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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how to pronounce croissant without sounding like a twat?

230 replies

Hoppinggreen · 04/10/2014 08:37

So how do you do it?
I know how to say it properly as I speak reasonable French but I wonder if I sound like a pretentious twat. With close friends and family I get round it by doing it in an over exaggerated ironic way but how would I order one when out or how would I offer one to a casual acquaintance?
And as for Pain au Chocolat - I daren't even go there!!

OP posts:
Witchesbrewandbiscuits · 04/10/2014 10:09

Cwasson

TeaAndALemonTart · 04/10/2014 10:10

I hate it when people say Maj york a.

CremeEggThief · 04/10/2014 10:11

Cross-on.
Pan au chocola'.

musicalendorphins2 · 04/10/2014 10:12

We usually say crescent rolls.

iwantgin · 04/10/2014 10:12

Qua sson

Choreetho

And Hala penyo (get funny looks for that one - in the local pub when I want the spicy Jalapeño crisps

Hoppinggreen · 04/10/2014 10:12

And how would one order Paella in a non twattish way?

OP posts:
iwantgin · 04/10/2014 10:14

oooh -and Tortiya.

Slimming club leader said Tort tiller the other week. I had to bite my tongue.

FIL insists on Mer lotte. I've given up with that one.

mumnosbest · 04/10/2014 10:14

How about jalepenos? j or h? Grin

MrsBungle · 04/10/2014 10:14

Yes that's how I say it music

Stratter5 · 04/10/2014 10:15

Cross ant
Pan o shock o la

iwantgin · 04/10/2014 10:15

twattish or not.. Pay eyhlah. (with the l only just slightly involved)

Same for Estrella beer.

TheSameBoat · 04/10/2014 10:16

Cwass -ont

but..

flem up a bit at the back of your throat on the W (avoid gobbing at the person you are ordering croissant from/offering it to!)

and

talk as if you're going to pronounce the T at the end but then don't!

HTH

MrsBungle · 04/10/2014 10:17

Pie Ella (I know thats not right but I would feel pretentious to say pie yey yah!)

Hal ah peeno

Tort ee yah

Tangoandcreditcards · 04/10/2014 10:20

I do this. (Spanish and French speaker pronouncing croissant, paella, chorizo as they would be in their native countries). DP pulls me up for being a pretentious twat EVERY TIME.

For croissant DP once overheard someone in the US call one a "French doughnut" so he uses that at home. When he starts saying it out and about, I'm going to LTB. (Although I think he feels the same about my linguistic pretensions)

iwantgin · 04/10/2014 10:23

Ibiza - surely is eebeetha ?

I hear Eye beetha or eye beeza far too often.

TheSameBoat · 04/10/2014 10:25

Paella = pie-eyah with teeniest hint of j round the y.

Jalapenos = Halapenyos with a hint of flem around the H.

iwantgin · 04/10/2014 10:26

French doughnut???

WTF ????

French have doughnuts : Un beignet

www.cafedumonde.com/

EllasMum16 · 04/10/2014 10:28

Kwas-on, pan oh shock oh la

TheSameBoat · 04/10/2014 10:30

Iwantgin, it depends on the location. IIRC classic Spanish from Castille would be with the "th" sound but in other places (eg Mexico) it would be a soft "ss" sound.

My XH (mexican) would spend ages correcting my "choritho" - what fun we had! Grin

Jacksterbear · 04/10/2014 10:33

What about bruschetta?

I thought the proper way to pronounce it was brus-KEH-tah, but have been "corrected" by waiters saying "so, that's one garlic bread, one bru-SHEH-tah..." Confused

iwantgin · 04/10/2014 10:33

thesameboat I get that the second part of Ibiza can vary according to region, it's the Eye at the front that gets me.

Should be Eee ?

sanfairyanne · 04/10/2014 10:35

surely everyone just says 'kwasson' or possibly 'kwassont'?

'pan oh shok' is what we say to get round the slightly more poncey 'shokolaa'

Andrewofgg · 04/10/2014 10:36

Then there's whichever German car advert it is which uses the expression Vorsprung durch Technik and mangles the pronunciation. Grrr.

Siennasun · 04/10/2014 10:36

Hopping - I wasn't aiming pp at you. It was at those who said they were pronouncing it the proper French way - "cwasson"

I probably anglicise it more than most people and pronounce the nt at the end. It sounds silly to me to say crosson because it's not English or French.

I think to say it the french way does sound pretentious in English but I'm sure some people think I'm a twat for saying crossont (and for lots of other reasons too) Grin

britishbakeoffblues · 04/10/2014 10:37

Quas son.

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