This afternoon I read an article about the 20 most commonly mispronounced food words. I remember the first time I heard someone say “quinoa” aloud. I had no idea what they were talking about! I always pronounced quinoa like “kee-no-ah.” False. It’s keen-wah. This word, along with 19 other confusing food items made the list:
- Chipotle: Proper pronunciation: chi-poht-ley.
- Espresso: This is neither spelled nor pronounced with an "X" anywhere in it. Proper pronunciation: e-spres-oh.
- Bánh mì: This popular Vietnamese sandwich is just as popularly butchered, pronunciation-wise as "ban mee" or "bang mee." Proper pronunciation: bahn mee.
- Pho: This Vietnamese soup is pronounced almost exactly like the French word for fire, feu, for which it’s named. It is not "foe." Proper pronunciation: fəʊ, or like the word "fur" without the "R" at the end.
- Gyro: Proper pronunciation: yee-raw, if you’re Greek; jeer-oh or zheer-oh if you’re American.
- Foie gras: Not "foy grass." Proper pronunciation: fwah grah.
- Gnocchi: Proper pronunciation: nyawk-kee if you want to be Italian; nok-ee or noh-kee if you’re American.
- Quinoa: Pronunciation isn’t the only thing about quinoa that people often get wrong; it’s not a grain, as is so often assumed. It’s actually a chenopod, like epazote and spinach. Proper pronunciation: keen-wah.
- Caipirinha: Popular Brazilian cocktail. Proper pronunciation: kai-pee-reen-ya.
- Açai berry: Proper pronunciation: ah-sigh-ee.
- Beignet: No one wants Ben-Gay with their chicory coffee. Proper pronunciation: ben-yey.
- Guanciale: Most definitely not pronounced "gwan-see-ale."Proper pronunciation: WAHN-chall-eh.
- Coppa: Proper pronunciation: KOH-pa (hear it yourself).
- Kibbeh: Proper pronunciation: KIB-bay or KIB-beh (hear it yourself)
- Sriracha: The red rooster sauce seems be in every refrigerator and in every peppery mayonnaise sauce these days. Proper pronunciation: shree-ra-cha.
- Bruschetta: Not pronounced "broo-shet-uh." Proper pronunciation: broo-sket-ah.
- Haricot vert: Upscale restaurants love to use this French term for thin, green string beans, even if they’re just serving regular old green beans. Proper pronunciation: ah-ree-koh VEHR.
- Bouillabaisse: Proper pronunciation: boo-ya-bes.
- Jalapeño: Proper pronunciation: hah-luh-peyn-yoh.
- Quesadilla: Kweez-a-dill-uh? No. Proper pronunciation: key-suh-dee-uh.
- Peanut Butter: Pea-nut Butt-ah
Okay, so maybe I added the last one. 
Another one that surprised me from the list was bruschetta. I totally say it “broo-shet-uh.” Giada would be ashamed!
Dinner
For dinner this evening, Ryan and I stuck to a menu of food items we know how to pronounce.
Chicken. Corn. Beer.
I used the bottle of Bud Light in a crock pot dish. I first rubbed two chicken breasts with the same seasonings I used for the sugar ‘n’ spice pork that Ryan and I loved so much before placing them in a crock pot and covering them with the beer. I let the chicken breasts cook for four hours on low and then shredded the meat with two forks before topping it with honey mustard sauce and serving it on a toasted whole wheat sandwich thin.
Served with a side of sweet white corn on the cob, this dinner was the perfect summer meal.
Immediately after dinner, Ryan and I played several rounds of Rummy.
Ryan learned how to play Rummy on his guys’ hiking trip a couple weeks ago and taught me last night. We played a few rounds yesterday and had a good time so we decided to play until one of us accrued 500 points this evening.
Guess who got there first?
I took it home in the last round. Woo!
Now I’m off to join Ryan and Sadie on the couch to catch the rest of So You Think You Can Dance!
Enjoy your evening, friends!
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I lahhhve rummy! And BL Lime. Yum. Those cards are adddorable, and I am so glad I know how to say gnocci now…I’ve always said it NO-chee
I’m watching SYTYCD as I type! Jordan’s dance was crazy sexy!
