bruschetta
 

I'm sorry, but this is driving me nuts.

On a trip last week in two separate restaurants, I had the waitperson attempt to correct my pronunciation of "bruschetta." Both said it the same way, and both were wrong.

It's pronounced "broo-SKET-ta" not "broo-SHET-ta."

Thanks. You may now go back to your regularly scheduled travel programming.

And this was the restaurant's wait staff? What ever happened to "The customer is always right?" Did you leave a nice tip?

I found this very interesting and enlightening because I've been wondering about the correct pronunciation. I noticed a couple of years ago that Rachel Ray pronounces it with the k sound. While I've heard Rachel say things I know not to be true, given the fact that she's half Italian, I figured I could trust her on that one. So I've been pronouncing it that way. But when we ordered it last week in an Italian restaurant, I noticed that the waitstaff used the other pronunciation.

I in fact did leave a decent tip both times. I assumed the waitperson was tactfully trying to educate me, so I took no offense at their ignorance.

I lived in Italy for a year and have many, mnay Italian friends. The correct pronunciation is hands down with the K sound...broo-ske-ta. Ugh, it irks me to hear it the other way. Hmmm, is that snotty?!?!?

How do you say prosciutto?
How about mozzarella?
According to my daughter the most mispronounced of all is Espresso!
She works at Starbucks and it really gets to her that most people say EX-presso.

MOOOTZ-uh-rella

lizg14, I think it's human nature to feel irritated when you hear someone using a pronunciation you know to be incorrect. Just read the advice/advise thread! That's about written rather than spoken, but it's the same idea.

I certainly think that the waitstaff in an Italian restaurant should know the correct pronunciation. But, as for the general public, I think we have to take into consideration that they may never have had occaision to hear the correct pronunciation. At least I hope that's the case when I order something in an ethnic restaurant!

I've had the same experience many times in the U.S.; sometimes I actually correct the corrector, politely, and explain a little basic Italian pronunciation for them.

I wonder where the bru-SHetta thing got started; it seems like that mispronunciation is very common everywhere in the U.S.

I'll offer a general guideline for a couple of pronunciation issues:
-When "ch" occurs in a word, it is normally pronounced "K."
-When "sci" occurs, such as in prosciutto, uscita, or other such words, it is pronounced with the "sh" sound. When a vowel follows the "sci" as in prosciutto, the "sh" sound predominates and the vowel is pronounced. So you pronounce it PRO-SHOO-TO.
-If a consonant follows the "sci" as in uscita, the "i" is pronounced with the usual "ee" sound, followed by the rest of the word.

These guidelines have always helped me in my pronunciation of Italian words, especially when I see the word in written form but have never heard it pronounced.

Mozzarella: By Italian-Americans -- "MOOTS-uh-RELL-uh" (roll the 'R'). In Italy -- "MOTTS-uh-RELL-uh."

Prosciutto: By (some) Italian-Americans -- "Pruh-SHOOT." In Italy -- "Pru-SHOOT-oh." BTW, the "sh" sounds like "si" sound in the word "Asia."

OK, now really, I have work to do. Ciao!

While I agree with your hard k pronunciation, let's be honest here. If you're in the US and you're speaking English, it is not unlikely that most people would attempt an English, rather than a true Italian pronunciation.

For example in France, Paris is pronounced "Paree". But would you really expect an American sitting around in the US to say, "we had a wonderful trip to Paree"?

There are many foreign words that are readily acceptable in English with different pronuciations. I too have been "corrected" in the US from an Italian waiter who said "brooshetta" after I said "broosketta".

Wow brushetta is one of my favorites and I had no idea there it was pronounced with a K and I waitressed and a pretty decent Italian rest. for a year.

If I have never heard anyone pronounce something before I use my 1st grade teachers method of sounding it out. I'm sure that's house why so many words have been anglicized in our one language country... guess I should read up more on my pronunciations.

So how is Shiraz pronounced :)

I lied about getting back to work.

Disagree with the "Paris" comparison.

The more relevant comparison would be "hors d'oeuvres." If we used an American pronuciation with that, it would come out sounding like, well, you know.

In fact, ethnic food specialties are nearly always pronounced the way they are in their country of origin. For example: pizza. It's pronounced (roughly) the same in the US as it is in Italy.

So why shouldn't "bruschetta" get the same respect?

Wow I guess I should edit my reponses before I post! Talk about hacking up the english language... I didn't even make sense! I think quicker than I type:)

I have also noticed this problem with wait staff & the correct pronunciation of bruschetta. Another thing that irritates me is "paninis" being used for the plural when panini is already plural.

I think the pronunciation problem comes from American TV and commercials. The only American I have heard pronounce the work correctly is Mario Batali.

Patrick, thanks for the laugh!

I totally agree, the majority of the time in America trying to use the correct pronounciation makes one sound like a complete ass.

I'm not sure there is a polite way to correct anyone's pronunciation. Put another way, one will almost always cause offense and/or hurt feelings--only the most charming people can manage to do it sweetly. So I don't try to correct people, I just firmly stick to my own pronunciation. That way, if I'm the one in the wrong, I don't look like SUCH an ass!

Using the correct pronunciation makes one look like an a$$? Really?

Then I guess we really should be saying "whores de oovers." Or "piss-ah" for "pizza."

