To ask how would you pronounce this word?

[Pearlsofmadness]

Went to a snobby posh department store in London yesterday and bought a candle called Verveine. Now, as the brand is French, when I asked the assistant to smell it, I pronounced it 'VER-VAYN'. I took French at Uni dropped after a year so was quite confident with the pronunciation.
The assistant looked me up and down, smirked and said 'Oh... You mean VER-VEE-ERN' (as if it had three syllables). He made me feel very silly and small and continued to smirk as though I was stupid. It's only a little thing, I know, but I never go into posh shops and it was such a treat to buy something nice but it feels like it was spoilt a bit now- as if I wasn't 'good enough' to be there.
I just can't see how it's pronounced the way he said it though. AIBU to ask how the hell do you pronounce this word?

And yes he was a mere shop assistant. How dare the creature be so ignorant? Can't get the staff these days. What a prat.

Yes, ample, that is a great idea. Op, go back and correct the worm. Pretty please!!!

I'm just an obnoxious cow. If I get corrected on something and I know they are wrong, I ask them to go back to school and pay better attention.
Had a Brit trying to teach me how to say mousaka. I'm effing half Cypriot. I grew up in Athens, I even worked as a translator I have a good idea how to pronounce bleeding mousaka. "No sweetie. That's not how you pronounce it. Better pay attention in Greek GCSE next time, eh?"
My other side is Italian. Eating out is always fun, if you get my drift.

Ample, wish I could but I live 2 hours from London and won't be back anytime soon sadly. The next time I'm there I will pop in to hunt him down see if he's there and ask again!

No, not the White Company, Squirtle- but their Verveine is also lovely!

How do you pronounce mousaka?

Perfume sales assistants are notoriously bad at pronunciations; and good at mocking you when they think you've said it wrong. I've heard some perfumes said so far off the mark it's not funny. I'd have thought their basic training would have made sure they got it right.

You should have corrected him and added, "I'm French".

Moo-sar-ker. Someone's going to tell me it's Mus-akka, aren't they?

Choritso and seeyabatta must be the most commonly mispronounced foodstuffs today.

I only recently found out the accepted pronunciation of quinoa though; I assumed it was keeNOah.

I'd do with your pronunciation because GCSE French ftw.

Bruschetta...

I love asking for bru-sket-ta and the server saying "Oh, bru-shet-ta"

They made me doubt myself even though my Italian-speaking friend assured me I was right.

Moo-sar-ker. Someone's going to tell me it's Mus-akka, aren't they?

Oh good, I say moo-sar-ker

The first time I ever encountered chorizo was years ago in the company of a Spanish colleague who spoke excellent English. She pronounced it "chh-or-EE-tho" (with that particularly Spanish "h with just a hint of a c" sound at the beginning) and so that's how I learned to say it.

It took ages for the penny to drop that from then on I sounded like the most pretentious wanky arsehole showing off their Spanish accent on purpose and that 99% of the rest of the English-speaking GB population call it "chu-rye-zo".

I don't feel like a pretentious arsehole saying choreetho.

40% of people learned Spanish at school fgs.

moo-sar-ker??

Why all the Rs?

I think most people would say moo-sa-ka but I've heard it said moosa-ka so i wonder if this is more authentic?

While you're all here... How do you all pronounce Hermes? As in the courier.

I say 'hur-meez' but I hear 'hurmz' as one syllable quite a lot!

However the word is pronounced, probably wouldn't exactly cover you in glory to go back to the shop just to make the "snotty sales assistant" feel small. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that...

('Received MN wisdom' on the Pretty Woman thread which I would agree with )

Speaking a language using the right pronunciation isn't being pretentious. It's speaking the language.

Reminded me of my French classes in England where people spoke French with an awful deliberate English accent just so they didn't look 'uncool' to the rest of the class. Shame not to want to speak it properly!

Hermes = Air mez

Hermes the courier company - hurmeez like the Greek god.

I'd say

verr-ven with a hint of an 'aye'
chore-ree-zo (I live very close to Mxn border, its how it is said here) no Rit or tho.
Air mez
moose-akka (no idea if I get this right but it is what I say)

but I pronounce the short shot of coffee EX presso just to mess with my grammar nazi teenager.

Ver-Venn, to rhyme with the river Seine.
Bergamot is Italian, not French, so the t is pronounced.
LA'tay does emphasise the first syllable, but doesn't make it rhyme with car.
Oscar de la Renta was Dominican, so his surname would be pronounced day la rrrrrrenta, not in the French way.

Sorry, should have clarified
fancy silk scarves "air-mez"
Greek god "Her-meez"

My friend is Greek and says mousse-a-ka with the emphasis on the ka. But I think an English person would sound an idiot saying it like that..

How the heck is Acai pronounced. And what does it taste like. Never ordered it because I know I'd make a tit of myself!

I'd like to know that too, Drop!

I say verveine like Eurochick and Goose.

IMO, latte is pronounced by Italians somewhere in between LAR-tay and LA-Tay, depending on accent.