to pronounce the champagne Moet mow-ett as opposed to Mow-ay and have a ridiculously stupid mini-row about it?

[GetOrf]

Disclaimer - I am not a poncetastic twat. Get that in before you lot accuse me.

At MILs last night, couple of SILs there. My MIL loves champagne, it was a distinct luxury when she was younger and I don't think she bought a bottle until she was in her 40s. Now she is making up for lost time and I always buy her a decent bottle for her birthdays, mothers day etc.

We were talking about different brands, and she was remembering the different ones she has tried, I said that a cheapish one which I had bought from Sainsbos (Charles something) was rated in the Sunday Times as being better than the more recognised brands such as Moet etc.

At which point my SIL laughed scoffingly and said 'I would have thought you would have known that the French don't5 pronounce the t on the end of the word, it is pronounce Mow-AY' (said in full on condescending terms).

I said fuck off dicksplash 'no it is pronounced Mo-ETT, theword is Dutch anyway'

She carried on 'no it's not, champagne is French not dutch, next you will be saying Edam comes from Wales'

She really got on my tits.

language student is pedant ? horrid shocker. hold the front page....

I love this thread. champagne and pedantry all in one go.

Odd, cos when i saw Getorf at the meet up , she looked so much like a friend from University i sort of gaped at her to check she wasn't that person...

scrutinises GOML again<

and this is exactly the sort of crap me and that friend talk about. exactly.

Eggy - loving your post - my friend and I have been having a discussion for literally years about the Oxford comma.....

aha 'that friend and I' i should say..

what is an Oxford comma opposed to the common or garden comma?

Yy fewer emissions bellowed at tv EVERY TIME.

Eggy - sorry don't know how to link, but have look at wiki - if you're into grammar it is very interesting. BTW, my friend is in favour and uses it, I'm not and I don't. I have tried it, but can't get used to it.

"Less emissions"

Does anyone else seethe when confronted with "10 items or less" signs?

That's why I'd rather shop at Waitrose.

Disclaimer: I don't actually shop at Waitrose because the nearest one is too far away. And full of arrogant ponces.

I pronounce it somewhere between "mit" and "met" but slightly drawn out. I speak Dutch.

There is a small Dutch speaking minority in France, but the umlaut accent thing definately indicates you do not pronounce it in the traditional French manner with a "y" at end.

Also in the northern parts of France, you get some unusual pronunciations. DP's parents live in France and visited Reims, yet insist it is called Reems.

I never heard valet being pronounced Val-et until the last few years. I can't do it, it just sounds wrong.

How about the correct pronunciation of Stalin.

Most English people say Star-Lin, but my friend who was half Russian would get annoyed because she said it was Sta-Lin.

"Starlin"? Thats because most English people speak English with an accent!

Oxford comma

Should it be: "panini, biscotti, and spaghetti" (with comma)

or "panini, biscotti and spaghetti" (no comma)?

I don't give a shit really. But I do wonder whether some of you talk about a strand of spaghetto?

Oi, what about my Reiss question?? Someone at work pronounced it Reese and I thought it was rice. Who's right?

Come to think of it though, "oe" is pronounced "oo" in Dutch, as in "voet", which is pronounced "voot" (well actually not quite, it has a little bit of a capital "oh" in it as well. Its the umlaut which is confusing me.

"Reiss" - German, surely, as in "rice"? But is it a German company?

See, my Spanish teacher was from Venezuela Mardy, so I'm quite happy to eat GaZpacho.

I can't bring myself to say panino, just because people will look at me in a funny way

Our local supermarket has replaced '10 items or less' with 'Basket only', which, to be honest, is a cop-out.

on Oxford comma - i am of the second party.

'and' replaces the comma.

although i sometimes delete the superfluous coma from my posts, having typed in the manner in which i speak.

Oh, Mardy
"I do wonder whether some of you talk about a strand of spaghetto?"

I use aforementioned long pasta to check to see if my cakes are done. And yes, I may have been known on occasion to say that I'm just getting a spaghetto...

I went to the Chandon winery once a few years ago.

It's Mwett (the Dutch pronunciation)

However, I tend to refer to it as "Bubbly" - saves the fuss!

What about the surname Leveson Gowers pronounced "Loo-sun Gore" or Cholmondely pronounced "chumley"?

This is a fab thread!

Yep, and Featherstonehaugh is Fanshaw.

I like hyphens too. My favourite example was always the one about casting aspersions at pickled herring merchants. A bit off topic but I was half-listening to the news earlier and was quite surprised to hear the newsreader talking about 'bloody diarrhoea'.

Belvoir is pronounced beaver. Thank yew Jilly Cooper.

I used to live near a town called Woofardisworthy. Pronounced Woolsery. What's that all about?

Latin clever people: why is Cirencester pronounced like it is (the cester bit pronounced 'sester' at the end) whereas Gloucester and Worcester and Bicester the cester bit is pronounced 'ster'

Oh and at Ralph Lauren dilemma.

I had a really drunken row with DP about that at one point (you know the type, where you wave your wine glass in the air to emphasise a point, spill wine all over the place, shout at the cat) as he says is is pronounced as in Sophia Loren, I say it is just pron. like Lauren the girls name.

I think I based the whole argument on the fact that Patsy from Ab Fab said it Ralph Lauren. And Rachel from Friends.

eggy you did look at me at the meet up as if you were trying to place me from somewhere You didn't do an MEng at Bristol did you?

GetOrf can you please buy some Nike trainers, wear them in front of SIL, and then report back to us whether she uses the Greek pronunciation or not?

And then whether you argue about it?

mowett - she is wrong.

I love the way after 225 posts, someone comes on to the thread and just says "mowett - she is wrong". Sorry OnEdge, just made me laugh.