Tuesday 23 November 2010

Commonly mispronounced foods

Perhaps I am too pedantic by nature, but as linguistically-aware foodie, I hear people mispronounce certain words over and over again, and it kinda irks me.
Some of them are quite understandable, particularly when they are recent introductions into English from other languages. With some, however, people should really know better.
The aim here is not to be pretentious. No one is gonna think worse of you if you don't do the distinctively French throat-gargling "r" in "ratatouille". Likewise, the proper emphasis on syllables is not really so important; even though I admit a little bit of me dies each time I hear "nasi goreng" pronounced like nassie (rhymes with the dog Lassie) go-RENG.
I imagine there will be some disagreements with me here, or others you wish to add to the list. Let the debate begin!


turmeric
WHAT IS IT? A root spice often seen in powdered form, adds yellow colour to many Asian cuisines.
WRONG: tue-meric
CORRECT: Exactly how it looks. You don't pronounce "turd" as "tude", so why ignore the "r" in "turmeric?

cardamom
WHAT IS IT? A spice used extensively in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, in both sweet and savoury foods.
WRONG: car-da-mon
CORRECT: Exactly how it looks. That's an "m" at the end, people! The mispronunciation can almost get a pass because the English word is based on the ancient Greek word kardamon, which ends with an "n".

mascarpone
WHAT IS IT? An Italian cream cheese
WRONG: mar-sca-pone, ma-scar-pone, mar-sca-pony
CORRECT: ma-scar-po-nay


curaçao
WHAT IS IT? A liqueur named after the island in the Dutch Antilles which grows the particular variety of orange which the drink is based on.
WRONG: kyu-ra-kay-o, ku-ra-kay-o, ku-ra-kao
CORRECT: The island's name is Portuguese in origin. The exact pronunciation is hard to completely approximate in English, is between ku-ra-sow and ku-ra-so. The standard English pronunciation seems to be kyu-ra-so, which I don't think is authentically correct, but I guess it is good enough!

paella
WHAT IS IT? A Spanish rice dish coloured with saffron and usually featuring seafood and vegetables.
WRONG: pie-ella
CORRECT: pie-EY-a. Double L in Spanish signifies a "y" sound.

tortilla
WHAT IS IT? Either a Spanish omelette, or a Mexican flat bread.
WRONG: tor-tilla
CORRECT: tor-TEE-ya. See "paella" above.

bruschetta
WHAT IS IT? Italian toasted crusty bread with topping, typically diced tomatoes and basil.
WRONG: broo-shetta
CORRECT: broo-sketta. It's an easy mistake to make, but "ch" in Italian always signifies a hard "k" sound.

pide
WHAT IS IT?Turkish bread. Often filled with cheese, spinach, or meat.
WRONG: pie-d (as in, rhyming with ride)
CORRECT: pee-day.

Phở

WHAT IS IT? Vietnamese noodle soup, usually of beef or chicken, served with bean sprouts and herbs.
WRONG: foe, poe
CORRECT: Allegedly derives from the French word pot-au-feu, and is pronounced accordingly. An approximate pronunciation is like the English word "fur" (no "r" sound though). If you want to be really correct or pretentious, try to nail the falling tone of the proper Vietnamese term.

habanero
WHAT IS IT? One of the world's hottest chilies, named after Havana in Cuba (though it is not actually from there)
WRONG: haba-nyero.
CORRECT: Exactly as it sounds - haba-nero. The "a" is pronounced like in the word "car". If you want to be extra authentically Spanish you can even drop the h from the start.
It is commonly mis-pronounced as if there is a tilda over the n; possibly this is due to confusion with...

jalapeño
WHAT IS IT? A Mexican chili named for the city of Xalapa.
WRONG: jala-pee-no, hala-pee-no
CORRECT: ha-la-pen-yo. The "a" is pronounced like in the word "car". But to say it more like a Mexican, start it with a throat-clearing "kh", and the second last syllable is more like the English word "pain" than "pen".

chorizo
WHAT IS IT? Spanish spicy sausage
WRONG: cho-ritzo
CORRECT: cho-REE-zo. A lot of people seem to pronounce this as if it is an Italian word, but Spanish say it with a soft "z", no "t". Note that the Portuguese sausage chouriço is pronounced more like sho-ree-su.

worchestershire sauce
WHAT IS IT? A condiment named after a region of England.
WRONG: The way it looks like it would be pronounced (Wor-cest-er-shire)
CORRECT: wooss-ter-sheer. Weird, I know. Those English people should learn to talk proper English.

gnocchi
WHAT IS IT? Italian pasta/dumpling usually made from potatoes.
WRONG: nokki, nochi
CORRECT: nyok-ki

quinoa
WHAT IS IT? A millet-like grain originally from the Andes.
WRONG: ki-noah, kwi-noah
CORRECT: KEEN-wa

ratatouille
WHAT IS IT? A summer vegetable stew from the south of France
WRONG: rat-a-too-lee
CORRECT: rat-a-too-ee

gyro
WHAT IS IT? A Greek version of a kebab
WRONG: jai-row
CORRECT: yee-row


VARIATIONS AND REGIONAL ODDITIES
These are not incorrect, just acceptable variations which you may often come across:

cumin
VARIANTS: koo-min, kyoo-min, or come-in. The "i" is often pronounced as a schwa (as in, the "e" in "oven").
While my dictionary tells me that the latter is the most correct, I prefer kyoo-min. Because the sound of "cummin' in the food" is not all that pleasant, if you know what I mean.

filet, fillet
VARIANTS: as it looks, or FEE-lay
It is a French-derived word, so fee-lay is more correct, but fill-et is a perfectly acceptable English pronunciation. Anyway, I can't help but think that walking into McDonalds and asking for a fee-lay o fish just seems pretentious.
By the way, a fee-lay has nothing to do with prostitution, in case you were wondering.


herbs
STANDARD ENGLISH: exactly how it looks
AMERICAN ENGLISH: erbs
This is weird. In England, dropping the "h" is a sign of lower-class speech, and as far as I know, Americans do not drop the "h" when pronouncing any other standard English words. Of course, the word presumably derives from the French "herbes", in which the "h" is silent. So the American could even be more correct, in a way.

oregano
STANDARD ENGLISH: or-re-GAA-no 
AMERICAN ENGLISH: o-REG-a-no
The former is consistent with the Italian pronunciation, while it is possible that the American word was influenced by the Spanish pronunciation.

basil
STANDARD ENGLISH: ba-zil
AMERICAN ENGLISH: bay-zil, or bay-sil.
Americans are weird.

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