"That Griggio stuff"

[DuchessOfDisaster]

One of my friends always preferred rose wine, semi-sweet or sweeter wines. I forgot that and one day when I went over for supper took a bottle of Pinot Grigio. She liked it and started to buy it for herself.

Now, she refers to it as "that Griggio stuff" (pronounced with a hard g!) It's embarrassingly amusing!

Do you have any mates that say things like this?

I know someone who couldn't say Charles properly and kept calling our boss Chiles but sort of not pronouncing the L. Really annoying.

But then my friend said I was a terrible snob for pronouncing Nougat as Nou-gah instead of Noo-gut.

Regarding Afghanystan and Tallyban being correct.. I think poster was saying her DH says them with a long ee sound as opposed to a short i sound.

Well that's just mental. Everyone knows they're pronounced Talban and Afghanstan. And none of the cunts will give you a latt (no e).

@rainbowrescue

I know someone who couldn't say Charles properly and kept calling our boss Chiles but sort of not pronouncing the L. Really annoying.

But then my friend said I was a terrible snob for pronouncing Nougat as Nou-gah instead of Noo-gut.

You’ve just reminded me that my mother can’t say Charles. She calls Prince Charles ‘Char-less’ to rhyme with ‘starless’.

@messybun101

I always muddle myself when ordering a calzone. Is it? I doubt what I've said each time so say cal-zony then cal-zone so they know what I'm talking about (I hope?)

The Italian ‘e’ sound is pronounced the same way as the ‘e’ in the English word ‘bed’. Very clipped, short. It’s always this way, no matter which letters proceed it or come after. It’s the same rule for the other vowels- each one pronounced separately, the same way in all words, and more clipped than the English way(s). There’s def no more drawn out ‘ay’ or ‘ey’ sound in Italian for ‘e’.

So ‘calzone’ is pronounced with all vowels clipped, and clear. The ‘c’, ‘l’ & ‘n’ are like English. The ‘z’ is a bit of a ‘tz’ sound (like ‘pizza’). The ‘a’ is like ‘above’, ‘o’ is like ‘police’, ‘e’ is like ‘bed’. So phonetically: cal-zo-neh.

You might like to know that calzone actually means trouser leg- hard to say how it became a foldover pizza!

My favourite mispronunciation of an Italian word in English is ‘focaccia’ said Fok-car-chee-ar. It takes so much longer to say the English way!

My favourite mispronunciation of an Italian word in English is ‘focaccia’ said Fok-car-chee-ar. It takes so much longer to say the English way!

The 'car' bit more likely in the South regions. Us oop North keep our vowels short & to the point . Depending on region, you may get Fuck Atcha.

Nothing - and I really do mean nothing - is as bad as listening to beardy Kint/Sarrey dad taking his kids to a cafe and asking them ostentatiously if they want CWAASSONNS then looking around for the applause.

I'm never sure about croissant. I definitely don't want to Cwahsson! but of course I don't want to Crossunt either. So I land somewhere on a low-key crohsson. Without an !

No need for all the wincing & cringing. You know what they mean. Don't be a dick

Regarding Afghanystan and Tallyban being correct.. I think poster was saying her DH says them with a long ee sound as opposed to a short i sound.

That's what I assumed. Like Tally Ho!

My late mother pronounced certain French words sort-of Frenchly, only with more emphasis.

So 'restaurant' became 'rest-WRONG'. 'Duvet' became 'Je-yoooo-vay'. It made us laugh.

XH pronounces 'Peugeot' as 'Pyoojho'. Always made me think of Pepe -le-Pew.

Nothing - and I really do mean nothing - is as bad as listening to beardy Kint/Sarrey dad taking his kids to a cafe and asking them ostentatiously if they want CWAASSONNS then looking around for the applause

Ds2 and I (being Surreyites ourselves) will enquire of each other if we'd care for a CRASSENT or (as heard in a local eaterie) a pain au chocklit.

I am not in the least bit ashamed of myself.

@BashfulClam

My mum called the colour beige ‘beege’.Mil has her own names for a lot of things: Dunelm-Dunlin Ibuprofen-ibufoben Clarins-Clairns Ponden Mills-Pod-den mills

I worked with a girl who got nice ‘sasparrillo’s’ (pronounced exactly like that) from Spain. It was a pair of Espadrilles.

Isn't a beej something else entirely..?

@Musmerian

I think the British thing of deliberately mispronouncing foreign words is pathetic.

Weird. When the french, or the Germans borrow words from English, they often use their own pronunciation.

@Iamclaracowbell

Aww and my nana always used to say pee-zah with a soft z

My husband pronounces mozzarella 'mozerella' soft z

Well I can’t say Ohio.
No matter how I try it always comes out a Ho-hi-oh.
Or, o-eye-owe
It always makes me and my kids laugh, just so long as none of them ever end up moving there!

I aim for the way I think most people around me would pronounce it, but don't particularly care. Don't see the point in stressing about chorizo etc - would be deeply weird to hear people pronouncing lasagne all Italian, after all. Or Lourdes (in Ireland) Lourd. Language is about communicating with the people around you, not passing a secret pronunciation exam.

My threshold for correcting anyone is fairly high - I did think it would be helpful to steer a friend away from "damp squid". But adapting loanwords to English sounds is normal - crossont, stroodle, coritzo etc. It's not as if people insisting on "getting them right" are likely to be matching the vowels and stresses in other languages anyway.

My MIL says Chee-a-barter (ciabatta) and Petty Fylows (petit filou). Also Fylow pastry (filo)

I know somebody who pronounced Yves Saint Laurent as Yervez sant lorrent. Also somebody who said la-sarnge instead of lasagna. Oh and can-apps instead of canapés. I liked that so I use it myself 🤣

So much hilarity at people mispronouncing things, yet god forbid anyone on MN ever points out any glaring grammatical errors or queries regional sayings.

Really I'd rather hear an Anglicised or mispronounced version than a wanky full on energetic continental vowel version. I'm fond of my old ma getting her clothes from "Bong Marshay" and my dnephew asking for pain ox chocklit. And I love that there are approximately 500 ways to ask for ibuprofen.

I call Quinoa Quin-Oh-Ah, mostly through devilment. 😂

See also Croy-sants.

My mum used to have Arthur-itis too...and according to her, my dad was in Connery-care after his triple by-pass.

It must be here-ditry 🤭😂

I know somebody who pronounced Yves Saint Laurent as Yervez sant lorrent.

I'm going to call him that from now on.

@BlankTimes Thank you for that link. It's taken me back to my childhood. 😂

You're welcome pussycatlickinglollyices I'm a fan of wordplay comedy.

I know somebody who pronounced Yves Saint Laurent as Yervez sant lorrent

I know someone who pronounced Yves as 'wives'

Not pronunciation but spelling.

My name is Emily. I was dealing with a client at work and asked then to email me. I said it was Emily (with a y) last name at company.

No email came through. The client was in France. So their natural spelling of Emily was Emilie.

So when they sent the email to my colleague cc’ing me because I hadn’t initially responsed it was sent to Yemilie