Food Pronunciation Guide for the Dim-witted

[H. du Bois]

"Sammiches."     

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Let us not forget my personal favorite, "frigidator."

[patti]

Or to the mirth and back-slapping and demands for encore that greet innocent foreigners (not just the English-speaking ones!) garbling the word "Gouda" in the Netherlands.  (I spoke it as "goo-da;" locals were delighted, wanted to hear more, claimed they'd never heard such a word before).  Both the strongly-aspirated H at the beginning (not a standard English sound) and the "ow" vowel of the accurate, or NL, version, are new to many anglophones using that word.

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I'd be one of the garblers. Merriam-Webster online shows two pronunciations. Goo-da for the cheese and how-da (with aspirated 'h') for the place.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/aud...da001.wav=Gouda

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/aud...oud01.wav=Gouda

[misstenacity]

Vacqueyras?

The 'fours' in "petit fours"?

Tuiles?

Trying not to blush.

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fours = foor

tuiles = tweel

Tuiles is another difficult one to get right, but for the anglophone "tweel" will suffice. What makes it difficult is what differentiates pronunciation of "Louis" from "lui": both sound like "lwee" to the anglophone ear, so that's what we say. But they're actually different sounds to somebody who is francophone.

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I heard a friend saying "petit fours" as "peh-tih-fur", with nothing emphasised and the whole thing kind of slurred together. Is that correct, or should it be "peh-TEET foor", with a pause between each word?

Thank you!

Andrea

in Albuquerque

[Simon_S]

The Italian spelling/plural issue reached an all time high here recently, when I saw a sign outside a shop advertising "Pannini's for sale". A work of genius!

Si

PS The t in Moet is pronounced. End of story!

PPS Don't get me started on aluminium...

[Milagai]

PPS Don't get me started on aluminium...

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actually, i *am* curious!

in the US, why did the "i" get dropped and people

start saying "aluminum" anyway?

or is it something to do with US refusal to go metric?

source of many arguments between spouse (he says

aluminum) and self (i say aluminium).

milagai

[DeVeaux]

"Sangwich" is one of my favorites - my Italian Stepfather always pronounced it that way, much to our hilarity.

Here in Kansas, everyone's favorite word to describe themselved is "ornery", but they all pronounce it onery" - I have long since given up trying to point out that there's an "r" in the word.

In my opinion, if you didn't learn French as a child, please do not make a practice of sharing your high school French accent taught to you by a teacher who couldn't pronounce French either.

[MarketStEl]

mannaise instead of mayonnaise 

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According to The Redneck Dictionary, "mayonnaise" is not a condiment. Proper usage is as follows:

"Mayonnaise a lot of folks in this bar tonight."

[Kouign Aman]

a two-parter -

jalapeno (please imagine the tilda (~) over the n).

Other times, I hear people say "hala-PAIN-yow".

Dying of insatiable curtiousity here.... watt is the correct vowel sownd & emfasys, in yer opinyun? Is the problem with the pain, or the yow?

(Assuming the enye is properly pronounced (tho not properly spelled in this sentence fragment))

tournedos - probably not same as tornado. Is the "s" silent?

Emphasis on the 1st syllable?

[tino27]

I think somebody mentioned this one upthread, but it's still funny:

I was offered a mescaline salad the other evening. But I turned it down, as I had an early morning the next day.

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Oddly enough, at a Turkish restaurant in Columbus, OH, they had a disk of "Monkfish with a masculine salad" on the menu. Interested in what differentiated a masculine salad from a feminine one, I ordered it. Sadly, it was only a mesclin salad mix.

[alanamoana]

you mean mesclun, don't you?

[tino27]

PPS Don't get me started on aluminium...

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actually, i *am* curious!

in the US, why did the "i" get dropped and people

start saying "aluminum" anyway?

or is it something to do with US refusal to go metric?

source of many arguments between spouse (he says

aluminum) and self (i say aluminium).

milagai

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http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm

Maybe this will help?

[tino27]

you mean mesclun, don't you? 

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Ooops. Yep, mesclun.

Perhaps I should just go back to my masculine salad.

[alanamoana]

gutter alert...

does the masculine salad have nuts in it?!

[Pan]

[...]tournedos - probably not same as tornado. Is the "s" silent?

Emphasis on the 1st syllable?

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The "s" is silent. "Dos" means "back," and "tourne" means "turn." People have sworn up and down that French syllables are all equal, except for context, but I (a non-native speaker, it must be underlined) emphasize the last syllable. I pronounce that word more or less "toor-ne-doh," where the "e" is a schwa and the "h" is only very lightly sounded at the end. Then, there's the issue of how to pronounce the letter "r" in French...

