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

[Hoppinggreen]

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!!

Gnocchi is pronounced nyocki.

Unless you're French it is literally impossible to say 'Moet & Chandon' without sounding like a monumentally pretentious twat.

This is fact.

I say almond as ah-mond (I dont sound the 'l' and never ever add in an 'r' sound)

There's no ahhhs in Italian. Lahhhte, focahhhcia, etc is so wrong.

I hate knobs people who correct other peoples pronunciation even when they are right but morons people correcting when they say it wrong themselves gives me rage

I once asked for a latte in an Italian restaurant. I pronounced it lat-tay. The waiter made me explain exactly what I was asking for, while he huffed impatiently, then said, "So coffee with milk then."

He brought me strong coffee with a small jug of milk.

He was an arse.

Yes, but Shockers, what you were asking for was milk! Latte is Italian for milk. Caffe Latte is Italian for lah-tay

Ds (4) calls crossaints 'possums' - which kind of sounds similar if you are pouncing around (as I do)

I say all-monds for almonds, which I know is wrong but I don't care and event Spanish work colleague laughed at how I say it.

I did actually say cafe latte, as that's how it was written on the menu. I could only assume that he hadn't actually read the menu and didn't know they sold anything other than ordinary filter coffee.I even showed him at one point!

I've spent years avoiding saying latte because I assumed I'd pronounced in a way that no Italian would ever understand...

We weren't in Italy either, we were in St-Anne's-on-Sea .

What's this "lar-tay" business? There's no "r" in it.

I speak French and Italian quite (ahem) well, and in those countries will go the whole hog with my pronunciation. In England I try to speak French or Italian words as correctly as possible with the exception of the 'r' sound, which in either language just sounds terribly pretentious when reproduced in the UK.

I was in sainsburies this morning and overheard a small girl asked her daddy if they could get Fajitas - FAheetas.

I knocked her on the shoulder and told her she needed to get over herself and stop being such a pretentious little cow

I may be wrong but I assumed that this post of Branleuse's was a joke.

I think so mimsy ;)

I was at a smart drinks reception where one of the waitresses was getting herself in a real tizz about people calling the nibbles 'canapes'. She insisted they were 'canaps'.

My parents still recount the incident some 20 years later of my rather affected American Aunt and the pronunciation used in her ordering of profiteroles for dessert at a Holiday Inn at Aberdeen.

On the topic of champagne (okay, it was a few posts up), I cannot stand the advert that talks of Marc de Sham-pain. Sorry, if you are doing the 'Marc de' bit, you also have to do the 'Sharm-Pan-ye' bit too

DH says 'crers ont' with a strong emphasis on the second part and a hard 't'

Chor ee tzo is unforgiveable. To pronounce Spanish sausage following Italian rules is just bizarre.

Paella is hard to say Spanishly without sounding a dick so unless in Spain I run with 'Pie ella'

And I never ask for 'Mille Feuille' as I'm scared to try and say it.

And I never ask for 'Mille Feuille' as I'm scared to try and say it.

I know what you mean.

Tyranasaurus - panini are a dilemma for me too.
1 panini feels wrong. 1 panino sounds so pretentious in English. Ordering 2 doesn't even help as you still have the same problem - 2 panini vs 2 paninis.
I just order baguettes

Mille Feuille is Mill Foy, pretty much.

We sell Quesedillas at work - it is always fun taking an order for them. My favourite was

Kweyzo Dillos

Moet et Chandon - mow-ay-tay-shondon oui? (Pronouncing the first t as it's just before a vowel) - but everyone says mow - ay - ay - shondon

Isnt Moet "Mwet"?

Where I was raised in Scotland croissants were called "crabby rolls" - no fear of sounding pretentious there, then.