- in Italian, a "ch" before an "e" or an "i" = hard "k" sound;

Similarly, a "cc" before an "e"or "i" is equivalent to a "ch" in English, so foccacia is "foh'CA' chee'ah

Gratin: grah-TAN, first "a" is like apple; you don't pronounce the N- it sort of ends up in your nose with the "i", which sounds more like a short "a" We just don't have an equivalent in English to the French -tin

Heidi- don't give up on KEEN-wah! I am a recent convert- I thought it was disgusting my first go around, but I've found some great recipes!

My MIL calls Beaujolais Bo-jo-lis :O

[SandyM]

Originally posted by emilycat
BTW, I love to say Ratatouille and Prosciutto -- they're so much fun. :D

Me too!!

Ummm.......gwa-YAY?? Whut's this?

[emilycat]

Try not to cringe-- her version of Gruyere. :eek:

I couldn't resist to confirm my suspicious and looked up "gratin" -- Julie's explanation is the correct way to pronounce it in French, but GRAH-tn is the accepted pronunciation in English.

[aggie94]

Originally posted by emilycat
a fellow foodie ... raved how much she loves ... gwa-YAY.

Oh, good God! I couldn't figure out what that was supposed to be, then went back and read your later post. Ever feel really embarrassed for someone, like a friend doing karaoke who is really awful? That's how I would have felt!

[KValley]

Originally posted by emilycat
Try not to cringe-- her version of Gruyere. :eek:

I couldn't resist to confirm my suspicious and looked up "gratin" -- Julie's explanation is the correct way to pronounce it in French, but GRAH-tn is the accepted pronunciation in English.

I also have to stop myself from saying "nohtreh dahm" instead of "nodder daym" when I'm talking about the U.S. university and not the cathedral in Paris. :)

You can take the girl out of France, but you can't take the French outta the girl!! :D

[SandyM]

Originally posted by emilycat
Try not to cringe-- her version of Gruyere. :eek:


Eeeee-GADS.......

[Irene Bartlett]

I found this thread really funny. Actually my native language is French, and when I was a child, everybody used to say that to have a great English accent you need to speak with a very hot potato in your mouth !!! LOL

[Jewel]

A few weeks ago DH and I went to dinner with a buddy of mine and her husband. Her husband handed his menu back to the waiter and said "I'll have the turkey on the FO-KAKA bread. (Imagine dirty diapers here...) I almost slid under the table. :rolleyes:

[KValley]

Returning after having all together too much fun on the Epicurious Food Dictionary website. I did look up Myzithra, as in Myzithra cheese, but it is not there (I also tried Mizythra)! I am assuming it is a phonetic translation of the Greek letters, so I've been saying miz-EE thrah?

Anyone?

Bonjour, ee-ren :)

[Grace]

I've always said bru-SKEH-tah for bruschetta, but every single waiter/waitress (and I mean every single one) "corrects" me, and says, "ok, you'd like the bru-SCHE-tah", so I've given up completely and gone to saying bru-SCHE-ta, even though I know it's wrong. I can't fight 230 million people (That's the US population minus a few million I'm assuming there are a few million SOMEWHERE in the world who know the right way - most of them are here on this BB!).

I had a friend's Grandmother who used to say glock-a-MORE-a for guacamole!!! eek!

But chipotle (I didn't see the other thread), is one that really grates on me. EVERYONE at my office says chi-POLE-tee....makes me cringe.

How about expecially or even worse - EXPRESSO!!! (I sell coffee for a living, so I hear this one a LOT) - it's ESPRESSO - there is NO letter X anywhere in the word.

[Jennett]

Oh, this thread is so timely. I just finished listening to someone's diatribe about proper "pronounciation". By the time the rant was over, everyone in the room was dying. It was AWFUL!

On to the food-related blunders I've heard. "Shanti" (known to us as chianti) stands out, as well as "expresso". But the worst for me had to be one of my dear friends from college, who was a total foodie, and had traveled extensively. And she tended to always pronounce foreign words with very strong (though not always authentic) accents. Then, in the beginning of our sophmore year, she stopped saying cheese. Before then, she always said "cheese". Now, she was calling it "frommage". But she was saying "frummidge". At first, we all thought it was a private joke. But nope, that's what she thought it was called. And mind you, she'd lived in France! And she would go on and on about what good frummidge they had! I didn't become good friends with her until later that year, so I wasn't the one who corrected her. But by December, she'd gone back to "cheese".

