Pronouncing "Foie Gras"

[sherribabee]

There's an alternate pronunciation for crayon??? 

Yup, I've heard 'crown' on more than one occasion.

[Jinmyo]

Ankimo.

[Mark Sommelier]

Here's a free tip: none of the T's in Montrachet are pronounced. 

Um... isn't the first T pronounced? I've always heard: [mõ-tRa-Se], and [mõ-Ra-Se] just doesn't seem right to me. (NB. I'm using a big "S" in place of the usual IPA symbol for "sh" which doesn't seem to work in Explorer; the big "R" means it is uvular).

One of my favorite mispronunciations, which I think is mentioned in one of Mario Batali's books, is when people say they want their pasta "al dante." As in, "please prepare my pasta in the style of the guy who wrote The Divine Comedy."

Neither T is pronounced. It comes out : moan-rah-shay. Never "Mahn-Trashay" with a hard T.

[Lady T]

"But I wanted the REAL gras...."

Coffee all over keyboard!

[Busboy]

Here's a free tip: none of the T's in Montrachet are pronounced. 

Um... isn't the first T pronounced? I've always heard: [mõ-tRa-Se], and [mõ-Ra-Se] just doesn't seem right to me. (NB. I'm using a big "S" in place of the usual IPA symbol for "sh" which doesn't seem to work in Explorer; the big "R" means it is uvular).

Montrachet is just the beginning. Don't forget the "Puligney" prefix. And for the red, an Eschezeaux? Or Chambolle-Musigney?

No wonder people just throw up their hands and ask for the poossy foossy.

[Bux]

Here's a free tip: none of the T's in Montrachet are pronounced. 

Um... isn't the first T pronounced? I've always heard: [mõ-tRa-Se], and [mõ-Ra-Se] just doesn't seem right to me. (NB. I'm using a big "S" in place of the usual IPA symbol for "sh" which doesn't seem to work in Explorer; the big "R" means it is uvular).

Ya heard wrong. It's just a quirk. There's no rule supporting mon'rashay, it's just the way the name is pronounced. Perhaps it's a trick to ferret out spies.

[Bux]

Let's not fergit joo-lu-ree.

Fughetaboud joo-lu-ray. Let's tawk about mason-ary as in bricks and mortar.

[Jason Perlow]

This is why I hate going to French restaurants.

[Dave the Cook]

Let's not fergit joo-lu-ree.

Fughetaboud joo-lu-ray. Let's tawk about mason-ary as in bricks and mortar.

Could you be more pacific?

[badthings]

My father is from LA and my mother is from the Boston suburbs.  Each parent pronounces every one of those differently.

Your mother is wrong every time.

(I know because I grew up in Boston).

As long as we're going to make fun of yokels mispronouncing things, can we all take a minute to spell our posts correctly? (It would be nice to have spell check on the new eGullet). How about learning how to form a possessive? Thank you.

[tommy]

This is why I hate going to French restaurants.

this is why i hate the internet.

how about the british. they pronounce just about *everything* wrong.

[bloviatrix]

I've always wanted to know what type of berry is a lie-berry.

Edited November 5, 2003 by bloviatrix (log)

[sherribabee]

As long as we're going to make fun of yokels mispronouncing things, can we all take a minute to spell our posts correctly?

Posts.

I spelled my posts correctly. Next?

[sherribabee]

Here's a free tip: none of the T's in Montrachet are pronounced. 

Um... isn't the first T pronounced? I've always heard: [mõ-tRa-Se], and [mõ-Ra-Se] just doesn't seem right to me. (NB. I'm using a big "S" in place of the usual IPA symbol for "sh" which doesn't seem to work in Explorer; the big "R" means it is uvular).

Ya heard wrong. It's just a quirk. There's no rule supporting mon'rashay, it's just the way the name is pronounced. Perhaps it's a trick to ferret out spies.

It's a mute point.

[MichaelB]

Let's not fergit joo-lu-ree.

Fughetaboud joo-lu-ray. Let's tawk about mason-ary as in bricks and mortar.

Could you be more pacific?