If you want to be laughed at and rudely corrected, go to Portland, Oregon and mention the "Will-a-MET" river. Sure glad I knew the right way to say it, because I've seen people made out to be total fools and never corrected nicely!

j_999_9, your point is well taken, but I guess you've never ordered champagne in Paris!

And while the Pronunciation Police are on duty:

Please please stop pronouncing "conch" as "conCH". It should be conK.

It takes everything in me not to correct customers on the spot...but does repeating their order using the correct pronunciation mean I'm correcting?

When in doubt, one can always point :-)

My Italian/American friends always say "pro shoot" and often a c is replaced with a g...as in gapigola, or just gapigole

Now, any opinions on gnocchi and bolognese :-)

Marion

j 99 9 : There's a fine line between correct pronunciation, and pretention.

The Par- ee example is the best one, surely you don't go around the US refering to the French capital that way. It's like the old Saturday Night Live sketch where the newscasters overpronouce Nicaragua and nearly choke themselves with it.

If the wait staff is going to say brooshetta....shouldn't they be consistant and and ask if we want a glass of "she-ahntay"

While we're at it, &quot;croissant&quot; is routinely mangled, although I agree it's difficult to pronounce properly -- I'm sure I don't to the French ear. But it's surely not &quot;cress-<i>ant</i>&quot;! The &quot;oi&quot; is, approximately, a &quot;wah&quot; sound, and the &quot;t&quot; should be silent unless you've decided that there are male croissants and female croissantes! (Freud would probably choose the second choice ;-) ).

Back to the original point: it's 'broo-SKAY-tuh', if you really want to know how it's pronounced in Italy.

Annoying post, I know, but I couldn't stand another mispronunciation go by....

(And I swear I'm not one of those souls that rolls their r's with any given chance.)

now that you've figured out bruschetta want to try tagliatelle? LOL!

Out here in the West, we have a lot of Hispanic people.

I've never heard a &quot;North American&quot; call some Hispanics incorrectly in English. &quot;Jesus&quot; is always pronounced &quot;hay-zoos&quot;, in my experience. :S-

And, if we are going to Anglicize all foreign words: how is &quot;ciao&quot; pronounced in English?

After having read this thread, I had to laugh during the early news on our local ABC station. They had a segment featuring a chef from Maggiano's. Care to guess what he fixed? And how both he and the anchor woman pronounced it?

Since this is a US thread...let's try Pend Oreille!

Litespeed: We already addressed the &quot;Paree&quot; thing. Doesn't apply to this argument.

On a wonderful food tour of North Boston, I was told that bruschetta was pronounced so that the &quot;ch&quot; was the same as in &quot;chianti&quot; which is a good way to remember. But as almost everyone says it with the softer sound, you do risk feeling silly. I hate when waiters correct me on &quot;gnocchi&quot; and &quot;pinot&quot; and &quot;sauvignon&quot;. Sometimes they're right and sometimes wrong, but what is the point of that?

My friend went on a blind date with a guy...and he pronounced the &quot;T&quot; when he ordered merlot. She never went out with him again. :)

But he was modeling clay for her Suzanne. For shame!

My Dh and I were in Bergdorf's with a another couple, looking at scarf print ties many years ago. My gf pronounced the tie a &quot;<b>Her</b>-mees&quot;. The saleswoman haughtily corrected her, &quot;Air-<b>mess</b>&quot;. My friend, I guarantee, could be haughtier than the haughtiest Bergdorf salesperson and I'm quite sure she never set foot in that store again though she certainly has the resources to shop to her heart's content there! She felt belittled in front of her friends and Bergdorf lost a customer. What is the point, really and what happened to the &quot;customer is always right&quot;? If it was necessary to do correct her, it could have been done gently, but this salesperson was anything but. My husband did buy one, the hot air balloon print, by the way, but from a <i>different</i> salesperson after we circled the store and returned, not wanting to do anything to further that woman's career. LOL

So how does a waiter &quot;correct&quot; one without being obnoxious? Easy. If I order &quot;brooshetta&quot;, he ignores it until he repeats what he's bringing the table. Then he simply says &quot;and an order of broosketta&quot;. He's not offensively corrected me, but I've learned (hopefully) the correct way to pronounce it.

Suzanne, better that he ordered merloT instead of white zinfandel. Even if that had been pronounced correctly, she still should have run screaming.

And I still laugh at the time the waitress told us the specials of the evening including a puzzling &quot;chicken pick-a-TAW&quot;. I was half way through my dinner, when the light bulb went off --oh, piccata!

I'm with Patrick... Move on!... Get a life!... It's pronounced in Italy with a &quot;k&quot;... and in the US with an &quot;ch&quot;. I use the Italian pronunciation... if someone looks at me funny, I just switch. I move on with my life... no harm, no foul.

Well, as they might have said in &quot;Sideways,&quot; I will eat brooshetta, but I will not drink %#&amp;! MerLOT.

How about gyro? If I'm not mistaken, the correct pronunciation is year-o (am I mistaken?). I've been corrected pronouncing it this way but have always thought I was correct - maybe I'm not?

A longtime Cincinnati resident and owner of the Cincinnati Reds pronounces Cincinnati like this: Cincinnat-uh. Drives me crazy!

Hi snowrooster, someone started another thread about gyro yesterday. Think it's slid down past 100.