I pronounce gyro so wrong, even though it’s one of my favorite foods 🙁 But I think peanut butter is one of my most commonly used words 😉
I’m wracking my brain to think about when and where I’ve made an ass out of myself saying most of these words incorrectly! haha 🙂
ohh for a second I thought that was cheese sauce on the chicken! 😉 I’m such a cheese addict!
I think I pronounce words incorrectly all the time. Yesterday the cashier corrected me when I said Kombucha wrong! 😛
Hilarious list!! I didn’t even recognize 3/4 of the words, whoops..
I LOVE your blog and always read, but I don’t think I’ve commented before?! Need to work on that 🙂
Haha, I was totally thinking of Giadi before I even scrolled to a picture of her! Sometimes, she is just a little TOO much for me…
I had no idea quinoa was not a grain! I just did some Wikipedia research on quinoa and learned that it was related to spinach – who knew??
Thanks for sharing all of those pronunciations – I definitely say some of those words incorrectly.
Luckily, there are only a few on the list that I have mis-pronounced! Definitely thought bruschetta was broo-shet-uh as well!
Oh man, I cannot watch Giada when she is making bruschetta with mozzarella and tagliatelle. They way she pronounces it is totally right and also totally annoying 😉
So funny–when I was reading through the list, I thought, “I will never say ‘broo-sket-ah’!” Have you ever noticed that every once in a while Giada slips up and says things the normal American way? I totally think her pronunciations are a conspiracy to make us think she’s more authentic! 🙂
i never know how to say quinoa!! good to know!
I am embarrased to admit that I actually pronouce a lot of those words wrong. Oops!!
Totally watching SYTYCD right now!
Interesting fact: New York Italians (specifically Long Island Italians [waves hand]) tend to drop the last consonant in most Italian food words.
So, MOOT-za-rell-ah becomes MOOT-za-rell, and man-i-GOT-ee becomes man-i-GOWT. This resulted in a yelling match, with much gesticulation, between me and my Italian (from Italy) friend in the dining hall at undergrad with a crowd around us wondering if they should step in.
Oh gosh! That totally drives me up the wall!! lol
Such a same to the beautiful Italian language when people butcher the words! 😉
It’s much better than my Irish mother’s “motz-err-ELL-ah” or “rih-COT-ah” instead of “ri-GOWT-ah”. 😛
This is so funny! I totally said “Expresso” forever.. even when I worked at Starbucks! I guess you say it fast so no one notices? Haha
I learned how to play Rummy last summer! It’s definitely fun but it’s so long! My attention span tends to throw in the towel mid-game.. mature.
I didn’t know some of those and I am a proper pronunciation FIEND! Cool.
PS, every time my husband or I say “chipotle”, we can’t help but enact the entire Jack-In-The-Box commercial where Jack butchers the word…brutally. Invariably, all we have to do is for one of us to say “chippa-pot-ley” and the other cracks up uncontrollably.
Yeah. We’re weird 😉
I actually KNEW that was how you say “bruschetta” thanks to way too many hours of watching Giada cook her “spah-git-ee” (that one drives me nuts), but I always feel dumb pronouncing it correctly because no one else does! Lol what a conundrum.
ahhh spahgitee KILLS me.
I totally thought that was yellow mustard all over your chicken and I was like, dang, she really likes mustard. LOL. I think we can all agree that “Caipirinha” is the most important word of all of them…not that you care about pronunciation after having one–holy strong, batman!
Loved seeing what I say wrong! Just wanted to mention that you still got Gnocchi wrong. nyawk-kee might be how the southerns pronounce it.. 😉
NYO-key is more like it!
i just copied it from the article 🙂
I totally thought of Giada too, ha. 😀 Sometimes I say things the “American” way, even if I know better (like gyro) to prevent myself from sounding like a pretentious a-hole, which is stupid.
I’ve always wondered why so many people say Chi-POLT-ay, but I hear it all the time! I even started to second guess myself because I say it how you have it above, chi-poht-ley.
Tomayto Tomahto!
