What I'd like to know is how long does the general populace have to mispronounce a word before the original, correct pronounciation is abandoned or considered archaic by the word police?
If the word is a foreign language word, I'd say it's never inappropriate to defer to the real pronunciation (within reason, of course: "rih-goe-leh-toe" is a reasonable enough English pronunciarion of
Rigoletto and there's no need go as far as "ree-goh-leyt-toh" but "jiggly" is not a reasonable enough English approximation of
Gigli). All of which is to say that, even if lawyers may pronounce "voire dire" as "voyer dyer" I am still going to die a little inside each time they do, and will continue to say "vware deer."
Now, I'm normally the kinda guy (and the kinda cocktail geek) who's willing to fight the good fight but I find it a bit ridiculous to correct someone--or even mention in passing--as to the "correct" pronounciation of "daiquiri". If I ever make it to Cuba I'll be happy to say "die-kee-ree" but here in the good ol'U.S. of A. I'm afraid it's not only a lost cause but even a bit pretentious to make this distinction. In "my" dictionary "die-kee-ree" is listed as the second pronounciation--preferred, maybe, but archaic for sure.
Of course, plenty of people find it ridiculous and pretentious to point out that the Martini is made with gin and vermouth in due proportion instead of vodka and a sideways glance at the vermouth bottle, or that prime beef has properties that distinguish it from supermarket grade beef -- but plenty of us feel these are "fights worth fighting." So I guess that sort of thing is where you find it. Please feel free to skip over those parts in your reading of this thread.
In general, of course, I don't go around every day telling people the proper pronunciation of "daiquiri" any more than I do the pronunciation of "absinth" (hint: it's not "ab-synth") or "bolognese." Indeed, I'm known to say both "dack-uh-ree" and "ab-synth" around 50% of the time myself. But I don't think it's inappropriate to point out the correct pronunciation of the cockail's name in the context of a discussion around the minutae of the drink, including historical origins and "definitive recipe." If one is going to invoke the likes of Constantino Ribalaigua and Jennings Cox, why not mention the real pronunciation?
Anyway, that's neither here nor there. If people in America started pronouncing "Mojito" as "moe-jeye-toe" instead of "mo-hee-to" -- I'd probably mention it in passing as part of a thread on the Mojito.
Edited by slkinsey, 05 April 2007 - 01:19 PM.
