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Original poster

Is it mocha or mokka?

79 replies

Lazytakeawaymum · 21/12/2023 15:38

Went into M&S today for a mocha and I was told by the lady that served me that it’s mokka? Have I been pronouncing it wrong my whole life? 🤣 I pronounce it mo cha

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GaudeteGaudete · 22/12/2023 18:46

I don't think M&S staff are paid to correct their customers speech.
What happened to the customer always being right? 😒

My recent experiences in M&S tell me that their policy is definitely NOT 'the customer is always right'! In fact, their policy seems to be that the customer is an idiot who should be spoken down to and/or passive-aggressively questioned.

KirstenBlest · 22/12/2023 13:20

Why is there no english word for it? It's only a mini marrow.

LoobyDop · 22/12/2023 13:14

Zucchini is actually a mistranslation- in Italian it’s zucchina in the singular and the plural is zucchine.

KirstenBlest · 22/12/2023 11:49

Isn't zucchini a plural?

sashh · 22/12/2023 11:13

One of my favorite muggings is courgette and zucchini, both mean small marrow but the English speaking world uses one or the other.

TragicMuse · 22/12/2023 11:12

I once sat opposite a woman on a train who told me about her love of 'cabby-atty' bread.

AdaProgrammer · 22/12/2023 11:06

Thank you Colleen, I shall try to reframe panini in my mind, as you recommend. So are we actually asking for two paninis now? Interestingly, autocorrect didn't like that, so presumably the declension works like "sheep".

SleepingStandingUp · 22/12/2023 10:50

CasperGutman · 22/12/2023 10:42

But is that a cappukkino? 🙂

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Kappukkino with kokolate

SleepingStandingUp · 22/12/2023 10:49

So what have you been saying op and how often?

Moo-cha or moh-cha?

CasperGutman · 22/12/2023 10:44

KirstenBlest · 22/12/2023 10:32

@ReadtheReviews Ch is k in Italian. And extra fun c is pronounced ch.
only if it precedes e or i

Yup. Hence bruschetta ain't bru-shetta, it's bru-sketta.

CasperGutman · 22/12/2023 10:42

ConsistentlyElectrifiedElves · 21/12/2023 16:07

You will need to ask for a cappuccino with chocolate from now on!

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But is that a cappukkino? 🙂

pinkyredrose · 22/12/2023 10:36

Jifmicroliquid · 22/12/2023 09:08

It’s ok, my dad called it a Mosher in a cafe once. I told him he had essentially ordered a watered down goth.

😂

ColleenDonaghy · 22/12/2023 10:34

LolaJ87 · 21/12/2023 15:52

I'm in Ireland and say moe-ka too.

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I moved north of the border and had to move to mokka as no one understood me 😥

Re panini:

In Italian:
Panino = one sandwich
Panini = multiple sandwiches

In English:
Panini = one sandwich of a particular type that's toasted.

The meaning is different - the word has been adopted but not directly translated.

Similarly, we say broccoli and don't talk about a piece of broccolo.

KirstenBlest · 22/12/2023 10:32

@ReadtheReviews Ch is k in Italian. And extra fun c is pronounced ch.
only if it precedes e or i

Soubriquet · 22/12/2023 10:19

I always said moe-ca….dh kept correcting me, so now I say moe-ca cos it winds him up Grin

ReadtheReviews · 22/12/2023 10:17

Ch is k in Italian. And extra fun c is pronounced ch.

ConnieCroydon · 22/12/2023 10:01

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GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 22/12/2023 09:54

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I’ve got one of those, much prefer it to fancy machines that take up so much space and cost ££££.

LoobyDop · 22/12/2023 09:50

AdaProgrammer · 22/12/2023 09:06

A question for the Italian purists on the thread. So many places in the U.K. treat "panini" as if it is a singular word. Do you grit your teeth and ask for "a panini, please"?

Yes. Fortunately my husband has his coffee black, so I only ever need to ask for one cappuccino 😀

JanefromLondon1 · 22/12/2023 09:48

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ConnieCroydon · 22/12/2023 09:45

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cheezncrackers · 22/12/2023 09:32

Italian purist here

mocha = mocka
latte = latté (not lar-tay!)
panini is plural (panino singular) -> un panino, due panini
bruschetta = broosketta
ciabatta = cha-batta

One of my pet hates is 'pomodorini tomatoes'. Pomodorini = little tomatoes, so pomodorini tomatoes = little tomatoes tomatoes.

HelpMeGetThrough · 22/12/2023 09:30

A Mokka is a kind of coffee pot, the one you put on the hob.

I thought it was a model of car made by Vauxhall. 🤷‍♂️

ConnieCroydon · 22/12/2023 09:28

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sashh · 22/12/2023 09:28

Friedtofuandbeans · 21/12/2023 15:40

I say mokka - never heard it pronounced your way, sorry.

On the same theme, it is lat-ay or lar-tay? I say the former (Italian word, so surely it’s not lar-tay? but I hear it pronounced like that a lot) I’m not sure which is correct!

A Mokka is a kind of coffee pot, the one you put on the hob.

Mocha was originally an African coffee but has become a name for a mix of chocolate, coffee and cream.

Latte is just milk, it should not exist as a type of coffee, it should be caffè e latte or caffè latte.

Please do not get me started on panini / panino.

English is a wonderful, adaptable language, but it does seem to have gone around the world, mugging other languages for perfectly good words and changing the meaning either slightly or a lot.

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