[Miriam Kresh]

Hoping someone can help...is majadera pronounced "mahJAHderah", or "majaDERah"? Should I go to the Middle Eastern forum and ask there...?

I have given up attempting to pronounce French correctly; my Spanish and Portuguese trip me up every time. Ridi, Paliacci - see if I care.

Miriam

[Smithy]

Hoping someone can help...is majadera pronounced "mahJAHderah", or "majaDERah"? Should I go to the Middle Eastern forum and ask there...?

I have given up attempting to pronounce French correctly; my Spanish and Portuguese trip me up every time. Ridi, Paliacci - see if I care. 

Miriam

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I've always heard the accent on the 3rd syllable, but then I've always heard it as "mujaDERah". Those little short vowels change a lot from one language to the next.

If you take the question to the Middle Eastern forum you're bound to get a lot of opinions and assertions, not only about how to pronounce it but how to make it (there's already a thread on that) and who started it and what the authentic version is..... Don't say I didn't warn you.

[rockandroller]

We visit a fairly authentic middle eastern place here pretty regularly and they say mu-JAH-der-ah, with the accent on the 2nd syllable. I've also ordered it that way and had 1 of their waiters commend me on pronouncing it right. But neither of those things makes it actually correct, just my 2 cents

[rockandroller]

I have a Q myself, almost too much, please don't make fun:

Charcuterie

What's correct? I hear it 2 or 3 different ways from people pronouncing it.

[Miriam Kresh]

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[Megan Blocker]

I have a Q myself, almost too much, please don't make fun:

Charcuterie

What's correct?  I hear it 2 or 3 different ways from people pronouncing it.

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It's a soft CH sound, more like the SH sound, so sort of like this:

shahr-coo-ter-ee

Edited June 12, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[rockandroller]

I have a Q myself, almost too much, please don't make fun:

Charcuterie

What's correct?  I hear it 2 or 3 different ways from people pronouncing it.

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It's a soft CH sound, more like the SH sound, so sort of like this:

shahr-coo-ter-ee

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Where is the accent placed then, is it charCUterie?

[Smithy]

Well, I make majaderah a couple of different ways myself. One is based on rice, and one is based on burgul. In one, I add lots of fried onions and spices to the combined rice and lentils; in the other, I saute a lot of onions first, then cook burgul on top of that and combine it with cooked lentils afterwards, sprinkling spices over all. Either way - any way - it's a great dish. But I would like to know if there is one correct way of pronouncing the name of it (rockandroller's experience seems to validate putting the accent on the second syllable, but I'd love to hear it from someone who speaks Arabic).

Miriam

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What I was trying to say is that (for example) the Lebanese Arabic pronunciation may well be different than the Egyptian Arabic pronunciation. There doesn't seem to be one "correct" way of pronouncing much of anything in Arabic, given the differences in dialects. However, I think I learned the word from a Turk, so my pronunciation may be way off regardless.

I think you should post the question over on the Middle Eastern forum and see what the native speakers have to say.

[suseyblue]

Holy crap, I just read this whole thread (vastly entertaining; I got to learn a great deal, & feel both smug & unbelievably stupid) because it came up on a search thread I was doing, & what I was looking for in the first place didn't show up here at all.

Emphasis on the stupid for my question:

OK. Years ago, I made a call to order something from Godiva, & they pronounced it 'Godeeva'. I queried them, and they said, yes, that's it, everyone in the US [edit: and presumably Britain] just butchers it.

So for years, I have been saying Godeeva, and feeling about as superior as when I pronounce 'forte' correctly (or Moet ).

Now I am having a friendly internet discussion, & someone called the website phone number to confirm this (at my suggestion; I had heard it from the chocolatier's mouth!), and they were told, quote: that if someone was pronouncing it that way ['Godeeva'] they didn't deserve to eat any!

My theories are: A) They got so weary of correcting American pronunciation of what is it, a French-Belgian pronunciation of a 'modern' British corruption of a Saxon name? that they changed it, B) The above, but when it was bought by Campbell's, they really decided they didn't feel like fighting the tide & dumbed it down for us Amurricans purposely, or C) They were shitting me on the phone all those years ago & just having their little joke. (Option D), that I am losing my memory with all my hormones in perimenopause, does not appeal.)

Am I crazy? What gives? I am so glad that there is a place where knowledgable people who CARE about issues of such import are here to consult! Help!

TIA, Susan B

Edited July 29, 2006 by suseyblue (log)

[MarketStEl]

you mean mesclun, don't you? 

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Ooops. Yep, mesclun.

Perhaps I should just go back to my masculine salad.

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Actually, I'm looking forward to eating at a new gay bar/restaurant one block west of where I live soon.

There I can relive my drug-tripping college years by ordering "mescaline salad."

[Luckylies]

I've got a batch going so "Nocino" please