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Pedants' corner

It's ESPRESSO not EXPRESSO!!

56 replies

ahhhhhpushit · 24/12/2011 11:09

How many people do I hear saying expresso?!!!

It really grates me although I can sorta see why people make the mistake...

Am I the only one??!!

OP posts:
LadyClariceCannockMonty · 24/12/2011 12:33

Christ, I hate expresso! It's even more unforgivable when it's actually printed e.g. in coffee shops. Also loathe the errant final 's' as in Tesco's and Costa's.

And someone I know says 'exasperate the situation' instead of 'exacerbate'.

Queenofthehill · 24/12/2011 12:46

Expresso, no! Which brings me on to...

...the advert for Asda, where the man says 'expecially'. Argh, argh, stabbity stab!

DeePanCrisPandEeeven · 24/12/2011 12:51

grazie mille, Collision.Smile

smartyparts · 24/12/2011 12:55

I love that Mitchell & Web link.

Showed it to my family. DH said, 'thank God you haven't got a gun..'!

RecursiveMoon · 24/12/2011 13:00

One of the presenters on the Today program said expresso far too often a week or two ago.

yellowraincoat · 24/12/2011 13:07

I think saying Tescos and so on is a class/regional thing. Everyone where I come from (rural Scotland) says it, everyone I know now (in London) slags me off for saying it. I wonder if it's because in a small isolated town, where we didn't have a supermarket til I was about 10, we were used to calling shops by the name of the person that owned it eg Simpson's, Gordon's and so on.

I will continue saying Tescos and Asdas and so on.

I don't really care about expresso and I have no idea about how to pronounce bruschetta.

So actually, I have no idea why I'm on this thread.

DeePanCrisPandEeeven · 24/12/2011 13:14

the 'disinterest' and 'uninterest' discussion is quite flavoursome. They are often used interchangeably yet have specific and distinct meanings.

complement and compliment is good for a slight raise of eyebrow too! and discreet and discrete ( I think).

HaveYourselfAMardyLittleXmas · 24/12/2011 13:17

Panino
Spaghetto

HaveYourselfAMardyLittleXmas · 24/12/2011 13:18
Confused
wildstrawberryplace · 24/12/2011 13:19

Yeah, I say espresso and it grates a little when DH says expresso, but language evolves and "officially" the word expresso does now exist as the anglicized version of the Italian word espresso. So while it may annoy you, it is not technically incorrect (by a hair).

The OED, Second Edition, does include espresso and expresso, the latter being a variant of the former.

CroissantNeuf · 24/12/2011 13:27

The expresso/espresso thing winds me up too.

Next in line for annoyance is marshmellow instead of marshmallow.

LEttletownofBOFlehem · 24/12/2011 13:33

I get murderous with rage about chorizo. It is NOT, and never has been Italian, and even if it were, it would need two zeds to be pronounced 'chorit-so'.

lambethlil · 24/12/2011 13:42

I remembered it as I was rather Shock ed the first time around. As a coffee addicted loving francophone I shouldn't have been making that mistake but I was.Xmas Blush

Collision · 24/12/2011 13:57

Prego Pan!!

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 24/12/2011 18:25

yellowraincoat, I don't know about the class/region thing ? plenty of solidly middle-class London types of my acquaintance regularly narrowly escape strangulation annoy me slightly by saying 'Tescos' etc. I on the other hand am from very proletarian stock indeed and rabidly despise the errant apostrophe-s.

yellowraincoat · 24/12/2011 18:32

I dunno LadyClarice, then.

All I have to say to you is...

Tescos Asdas Lidls Aldis Waitroses

Merry Christmas!

mablemurple · 24/12/2011 18:43

my mum used to say Waitrose's which used to irritate the hell out of me - something about the double s sound which makes it sound idiotic.

Can I introduce a new one that I've not seen discussed on here: IRREGARDLESS. One of the big cheeses at work says this and I want to yell at him, it's either REGARDLESS or IRRESPECTIVE, IRREGARDLESS does not exist as a word!

yellowraincoat · 24/12/2011 18:44

Irregardless of that, mable, he's your boss, so you probably shouldn't say anything.

jenrendo · 24/12/2011 18:49

In some parts of Scotland they say 'sangwiches'. Oh it bugs the hell out of me!!

AitchTwoOHoHoHo · 24/12/2011 18:59

one of the single most frustrating experiences of my life was when someone gently corrected me on the expresso thing. I HAD FUCKING WELL SAID ESPRESSO, indeed i had said it with quite a distinct Roman accent BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE I LEARNED TO SPEAK ITALIAN etc etc

anyway. he said 'no, you said expresso, but don't worry, a lot of people make that mistake'.

mablemurple · 24/12/2011 19:05

lol yellow, no I couldn't say anything to him, but one of the less big cheeses and I have a running joke about it, I always sign off my emails to him with Kind Irregards.

DeePanCrisPandEeeven · 24/12/2011 19:10

oooooh I know that one Aitch. I speak German ( better than I write it) but was 'corrected' by an official at der Zoo station in Berlin re my pronuciation of "Franzoschiche" ( French)..which was perfect! He mis-heard it, and told me the exact ( same) version, with a smug little smile.

Small sharp objects were not to hand. Fortunately.

FellatioNelson · 24/12/2011 19:13

My mum says expresso and I politely pointed out to her that she was wrong once, and she got really huffy with me about it. I think she tried to convince me that there was some optional expresso rule that I was unaware of, and I was BU to care either way.

yellowraincoat · 24/12/2011 19:14

lol at kind irregards.

This is deeply irrelevant, DeePan, but a German once corrected me because I said "ich lebe" instead of "ich wohne". I don't mind the correction, but he laughed hysterically then told everyone we know. I love the Germans, but God, they can be smug.

Also: sangwiches. Glaswegians, you can not laugh at us teuchters when you continue to pronounce sangwiches so.

Annunziata · 24/12/2011 19:21

At least once a week a customer tries to tell me that our menu is wrong and should read expresso.

Vaffanculo!