[emilycat]

Ah, Grace, what about your favorite? Sherbert! :D

[beacooker]

I was at a really nice Italian restaurant a few weeks ago, and was told by the waiter that the fish special for that night was 'hallyboo'. After he left the table, I told my husband I'd never had or even heard of a fish called hallyboo. A minute later I realized the waiter meant 'halibut'!!

And not to make anyone cringe, but I haven't the faintest idea how to pronounce Gruyere.

[KValley]

Originally posted by Grace
But chipotle (I didn't see the other thread), is one that really grates on me. EVERYONE at my office says chi-POLE-tee....makes me cringe.

How about expecially or even worse - EXPRESSO!!! (I sell coffee for a living, so I hear this one a LOT) - it's ESPRESSO - there is NO letter X anywhere in the word.

Grace, DH says chi-POLE-tee; he also pronounces the W in sword. This baffled me (not to mention drove me NUTS) until I heard his mom say sword one day- then it all came together.

EXPRESSO is one of my top triggers for a pronunciation rant. I even see it WRITTEN this way.

And now that I have discovered epicurious.com, I see that bru-SCHE-tah is an accepted pronunciation.

And not to make anyone cringe, but I haven't the faintest idea how to pronounce Gruyere.

beacooker- gruyere is groo-YEHR

[aggie94]

Originally posted by beacooker
And not to make anyone cringe, but I haven't the faintest idea how to pronounce Gruyere.

groo-YEHR. Any guess of yours probably would have been better than gwa-YAY (sorry, Em!).

[Jewel]

Chalk up one more Washingtonian who gets irritated at Expresso!!

And even though it is not food-related, the one that I hear mispronounced more than any other word is: HEIGHT . Over and over I hear HEIGHTH with a 'TH' on the end. Drives me nuts...

[kwormann]

MIL gets mad when someone says "carmel" instead of "car-a-mel. She says she LIVES in Carmel Indiana and you EAT caramel. Actually, Ive seen the FOOD spelled both ways!

[emilycat]

Oh, Eva, no offense taken -- it pained me to hear her say it that way and keep my mouth shut!

[aggie94]

Originally posted by emilycat
Ah, Grace, what about your favorite? Sherbert! :D

Ooh, that's a good one!

Along those same lines (and eXpresso as well), my maiden name was Shih (pronounced "she," with a long "e"). I couldn't believe how often people would call and ask for Ms. SMITH and how much mail I got addressed to "Eva SMITH" (even the nurse at my doctor's office once called for me by SMITH). WHERE on earth do you see an "m" or a "t" in the word "Shih"??? Frankly, I think people are just lazy.

[Grace]

Originally posted by emilycat
Ah, Grace, what about your favorite? Sherbert! :D

Oh yeah!!! I totally forgot about that one! I could go on and on for hours on this subject. One of my bigger pet peeves. We could have a whole separate BOARD just on mispronounciations, there are so many! :D

[lindrusso]

Oh my, - gwa-YAY and hallyboo - these are too, too funny.

I don't have a goof that hasn't been covered here (including some of my own ;) ), but the funniest misspelling I ever saw regarding food was "camonbear" from someone who had posted on the Martha Stewart board.

[BosunsWife]

All I can say is boy this crowd is rough. If I don't know how to say something, I don't say it until I figure out the right way to pronounce it.

I always get a little giggle when I listen to my inlaws (from RI). They pronounce Italian as "Eye"talian. Whats up with that!

[Gail]

Have I told you this one? Many years ago, my family took a woman-- notorious for "stretching the truth"-- out for a Mexican meal. After listening to her diatribe on why it is the duty of every person living in California to study the Spanish language, she glanced up at the waiter and proclaimed, "I'll have the chile rolano." (chile relleno, for you non-Spanish speakers, is pronounced roughly CHEE-lay ray-YEN-oh.)

Then there's the relative who insisted upon saying EYE-talian. Unable to stand it, my husband said, "Why do you pronounce it that way? I mean, what country do they come from...?"

Yep. She said, "EYE-taly." We're still hoping she was kidding. :p

Oh, and my personal favorite is "parmesano." I find myself screaming at the television screen, "EITHER SAY IT IN ENGLISH OR IN ITALIAN!" Now that I've riled myself up all over, I have to go lie down.

[Ralph]

Originally posted by Grace
I had a friend's Grandmother who used to say glock-a-MORE-a for guacamole!!! eek!

Wonderful, funny thread!

When we were in Maui several years ago, we ordered some nachos (among other things) from room service. They asked if we wanted it with "that gwa-tah-mah-lee" sauce! We still laugh about it.

