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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think chorit-zo, pit-za, cras-ong and various other pronunciations are just a bit old school?

206 replies

lessonsintightropes · 01/10/2013 00:59

My DM uses all of the above (seriously, pit-za used to be acceptable for pizza some years past) including broccol-I, Keen-yah, rest-au-rong, choc-lit, turq-oissse, etc etc etc.

My DNep and D Niece take the piss out of her tonnes and to be fair it sounds very funny to their London ears. I just think for an old woman who grew up saying things a certain way it would be a bit mean to try and r-educate her.

What do you think? Do we need to try and get DM to say brocco-lee, Ken-yah, rest-oh-ron, choco-lat etc or should we just let it live, and giggle to ourselves? PS totally outing myself to any family members here :)

OP posts:
BigW · 01/10/2013 07:58

If you read the OP, I don't she was being disrespectful or 'up herself' at all.

My grandparents pronounce DS's name as 'Nor' rather than 'No-ah'. There was a thread on it a while ago. I think that's a generation thing too. I've never corrected them, not that I think they would take it as a sign of disrespect if I did.

SoupDragon · 01/10/2013 08:04

Do we need to try and get DM to say brocco-lee, Ken-yah, rest-oh-ron, choco-lat etc or should we just let it live, and giggle to ourselves?

I rather think she was.

fluffyraggies · 01/10/2013 08:09

Pizza - is it pete (as in the boys name) za .... or peeeeeza? I do have a friend who calls it pitza. Like pitta bread, but with a z in it.

I say it like the first one.

My all time favorite is my mum's lovely aunt's pronunciation of meringue, as in Lemon Meringue pie ... Literally phonetically mering-g-you. Love her though. She'd only seen it written and not heard it spoken i think.

Mintyy · 01/10/2013 08:10

RobotHamster
Have you actually read the op?

Your post above sums up exactly what I hate about Mumsnet sometimes, and is I suspect the sort of thing that causes some posters to complain about the "culture of bullying" on here - their words not mine.

SoupDragon · 01/10/2013 08:13

I've read the OP.

She is, apparently, giggling to herself over her mother's pronunciation. Sounds rather snide and judgemental to me.

diddl · 01/10/2013 08:14

Isn't pizza peetza?

Tbh I can't really make out from the OP how things are being pronounced.

I might say "restaurant"like in the OP-although not with an obvious "g" sound.

But I don't think that I always clearly say the "t".

Think I only say 2 syllables for chocolate as well, but more like "choclut".

SoupDragon · 01/10/2013 08:15

I say Peetza but without a very obvious T IYSWIM.

MokuMoku · 01/10/2013 08:16

My old flat mate (American) once described a girl as very chick. When I asked what that meant, she told me it was French for stylish. I did smirk behind my hand.

Yes, the pronunciations are old fashioned but then I guess your mum is older so I'd leave her to it.

Melonbreath · 01/10/2013 08:17

I can't say pomegranate. Just can't do it.

SayCoolNowSayWhip · 01/10/2013 08:23

I don't think the OP was being judgemental. To me it comes across as she'd rather let her DM alone with her sweet idiosyncratic pronunciation, but is worried that her DNiece's and DNephew's laughing might offend.

I don't think 'giggling' is being snobbish. I giggle at my mum's pronunciation of some words all the time. Doesn't mean I love her any less or disrespect her.

SoupDragon · 01/10/2013 08:27

The OP thinks her mother needs "re-educating", even if she thinks it would be mean to do so. That coupled with the giggling to herself is, IMO, judgemental.

FrigginRexManningDay · 01/10/2013 08:31

Language so often has a dialect and accent which makes some words really difficult to pronounce,especially foreign words. I once spent two hours trying to help my London born and raised neighbour pronounce a poem written as Gaelige that her child was trying to learn. There were some words she just could not pronounce. Her child however could pronounce most of the words because she grew up hearing them in school.
Taking the piss because she cannot pronounce words she did not grow up hearing makes you sound mean and snobby OP.

TobyLerone · 01/10/2013 08:32

Why is eye-talian offensive?

I don't say it. I don't know anyone who does. But I don't get it.

Lagoonablue · 01/10/2013 08:34

It isn't important. However agree re Bruschetta and a panini. How about 2 cappucinos? I am just a snob who can speak Italian though!!!!Smile

TheGinLushMinion · 01/10/2013 08:45

If you know what she means then why does it matter?

Leave her be & stop laughing at her, that is rude.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 01/10/2013 08:52

The one that REALLY annoys me?...
When Americans say Eye Rack!
"Im in the military. Ive just done a tour in Eye Rack."
Confused

noddyholder · 01/10/2013 08:54

I think I say choclit

LyraSilvertongue · 01/10/2013 08:59

I'm pretty sure the OP meant for this thread to be lighthearted. Mumsnetters taking everything too seriously again Hmm

LyraSilvertongue · 01/10/2013 09:03

I find Gordon Ramsay's pronunciation of restaurant - restrunt - a little irritating. He's the only person I've ever heard pronounce it like that.

lottiegarbanzo · 01/10/2013 09:03

No, you need to teach your DNs that people have different accents and ways of saying things, it is polite to listen, try to understand and ask for clarification if needed, rude to go round laughing at people who aren't exactly the same as them.

Toby, Eye-talian is contemporary with 'Eye-ties', a deliberately offensive term from the time of WWII, same as calling Japanese people 'nips' (from earlier phonetic rendering as Nippon). It's derogatory.

SeaSickSal · 01/10/2013 09:06

I call corn flakes cornaflakes. Have since I was a child and it's just stuck.

Gingerdodger · 01/10/2013 09:19

Is you MIL from the midlands? This looks like a regional accent to me as my Brummy friend would pronounce some of those words like that.

I am all for regional accents though. They rock! I would hate for us all to sound the same.

In terms of 'foreign' words entering the English language and becoming anglicised this has always happened and no doubt much variation in pronunciation.

Personally I quite like to hear the variation although I have to confess to a personal bugbear of hearing people say they are on 'tenderhooks' not 'tenterhooks'. However I expect that in years to come we will all say tenderhooks as the language evolves and original meanings forgotten (tenterhooks being racks that stretched out cotton in the fields as part of the manufacturing process).

lottiegarbanzo · 01/10/2013 09:23

The only one of those I might mention (but it's not going to change them) is Keen-ya, which was the colonial name for the country that became Ken-ya on independence. So it does convey a failure or unwillingness to recognise that change of status.

Pit-sa for peet-sa makes sense for anyone more familiar with musical terms than food - how do you say pizzicato?

plantsitter · 01/10/2013 09:26

My dad had been leaving a trail of offence in his wake for years by pronouncing panini 'punanni'. He just can't seem to get it right Grin

bootsycollins · 01/10/2013 09:30

My son was behind a bloke in the Subway queue who said " oh yeah I'll have some of them jalapanos on it please" brilliant. Dh says hhhhhhhhalapenos to wind me up, the Spanish pronounciation makes me want to punch someone for some inexplicable reason, it's when the emphasis is on the guttural throaty jal.