Woo, KD! My two cousins are Kappa Deltas (I’m a Chi Omega!). 🙂
Oh no! I’ve been saying bruschetta wrong all this time too. *shakes head in shame*. So funny, my boyfriend, also named Ryan, and I just played Rummy (until 500) the other day too. It’s so addicting isn’t it? It’s so basic, but so fun! We get really into it too.
I will NEVER be able to pronounce quinoa correctly. I’ve said it wrong about a million times too many to change now.
Ok I didn’t know about many of those words — I did know quinoa but if you had asked me 2 years ago I would have had no clue!
Haha this is great! I did KNOW how to say the acai berry one 🙂 woot.
I totally loved this post! I think I pronounce most of those correct!
Yeahhh, I love Rummy! My boyfriend and I play all the time, especially when we’re camping.
I was totally pronouncing a lot of those foods incorrectly. I did know about keeeeen-wahhhhhh though, but I definitely thought it was a grain?!
Good list! No matter how many times I hear or see the correct pronunciation of Caipirinha, I just cannot remember it for the life of me!
And, I did the same thing with quinoa for like 3 months before being corrected!
Wow! Who knew? I did alright on a few of them but Caipirinha, no way. Also, I miss Bud Light Lime!!
I am always one to mess up the word espresso! I always put the X in it.
YAY I got most of those right! The wrong ones were the ones that I never heard of, so I guessed. Espresso is the most annoying to me. Like you stated, there is no X in that word. The rest of the words are usually just a mangle of the letters that are present.
I love the mispronounced foods!! I just went through and said them all… and then said them again the right way 🙂
I worked at a seafood restaurant through college — 2 words I NEVER thought I would mispronounced? Shrimp and Salmon.
Skrimps and SAL-mon coming right up!
haha that picture of Giada is perfect! Aside from mispronounced foods, I always delight in seeing them misspelled or taken out of context on restaurant menus, as in the case where I ordered ‘Shrimps in Love’ at a Thai restaurant recently. Preciousssss 🙂
I always catch myself saying foods wrong! The worst are acai and quinoa until I finally learned about a year ago. Oh well!
Not gonna lie…I giggled at the “bang mee”
😉 Haha woops!
Enjoy your night!
I definitely pronounce some of those things wrong. I still say quinoa totally wacky in my head, but hopefully if I say it aloud I’ll pronounce it properly and not totally embarass myself.
It drives me nuts when people mispronounce quinoa. Nuts nuts nuts! … Although I must admit I definitely pronounce a few of the others 😛
This is awesome! Thanks for giving Beignet some love!
They deserve a LOT of love! 🙂
I remember one time when I was saying acai right (and I knew that I knew how to say it) and someone totally shot it down….they pronounced it “ah-sigh” no “ee” on the end. I need to get better at standing my ground!
A site of corn. Go slap yourself in the eyeball!! HAHA
You said before that you want to do that when you realize that you made a type on your blog and it’s stuck with me! Slap, Slap!! HA Your blog is the best! I love the Sadie captions!!!
Marcy in Michigan
Ahh I deserve the slap!
My sister and I can play rummy for hours! I’m sure you guys will be hooked since youre such game lovers.
I learned correct food pronunciations after being embarrassed one to many times in school as a military brat and study abroad. I sound like the weirdo but at least I get the right food.
Thanks for the pronunciation guide- I’m always seeing words on menus that I have no idea how to pronounce! And I love watching SYTYCD, too!
Haha, this is a good idea for a post! I love that list.
Your dinner looks super yummy, as always. I get so many meal ideas here lately.
What an informative post! I TOTALLY have been saying bruschetta wrong… and i gotta say, when I was reading down the list and saw peanut butter i was like WHAT! I was so “in the zone” and saying them out loud that I was like “you’ve goooot to me kidding me, i’ve been saying PEANUT BUTTER wrong?!?!?!” Glad to see you simply threw it in there 🙂
Rummy is the best! Great way to pass some time!
Nothing is better than fresh corn in the summer!
Rummy is where it’s at! Do you know spades too? If so we need to find a 4th and play some games next time I’m down.
Speaking of bruschetta, I just made some tonight!
http://wealthshealth.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html
I still can’t pronounce quinoa right, I’m too hooked on saying kin-oh-ah! Besides that, I’m pleased to see that I know my foods 😀