[lorilei]

Originally posted by Jewel
And even though it is not food-related, the one that I hear mispronounced more than any other word is: HEIGHT . Over and over I hear HEIGHTH with a 'TH' on the end. Drives me nuts...

Interesting notation, Jewel:

"Heighth" is actually an alternate pronunciation for "Height". It's one of those bizarre words that hung onto its old English roots :)

This reminds me of an argument two friends of mine were having over how to spell the color grey. One insisted it was spelled "gray", the other insisted it was "grey". Someone even cited the spelling on the Crayola crayon, insisting THAT must be the correct form. Neither one was too thrilled when they found out that BOTH spellings were perfectly acceptable.

[Ohioan]

Okay, here comes the pedant -- and that's pedant, not pendant, although I do hang around a lot.:) On the grey/gray controversy, "grey" is the British spelling, and "gray" is the American spelling. So although, technically, both are acceptable, to use the British one if you're American might be considered affected, and ... well, I doubt whether any self-respecting Britisher would use an Americanism at all, excepted to belittle Americans!:) Same thing with theatre/theater, colour/color, etc.

Having said that, I now admit that I usually write "grey," "theatre," and "colour" (also "honour"). I use the excuse that I grew up reading British novels -- Austen, Dickens, et al. -- but I suppose I'm just being ornery. :p And notice I didn't say I was being affected; "ornery" sounds so much more like a free spirit, whereas "affected" just suggests an obnoxious creep. :p

Ain't words grand?

Lexiconically,
Phoebe

[beejayw1]

"grey" is the British spelling, and "gray" is the American spelling.

I've been enjoying this thread.

As a writer, I tend to get into nuances with words. Isn't it interesting how words pronounced the same way conjure up different images? For me, 'grey' is the color of mist or fog or the Atlantic ocean on a cloudy day. 'Gray' is tweed, gray flannel, or a house with gray paint.

New question:

You're at a dinner party or some sort of function where there are a lot of people who don't necessarily know each other well. Someone really butchers a word - like, say 'Swart KOW skee' for 'Swarovski' (Pronounced Swah ROFF skee). Or 'ah SAH gee oh' for asiago. What do you do? Correct them? Use the word correctly in another sentence? Use another word?

(I remember a situation where my mother told someone she was thinking of using mauve (pronounced 'mohve') in her living room. The person she was talking with said she always liked mauve (pronounced 'mawv'). Mom said that yes, mohve was a lovely color. The other said that she felt that mawv added tone to a room. And so on. The other is a bit of a pain; Mom was chuckling inside.

[AD]

You can hear quite a few strange pronunciations here in Texas.

I remember having trouble with "couscous" until I heard about it on television. I never had an occasion to say it. I have the most trouble with foods I'm not familiar with. I recall looking up "lecithin" in the dictionary once too. (I had been saying "LEK-ih-tin"). When I was about 8 years old, I heard someone say "potatoes au gratin" and thought it was "potatoes all rotten"! :p

There is a restaurant called "Chipotle" nearby. How DO you pronounce it by the way? Then there is also "paella" which I am still a bit unsure of.

Also, how do you pronounce that reduced-fat cream cheese "neufchatel"? :confused:

If I am unsure of a pronunciation, I will generally say so before mentioning it to anyone else.

[emilycat]

AD --

Check out the thread Jewel started called "How 'bout I just call it a pepper?" for way more than you ever needed to know about how to pronounce the darned thing. :p

And, new-sha-TELL.

[beacooker]

You're at a dinner party or some sort of function where there are a lot of people who don't necessarily know each other well. Someone really butchers a word. What do you do?

That was my dilemma at the hallyboo restaurant. I wanted that dish, but if I ordered the halibut, would he know which dish I was talking about? And then I got worried that hallyboo was the true Italian way of saying halibut, and I would sound really un-cool saying halibut (ok, that worry passed pretty quickly). I think I finally decided I would feel too silly ordering hallyboo, so I said halibut. I got the correct order, so I guess it worked out!!

At a dinner party, it would probably depend on how nice I was feeling that night, and how I felt about the person. I think I would probably say something like "Oh, I didn't know it was pronounced 'ah SAH gee oh', I always say 'ah SEE ah go'. All these weird words are so confusing!" or something like that. That way it kind of sounds like I don't think they're wrong, but I could say it the way I want to.

[Binny]

I've seen recipes for Tuna Nicoise (I think that's the spelling). The "c" always has a funny comma like thing after it. I guess its French. How do you say that word?:confused:

[beejayw1]

C with the funny s-thing (called a sedilla - sp?? - in Spanish) is pronounced like 's'. An 'e' after a consonant in French generally makes it necessary to pronounce the consonant. (Think Louis and Louise as pronounced by the French)

So Nicoise is pronounced Nee SWAHZ.

