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

Car-vah.
London.

Caavaa in the meecrowahveh

Now, surely, you are just being deliberately obtuse. These would sound totally different in any accent where the “r” is pronounced. Do you really not understand that just because r’s are silent for you that they are not for other accents. Have you never heard Sean Connery speak, or Graham Norton, or Nicola Sturgeon?

You’re being ridiculous. Of course I’ve heard other accents than my own - but no way would those two words (one of which is fictional) sound ‘completely different’.

Are you new to MN, OP? The subject of random 'r' comes up all the time on pronunciation threads .

Car-vah!

I prefer prosecco, though 😉

Cava (cahvah) unless in Spain where I sometimes try to do laughable embarrassing Spanish ‘v’

I prefer Prosecco too or maybe champagne, which I easier the OP pronounced charmpagne.

@DowntonCrabby

I’d say cahvah in my Scottish accent.

Me too!, I can’t work out how the OP is saying the other ways!

Autocorrect frenzy there- I assume the OP pronounced charmpagne.

I’m apparently not allowed to say “pronounces” by my phone.

Ca-va. No "r" sound whatsoever.

Car va

London burn and raised but then moved around, including Latin America.

Are you new to MN, OP? The subject of random 'r' comes up all the time on pronunciation threads

I remembered the ‘draw/drawer’ debate too late

Couldn't afford champagne

@Hoppinggreen do you mean a hard T? Because chorizo is pronounced cho-ree-thoh in Spanish (Spain accent, Latin America will say it differently). Z + O gives you a soft th sound like in THank you. Not like THough. So there is a T, but combined with an H.

Cava is pronounced cava. Short A's. And like a PP poster said, V is almost a B in Spanish and Catalan, only that the lips never really touch other when you say it.

Best thing is to keep company that’s good to drink it with - say it how you like, and if you get corrected on sharing a bottle, you know not to bother with them whatever their accent or pronunciation.

It’s pronounced no thank you, bring something decent.

I've never heard of a Spanish "a" being longer than English. Spanish is a very phonetic language so each letter has one sound and you just say it as you see it. So both "a"s in middle and end are pronounced exactly the same and I would say are shirt/hard. And as a PP has said the "v" is a soft, slightly fricative/aspirative (can't remember right description) "b".

But talking about it in another country to no native speakers, you can say it however you want. As can your mum. Neither of you are "right" bit no one cares as long as it's chilled.

Ca (as in the beginning of cat) Va (as in the beginning of vat)

@StillCoughingandLaughing

Agreed. Why use "ar" to mean "ah" when what you're saying is "ah" anyway?

Because in the same way other people are saying they pronounce ‘cava’ like ‘lava’ and claim there’s ‘no extra R’ (do people really think ‘lava’ would sound different if spelled ‘larver’?), ‘ar’ and ‘ah’ don’t sound the same to me. If anything, others who have said ‘carv-uh’ where I used ‘carver’ are getting the point across more accurately.

Lava and larver would sound totally different in both my accents!

Us rhotic types are awfully fond of pronouncing our letter Rs wherever they appear. (And don’t get me started on dropping the letter T - par’y, for’y, etc drive me mad.)

More importantly, @StillCoughingandLaughing, is it wine o’clock yet?

@museumum

Cahvah - no “r” anywhere

This, why are people adding an r to cava???

Eileen I know how to pronounce it
I am talking about people who call it chor it zo

Yup, no it. No Z either for everyone else reading this

More importantly, @StillCoughingandLaughing, is it wine o’clock yet?

Hell yes So soon I won’t give a toss if it’s pronounced Cava, carver, cahvuh, cactus, catapult or plain old plonk!