Cava - cavver or carver?

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Just been on the phone to my mother, who was waxing lyrical about the lovely ‘cavver’ (Cava) she’s bought to go with Christmas lunch. I’ve always pronounced it ‘carver’, with a soft A, and that’s what I hear more often than not, but she’s not alone in her pronunciation, so I have a nagging doubt I could be wrong. Can I get the views of the MN jury?

YABU = Cavver with a hard A
YANBU = Carver with a soft A

I have a fairly RP accent and wouldn’t sound an “r” in the middle of words, so caava and carva and carver would all sound pretty much the same in my accent.

Yes, exactly @RubaiyatOfAnyone

Car-va for me, same as lava (lar-va). It’s a regional accent, not just throwing in random letters that aren’t there

Same as how bath is pronounced bahth or barth (and more ways presumably!)

I'll call it that because that's the official linguistic terminology and how I earn my daily cava.

None for you. Only sparkling Perry.

Why do the English add random Rs to words?

Someone claiming to be a linguist on here once told me they don’t. Idear. Cinemar. Amandar. Now Carva.

Ca-va. I have no idea where the rs are coming from, I don't understand 😂

Car-va for me, same as lava (lar-va). It’s a regional accent, not just throwing in random letters that aren’t there

Huzzah!

Neither is right!

Cah vah - where on earth do you stick an r????

Cava with a short a as in cat. But! V is pronounced like a faint b in Spanish, so In fact more caba than cava. The lips don't quite close on the b. ¡Salud! 🥂

Someone claiming to be a linguist on here once told me they don’t. Idear. Cinemar. Amandar. Now Carva.

But those examples are all completely different! The equivalent would be adding it at the end (‘Cavar’), which I agree would be ‘random’, but no one has suggested it.

That’s not how you would spell it phonetically, since there’s no ‘r’ sound in it.

See also Bath, et al.

Things were so much simpler when people actually used/understood pronunciation guides - I’ve totally forgotten how!

Anyway, the best thing to do is just to drink it and not worry about saying it!

Scottish - no R sound in cava, or lava, or bath for that matter

This is infuriating when posters with a south of england accent do this. They don't pronounce an R, so they insert an R (that they don't pronounce) as some sort of GUIDE for the rest of us! We have to work around their regional accent to figure out what is meant.

I can't believe people would sit around figuring out how to pronounce Cava. Is it not obvious? Spanish is so phonetic. It's spelt Cava. It's pronounced Cava.

@Snowy0w1

This is infuriating when posters with a south of england accent do this. They don't pronounce an R, so they insert an R (that they don't pronounce) as some sort of GUIDE for the rest of us! We have to work around their regional accent to figure out what is meant.

I can't believe people would sit around figuring out how to pronounce Cava. Is it not obvious? Spanish is so phonetic. It's spelt Cava. It's pronounced Cava.

With two short a sounds?

The assumption that the Rs here aren't pronounced is so specific to the poster's own accent. To me Carver is a chair or the person who is carving the meat!

It's nearly impossible to explain over text I think because when I write Cah-vah I know people are reading it car-vah (or whatever their pronunciation is). That's why I threw in the bit about carver and cava being totally different to me - hopefully it underlines it?

I actually broke up with an English bf over this - idear, barth, tunar, lawr - drove me mad and I hated the idea of potential kids picking it up. Tbf it wasn't our only issue!

Cah-vuh
No rrr but a longer soft ahh and an uh

Yes, two short A's

I can't believe people would sit around figuring out how to pronounce Cava. Is it not obvious? Spanish is so phonetic. It's spelt Cava. It's pronounced Cava.

Well you’ve ‘sat around’ long enough to read the thread and tell us why we’re thick, so perhaps you’ve got more time on your hands than you thought.

Neither

Caa-vaa

If an ‘r’ was pronounced in that word it would be incorrect.

More cava anyone?

Oh just leave them at it.

Well I feel like this is a thread I should get involved in....

Cava to rhyme with lava

Unless you're actually Spanish, in which case both a sounds are very short and rhyme with the a in apple.

Maybe your DM is trying to get into the Spanish spirit OP? Offer her some hallapenyoh flavoured crisps to go with her natively pronounced cava tomorrow and see how she reacts...

Cah-vuh

Yes, that’s a good way of explaining it

Inserting a silent “r” is surely the polar opposite of phonetics. Maybe the OP is a secret Gaelic or welsh speaker where there are always silent letters to foil the unwary.

Who knew just talking in your own accent was so offensive 😂

Carver.

Or Cahver for those with rhotic accents