Gosh, maybe I can have a salade Nicoise for lunch...

[KValley]

Originally posted by Binny
I've seen recipes for Tuna Nicoise (I think that's the spelling). The "c" always has a funny comma like thing after it. I guess its French. How do you say that word?:confused:

Binny- It is indeed French- after the Mediterranean town of Nice from where the Niçoise style originated. nee-SWAHZ The funny comma thing is a cédille, which indicates in French that the c is pronounced as an s. :)

[heeter]

Laughing - laughing - laughling out loud, my office must think I'm crazy but our family favorite is . . . . an extended family member when out one night ordered the ka-june chicken.

[sharonf]

How about "breafast" with an "F", instead of Breakfast! I have a friend who says that, and it drives me up the wall!!

[aggie94]

Originally posted by AD
Then there is also "paella" which I am still a bit unsure of.

pie-AY-yuh

[SandyM]

Originally posted by emilycat
new-sha-TELL.

Thanks, Emily. I buy it, I just don't say it. Now I can! :D

[BevP]

Oh, it drives me nuts. I lived in Italy for 3 years and always said Bru-sket-ta and was never corrected (because it was correct). Besides no Italian would rudely correct you but gently and with humor help you out. Now I go into even (fairly) good Italian restaurants around here and get corrected (!) to bru-schetta. Pu-lees.

And...a gyro (gi-ro) is a compass used in aircraft. I really don't want to eat one. A gyro (ye-ro) is a greek sandwich, and I love them even though to be authentic they have lamb meat.

[HUNGRY!]

The other day my boyfriend and I went out to lunch and I ordered the fruit plate and an order of bruschetta. Now, I've heard it pronounced both ways but I usually say it with the soft 'sh'. I've always heard that both ways are acceptable. Well, anyway, the rude rude waiter pretended that he didn't know what I was talking about. I said bruschetta and he said what? I repeated bruschetta a little louder, and he just gave me a look like what planet are you from? So I pointed to my menu and he said, oh you mean the Bru-sket-ah. I was so mad at the man. I mean, it was a bar too, not some fancy place. Even if I had pronounced it totally wrong (which I'm not convinced I did) he had no right to treat me that way. He obvously knew what I was talking about and just wanted to make me feel bad. What a jerk.

Okay sorry to rant.

[Mandy]

I love this thread!

Some of my big ones are:

WASH - I've heard people around here say WARSH, I HATE that!!!

CINCINNATI- Some say CINCINATAH

ESPRESSO- as mentioned, EXPRESSO

ITALIAN- EYE-TALIAN

[ClaireM]

Gee, Hungry, that waiter was too rude! I think I would have up and left the restaurant, and mentioned why to the maitre d' on the way out!

[LaraW]

After reading this thread, it has made me wonder how to pronounce (properly) hoisin - as in the Chinese condiment

I pronounce it HOSE-in

Is this right???

The other one I wonder about is Missoura

:)

Lara

[JHolcomb]

The funny thing about this is that I almost posted about how Martha Stewart's pronounciation of Herb kills me. Jeez, she's not English-she so can't get away with that without sounding pretentious.

I love my husband, but he says Peench for Pinch. It makes me insane, but my uncle says it too. Funny, because neither my dad nor any of his other siblings have given into that way of saying it.]

And I too said bruh-SKET-ah until I got fed up with waiters correcting me.
Oh, my fave was when I was waiting tables and this guy came in and ordered the qwee-SHE.

Oh, and I almost forgot-and this is the best one. I worked with a waitress who insisted on calling Creme de Cacao "Creeme de KaKa." When I laughed myself into tears over this one, everyone looked at me like I was insane, even after I explained what was so funny. They just didn't see what was wrong with her pronunciation.

Anyway, I'm safe as long as no one starts complaining about my spelling.

[browneye]

Originally posted by LaraW
After reading this thread, it has made me wonder how to pronounce (properly) hoisin - as in the Chinese condiment

I pronounce it HOSE-in

Is this right???

The other one I wonder about is Missoura

:)

Lara

Um, Lara, I believe it's "Hoy- Sin" sauce.

I get chills on the back of my neck when people say "sal-za" for salsa!!!! Especially when they really slide that "Z" sound like "sal-zzza" YUK!
ICK!
This thread is very funny.

[Norma]

I was at a function recently where the host was serving kroodiments (crudités). :D