Mispronounced Food
Replies: 36 - Last Post: Dec 20, 2012 10:53 AM Last Post By: RighteousJugger...
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Mispronounced Food
Apparently we hapless Brits order dishes we don't want because our favourite is unpronounceable. A food manufacturer set their PR spinners to concoct a list of what we get wrong. Here are the top 10dish / wrong pronounciation / correct pronounciation
1. Tzatziki / tee-zat-zee-ki-ki / zat-zee-key
2. Quesadillas / kwee saddy lass / case-ah-dee-yahs
3. Prosciutto / pros-kee-oo-toe / pro-shoo-toe
4. Quinoa / kwin-oh-ah / keen-wah
5. Amuse bouche / ahh-mooz-booch-ee / a-moose boosh
6. Nicoise / nick-oi-see / nee-swaz
7. Moules Mariniere (sic) / moo les marry nary / mools mar-in-year
8. Dauphinois / dolf-in-ee-waz / doh-fin-wa
9. Penne arabiata / penny-arry-batty / pen-A arr-ah-bee-ah-tah
10. Haloumi / halli-oh-mi / hal-ooh-me
More here: http://en.paperblog.com/waiter-we-ll-have-this-one-the-foods-we-can-t-pronounce-359162/
1
The formatting makes it really hard to read. I disagree with their "correct" pronunciation of gnocchi. They say "nock--ee;" I say "nyock-ee."Are there really people out there who have never heard the correct pronunciation of hors d’oeuvre?
Many years ago, I met a delightful older couple in Vienna. They were from Louisiana and had thick, thick southern accents. They also had no ear for languages whatsoever. He was also a wealthy business man who rather cultivated a good ol' boy image. When they discovered I spoke German, they immediately decided I was their best friend and invited me out to dinner several days in a row. My favorite was when he asked me if I know where he could get "some of them Salisbury knuckles." He was looking for
4
The two Spanish ones, #2 and #4, should be pronounced kay-sah-DEE-ýahs OR kay-sah-DEE-jahs OR kay-sah-DEE-shahs and KEY-noh-ah respectively. #15 on the extended list would be better pronounced gwah-kah-MOH-lay, and #17 as tchoh-REE-soh OR tchoh-REE-thoh. #21 should be ehn-tchee-LAHD-ahs. The first of the OR optional pronunciations is the one I prefer, as that is more common, particularly in Latin America, than the others.Since pronunciation—particularly the stressed syllable and the syllable breaks—is so important in Spanish, I wrote a book about it. :-)
I know little French or Italian, but other posters corrections of those look pretty ok to me.
Edited by: mazgringo
5
They say thay carpaccio should have a chee-oh at the end and ciabatta should have a chee-ah at the beginning. The Italian pronunciations are with cho and cha respectively. The i is only there to turn the c into a ch sound; it doesn't get pronounced as a separate vowel.And, while I don't really know modern Greek, i think tzatziki in Greek begins with a ts sound, not an English z sound.
This assumes that the pronunciations labeled "wrong" are not well established in UK English. I woulldn't say that in every case the foreign pronunciation of a foreign-looking word is ."right". For example, pronouncing the z in chorizo with a th would seem pretty pretentious to me if you were speaking English. Almost like getting the tones right in hoisin or chow mein. Or pronouncing hors d"oeuvre in proper French (which they don't recommend at the list; they give the standard English pronunciation, which is what I use in English).
6
car-pat-chee-oh for carpaccio? Where did they get that "T"? Around here, the English pronunciation would be more or less car-pah-cho or car-pah-chee-o.I tried unsuccessfully to find more information on the survey. I couldn't even find a press release about it. I find this spokesperson's comment odd
”To give a helping hand with more exotic ingredients, we are considering adding a phonetic pronunciation guide on our food packaging so those people wanting to try Gjetost, Ras el hanout and Xo sauce can do so without being left red faced.”
They don't sell any of those.The only "difficult" products I can find are Pasta Fagioli soup, Tomato Chorizo soup. and maybe the Habañero and Jalapeño dips. The Habañero also contains chipotle chiles--oops, this the UK, chillies. The Jalapeño dip could be "a delicious filling for your quesadilla’s[sic]."
On the other hand, they have posted a new recipe for Andorran Trinxat, a sort of potato/cabbage/bacon pancake, and something called
Quorn, Gnocchi & Samphire Stir-Fry.
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VinnyD, #6, tchoh-REE-thoh would be the correct pronunciation in most of Spain, and since the article came from the UK, probably there also. I put the Andalusian, Canarian and Latin American pronunciation first, as that is by far the most common pronunciation outside of Spain.8
Tchoh-ree-thoh would be the correct pronunciation in most of Spain
Yes, if you were speaking Spanish. If you were speaking some other language, say Basque, Catalan, Galician, English, or German, It might not be. I don't know the correct pronunciation in all those languages, or even if the word exists. The only one of those languages in which I know the word exists is English. I would find the pronunciation pretentious in an English context, almost like saying parrrEEE instead of Pariss. I might find it a bit less pretentious if it occurred while the English speaker in question actually was in a part of Spain where you find ceismo when pronouncing it. But certainly in an English sentence uttered in the UK or the US or Mexico, I would find it pretentious.
9
nutrax- If that list was for New Zealand, Iwouldn't be entirely surprised about people not knowing 'hors d’oeuvre' as it's not often used here. I have no idea if that's the same in the uk though.10
When I first moved to Spain, I thoroughly confused myself and a shop assistant with ham,soup and soap. Whilst soup and soap are similiar in English they are not in Spanish (sopa y jabon), and jamon and jabon are similar in Spanish (ham and soap) they are not in English. I think I asked for a few slices of soap and toilet ham. It was funny at the time.11
The Habañero also contains chipotle chiles--oops, this the UK, chillies.
Intentional? The word is actually "habanero." As the Wiki page notes, habañero is a hyper-foreignism, not an actual Spanish or English word.
And, while I don't really know modern Greek, i think tzatziki in Greek begins with a ts sound, not an English z sound.
The spelling in Greek is τζατζικι, so it is 'tz,' not 'ts.' However, due to consonantal harmony the actual pronunciation sounds like an English 'dz' (the sound you hear at the end of the word pads ).
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Intentional? The word is actually "habanero."
More or less intentional--it's habañero on the package. It's habanero and habenero in the description. They are a UK company, but do not seem to use native English speakers to write copy--or at least do not employ editors. We thought to ourselves why is it that so many sauces say they’re hot they’re not really to the chilli lover? We’ve created a molten blend of Habanero and Chipotle with tomatoes and herbs gives a real heat that you’ll smell before you eat to get your chilli taste buds tingling. The velvet texture coats pasta well, but this sauce is amazing on anything from your Chicken Wings to simply having as a hot dip.
The rotate what they are selling. The New York Alfredo Sauce is currently on vacation, so there is no description of what on earth that might be. I know what Alfredo Sauce is; it's the New York that is puzzling.
As a side note--in the bios of the company officers, they list "First job." What the heck is "Contract square bailing"?
14
This is why it becomes tedious:Nutrax's replies = 4/14;
Vinny's replies = 4/14;
ergo, N & V = 8/14.
OPer Smith does nothing - in his posts generally - to encourage new posters.
I've nothing against any, and each have made a massive contribution to LP o'er the years - in Nutrax's case, the contribution has been overwhelmingly helpful and humble.
