Food Pronunciation Guide for the Dim-witted

[Varmint]

Admit it. You're the one at the table who is expected to know everything about food, and when one of your friends asks about something on the menu, you avoid mentioning that item's name, because you have no damn clue how to pronounce it.

Thus, I'm starting this thread to deal with pronunciations. No word is too simple. Don't be embarrassed, and no one shall chastise another for his/her lack of linguistic knowledge.

I'll start, and it's a four-letter word. Chai. I think it's pronounced whith a "ch" sound as in "chair" and then a long "I", to rhyme with fly. Correct? No?

[hwilson41]

Admit it.  You're the one at the table who is expected to know everything about food, and when one of your friends asks about something on the menu, you avoid mentioning that item's name, because you have no damn clue how to pronounce it.

Thus, I'm starting this thread to deal with pronunciations.  No word is too simple.  Don't be embarrassed, and no one shall chastise another for his/her lack of linguistic knowledge.

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Yessir, buddy, I'm all over this one. Great idea, Varmint. Give me a little while, and I'll have you a nice list we can work on .

THW

[WoodleyGrrl]

ok, I will play: conch. As in conch chowder and fritters. it is pronounced Konk, right?

[Varmint]

ok, I will play:  conch.  As in conch chowder and fritters.  it is pronounced Konk, right?

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Yes, that is how I have always pronounced it. See how easy this is??

[spaghetttti]

Dean, pho crying' out loud! (fuh, right?).

[johnnyd]

ok, I will play:  conch.  As in conch chowder and fritters.  it is pronounced Konk, right?

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Yes, that is how I have always pronounced it. See how easy this is??

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But in the UK, isn't it "KonCH"?

and how about "Pho"? Pronounced "fuh" someone said someone in the Pho thread...

I hear "Prosciutto" get hammered at a supermarket deli line all the time.

this is going to be good!

[Varmint]

I've heard pho pronounced "faw", "fuh" and "foe". Can someone who speaks Vietnamese help us out here?

[Gifted Gourmet]

mille feuille... impossible!

and that old bugaboo: foie gras (faux grass? foe? fwaah?)

brunoise (broon noisey?)

prix fixe? (pricks fixee?)

noo-queue-ler

[djbeers]

How about crudite? "Yeah, I'll have the crew dites appetizer."

[Jensen]

I've heard pho pronounced "faw", "fuh" and "foe".  Can someone who speaks Vietnamese help us out here?

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I don't speak Vietnamese but I had heard that it is pronounced the same as the French "feu". Despite that, I still say "foe"...

[cakewalk]

I'll start, and it's a four-letter word.  Chai.  I think it's pronounced whith a "ch" sound as in "chair" and then a long "I", to rhyme with fly.  Correct?  No?

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L'chaim!!

[Daddy-A]

mille feuille... impossible!

OMG! I can NEVER get my tongue around that one!

and that old bugaboo: foie gras (faux grass? foe? fwaah?)

I learned that one from Chairman Kaga on Iron Chef ... fwah grah (said with a Japanese accent )

brunoise (broon noisey?)

Think "vicheyssoise" ... broo-nwahz

prix fixe? (pricks fixee?)

Pree-fix

noo-queue-ler 

Who let W in here?

A.

[Ben Hong]

I always laugh when I hear people mispronounce "au jus", as in rosbif au jus. Most of the time it comes out as "awjuss", emphasis on the first syllable. It's "oh jhoo" with a very soft sibilant"J". You don't say "do you want awjuss with that?" that would be tantamount to saying "do you want 'with gravy' with that". Ugh.

Il y a veritablement quelques douzaines des termes francais qu'on sacrifie' au nom de "chic".

[johnnyd]

An oldie but goodie:

Hors d'euvres:

"Horses Dovers"!

d'oh!

[Taboni]

mille feuille... impossible!

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I have always pronounced this meel foy (although I have heard meel fway as well)

[therese]

Bruschetta = broo-SKET-tah

Of course, the restaurant I dined in last night spelled this item "brushetta". I just try not to think about it too hard.

I've been hearing a lot of people mispronounce "coup de grace" lately. Not a food term, but pronouncing it "koo duh grah" sure makes it sound like one to me.

[therese]

mille feuille... impossible!

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I have always pronounced this meel foy (although I have heard meel fway as well)

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For the non-francophone, the easiest (and closest) is:

mee fuh-yuh

Don't worry about the L's in mille at all, because it's also a "yuh" sound and when the words are said together they'll disappear to most anglophone ears.

[redfox]

Noilly Prat?

[jgm]

Oh boy! This is going to be great. Even though I own the print version of Ruhlman's "Making of a Chef,", I also ordered the audio version through Audible, and one of the reasons was I wanted to hear how certain words are pronounced. Then after the reader pronounced a certain word two entirely different ways within 20 seconds, I realized I did not have a reliable source for pronunciations. And at the moment I can't remember what any of the words were. But I'll find them.

I think we could do a whole thread on the mispronunciations of "hors d'oeurves." My favorites:

whores-do-ehr'ves (brother-in-law's grandmother)

whore'-dee-ohr'ves (college algebra professor)

[Busboy]

mille feuille... impossible!

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I have always pronounced this meel foy (although I have heard meel fway as well)

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For the non-francophone, the easiest (and closest) is:

mee fuh-yuh

Don't worry about the L's in mille at all, because it's also a "yuh" sound and when the words are said together they'll disappear to most anglophone ears.

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As a French student many years ago and again now, I can assure you that the world "fueille" is one of the most brutally unpronouncable word in the language -- especially if you've never heard a French person say it. That is why Americans like to pronounce the word: "Napoleon." Personally, I'd combine the two suggestions above to get a "mee fwuay," as it hints at breaking down into two syllables more than it actually does so. Kind of like an old Georgia girl I knew who could get an extra syllable (or more) out of the common vulgarity by pronouncing it Sheeeeit.

Wine names can be fun: Puligny-Montrachet; Chateauneuf-du-Pape; Trockenbeerenauslesen....

Edited February 11, 2005 by Busboy (log)

[ballast_regime]

... "nwah-YEEH prah" ...

[GordonCooks]

My time us better spent teaching bartenders how to say Blue Curacao

[Ben Hong]

Whores ovaries

[redfox]

And yet, how much more fun to say "N'oily Pratt."

[chefzadi]

mille feuille... impossible!

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I have always pronounced this meel foy (although I have heard meel fway as well)

←

For the non-francophone, the easiest (and closest) is:

mee fuh-yuh

Don't worry about the L's in mille at all, because it's also a "yuh" sound and when the words are said together they'll disappear to most anglophone ears.

←

As a French student many years ago and again now, I can assure you that the world "fueille" is one of the most brutally unpronouncable word in the language -- especially if you've never heard a French person say it. That is why Americans like to pronounce the word: "Napoleon." Personally, I'd combine the two suggestions above to get a "mee fwuay," as it hints at breaking down into two syllables more than it actually does so. Kind of like an old Georgia girl I knew who could get an extra syllable (or more) out of the common vulgarity by pronouncing it Sheeeeit.

Wine names can be fun: Puligny-Montrachet; Chayeauneuf-du-Pap; Torckenbeerenauslesen....

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My wife struggles with this one as well. mille feuille. It's THE word she's always has to ask "how do you pronounce that again?" It's not she can't pronounce it, she always forgets.

She pronounces words such as bruschetta and tagliatelle the Italian way, whereas I say them with French pronunciation. I just can't help it. I was familiar with them in France before I went to Italy or came to the States. It's just a habit I can't break, not that I try.