Among my favorite English pronunciation fox passes is

eXcape.

I was recently behind the scenes at a movie shoot but could not see any of the action. The one sure way I could immediately tell whether the shot was "live" was that the rehearsal stand in for the star butchered that word in the first line of the scene *every* time.

[GG Mora]

While we're at it, next time you order a bottle of Gigondas, be sure and pronounce the final "s". Ditto Vacqueyras. This is how they're pronounced in their place of origin. (Though in Carpentras, just 15 km to the south, they eschew their final "s". Gotta love the French). I'm sick of having snotty waitstaff "correct" my pronunciation.

I have a friend who's a chef at a hotel in DC; for the life of him, he can't get his waitstaff to pronounce "osso bucco" correctly. Thus, the staff are out on the floor selling "OSS-ko BOOSS-ko".

[DodinBouffant]

Irregardless!!

Lemme aks you a question..

More butta is betta!!!!!

[slkinsey]

Here's a free tip: none of the T's in Montrachet are pronounced. 

Um... isn't the first T pronounced? I've always heard: [mõ-tRa-Se], and [mõ-Ra-Se] just doesn't seem right to me. (NB. I'm using a big "S" in place of the usual IPA symbol for "sh" which doesn't seem to work in Explorer; the big "R" means it is uvular).

Ya heard wrong. It's just a quirk. There's no rule supporting mon'rashay, it's just the way the name is pronounced. Perhaps it's a trick to ferret out spies.

I stand corrected.

Now that I think about it, is it perhaps the case that "Mont Rachet" was combined over the years into "Montrachet?" That would make perfect sense to me. Kind of like the Italian word "cosi" which should really be pronounced "co-SEE" rather than "co-ZEE" because it is a contraction of "come si."

Of course, the spy ferreting aspect can't be ignored. We used to spot 'em up in New England when they didn't know Dedham = "Dedh'm" while Waltham = "Walth-ham" and Gloucester = "Glost'r" (or "Glost-ah") while Dorcester = "Dore-chest-er" (or "Daw-chest-ah"). One should be mindful of ferret spys as well, as they tend to drag one's things under the bed and hide them.

[maggiethecat]

Thoughts on Montrachet.

Another French word with a similar formation that does not pronounce that first t is the name of my hometown, Montreal, when spoken by native French speakers. The "Mon" part is not a possessive--if it were the t would be sounded. It's from "mont" meaning mountain , so we don't make the liason.

Just a l'il pensee. I could be wrong.

edit: See above cross-post of Sam's.

Edited November 5, 2003 by maggiethecat (log)

[PopsicleToze]

Alright. Pronounce the word -- or at least spell it phonetically so the ignorant masses (me included) will know.

I thought it was:

fwa gras (like Mardi Gras)

Okay, once you quit laughing, corrections, please.

[sherribabee]

I love to hear people order eXpresso. And no amount of correcting will convince my friend to say sangria instead of sangUria.

I went to school in Bourbonnais, IL. The locals pronounced it bur-BONE-iss while the out-of-town students pronounced it bur-buhn-NAY. It was like an ongoing series of turf wars or something.

Houston. In TX, it's hews-ton. In NYC it's house-ton.

[Varmint]

Nola-

I have pronounced foie gras properly, but I've totally botched most of the other french words. Could someone start listing the correct pronunciation for all the french words listed in this thread. It would be very helpful to us derelicts. Thanks in advance.

[Varmint]

Houston.  In TX, it's hews-ton.  In NYC it's house-ton.

When I was at the Chinese lunch in NY several weeks ago and pronounced it HEWS-ton, no fewer than 8 voices responded in complete unison: "HOWS-ton"

[tommy]

Houston.  In TX, it's hews-ton.  In NYC it's house-ton.

Houston, TX, is "hews-ton" in NYC too. It's just that Houston street, in nyc, is "House-ton", which is ok because it's presumably in no way related to Houston, TX.

[alacarte]

nee swa (as in salade nicoise; see brunoise)

The best mangling of this was heard at the diner near my apartment: Salad Nick-O-Eez.