Common Food Mispronunciations and Misnomers

[Panaderia Canadiense]

DOOL-say day LAY-chay, roughly.

[Hassouni]

unless from Spain, in which case "dulthe"

[Marie-Ora]

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, here are some Mexican dishes and beers I hear people getting wrong. Some may be jaw-droppingly obvious to most, but ya never know! I was Spanish major, and pronunciation is my thing, so this is as phonetcially correct as you can get it for an English speaker, If you want to hear audio, you are welcome to go to the site, but I'll make it as complete as I can here:

chilaquiles tchee/lah/KEE/lehs

burritos boo/RREE/tohs

frijoles refritos FREE/xoh/lehs reh/FREE/tohs

tortillas tohr/TEE/yahs

huevos rancheros WEH/vohs rahn/TCHEH/rohs

tamales tah/MAH/lehs

huitlacoche weet/lah/KOH/tcheh

taquitos tah/KEE/tohs

quesadillas keh/sah/THEE/yahs

fajitas fah/XEE/tahs

guacamole gwah/kah/MOH/leh

pico de gallo PEE/koh deh GAH/yoh

cerveza sehr/VEH/sah (in Spain thehr/BEH/thah)

Dos Equis dohs/EH/kees

Tecate teh/KAH/teh

[rotuts]

Very Good Job!

as i was growing up. i spent two years in Madrid as an interno in a (E)Spanish school as my father taught at the U. of Madrid.

i spoke no (E)Spanish when i got there, but my Christmas I spoke age related (E)Spanish. Castellano.

No big deal, I had no choice. I did not speak Andalucian. No big deal.

but you have done a fine job for those who did not have my Experience.

then there is Ceceo and Seseo.

Edited May 4, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[Darienne]

Welcome to eGullet Marie-Ora and thank you for your pronunciation post.

And do you cook Mexican as well as pronounce it?

[Marie-Ora]

Thanks! First year Spanish - I have a Mexican prof, second year Cuban and Colombian, third year spent time in Salamanca. Everyone wanted us to speak 'their way'. Great way to learn. Madrid is beautiful!! Ai Ceceo, Seseo, then you get to Paris, and it's Argot and Verlan. Unless they translate, you can't understand half at least of what they are saying.....

[Marie-Ora]

@ Darienne - alas no - wish I did!

[rotuts]

Ah, Cubano! in (E)Spain while I was there there were two cubano students. they spoke a unique (E)Spanish: it was very very fast so fast that you could not decided if it was ceceo or seseo, and they were in such a hurry with their thoughts that the last 50% of each word they left off!

[Marie-Ora]

That's the problem with learning languages! Nobody ever speaks them the ways they teach them

[rotuts]

you could probably listen to Radio Madrid on the web. they might have a food segment?

its here:

http://tunein.com/radio/Top-Radio-972-s79707/

I guess they think its Sabado and now its latin music.

Ill try to find a food show.

wish me luck! tapas, Serrano, Manchego etc

Edited May 4, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[Marie-Ora]

I never thought of that - very good idea. Going to have a nose around and see what comes up...

[liuzhou]

How do I pronounce "xoh"?

This is the trouble with using a non-standard pronunciation system. There is no reference point.

[Marie-Ora]

Hi Liuzhou - ít's pronounced like the 'ch' in 'loch'. If you go to the site, you will find audio on these words along with detailed explanations. I just wanted a do quick reference for eG members. 'X'IS standard - the problem is, it represents a sound that only exists in one word in English, and if I used 'ch' for the 'ch' in 'loch', everyone would completely misunderstand. There is a tendency for English speakers who just cannot get the sound right to substitute an 'h'. There is no 'h'sound in Spanish at all, but there is nothing wrong with using it if it's the closest you can get to pronouncing words correctly. There are sounds Spanish speakers battle with in English too. Here are some words with an 'h' where the 'x' would normally be:

fajitas fah/HEE/tahs

mojito moh/HEE/toh

Edited May 5, 2012 by Marie-Ora (log)

[liuzhou]

Thank you. I am well aware of the 'ch' sound in loch being rendered as /x/ in IPA. What worries me is the mixture of phonetic systems you use.

But that is something perhaps better discussed on your website rather than here.

Edited May 5, 2012 by liuzhou (log)

[dcarch]

There are many sites where they will pronounce many foreign words and sentences for you electronically. They seem to be pretty good.

Google Translate for instance.

dcarch

[Marie-Ora]

I must say I've never heard of 'bruscare' for 'to roast' in Italian, and that word isn't in my Italian dictionaries. I raise this because when I was researching this some time ago, I could find no direct translation for 'to roast' in Italian. You either say fare, or cucinare arrosto (make or cook a roast). If anyone knows more I'd be very interested.

Nocca is also interesting - I hadn't associated gnocchi with nocca. What I can say for sure is that a gnoccho (which is the singular of gnocchi) is a block-head or dimwit. My Italian family and friends have this association. Etymology of food words is a particular interest of mine, so I'm always looking to find out more.

I would add tournedos and meunière to this list, but there are tons more.

[Marie-Ora]

This goes back to the original article. I've had a chat with some Italian friends, and they agree with me 'nocca' meaning 'knuckle' is not the origin word, or even related to 'gnocchi' - you can tell by gender: 'nocca' is a feminine noun - the plural is 'nocche'. 'Gnocchi' is a masculine plural - the singular is 'gnocco'. In some parts of Italy, gnocchi are called 'trofie' (TROHF/yeh).

And back to bruscare/ bruschetta - I can find no evidence of 'bruscare' anywhere. There is a verb 'brusciare' which means 'to burn' which is a more likely candidate, but by no means certain. If anyone has an other information, please let me know. I am a little (!) obsessive, but it drives me nuts when I see errors perpetuated by 'cut and paste' - which you see a lot of if you do research on the net.

[Mjx]

. . . . I am a little (!) obsessive, but it drives me nuts when I see errors perpetuated by 'cut and paste' - which you see a lot of if you do research on the net.

Then you'll want to know that the origin of 'bruschetta' is, in fact 'bruscare'/'bruscato' which is a dialectical form of 'abbrustolire'/'abbrustolito', meaning 'to brown (without burning)', and that 'to burn' is 'bruciare' (no 's').

[Marie-Ora]

Then you'll want to know that the origin of 'bruschetta' is, in fact 'bruscare'/'bruscato' which is a dialectical form of 'abbrustolire'/'abbrustolito', meaning 'to brown (without burning)', and that 'to burn' is 'bruciare' (no 's').

Thank-you SO much!! This has been driving me nuts. The dialects get me every time. And bruciare with the 's' is an error in my smaller Collins dictionary - just tore through the Oxford-Paravia where it's fine (not that I haven't found errors in this one). Do you by any chance know what dialect it is?