43 most mispronounced food words

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… and their correct pronunciations:

Basil (bay-zill)
Boudin (the Cajun kind, “Boo-dan”)
Bouillabaisse (booyah bahss)
Bruschetta (broo-SKEH-tah)
Buffet (boo-fay)
Cabernet sauvignon (cabber-nay so-vin-yahwn)
Caramel (car-ah-mel)
Charcuterie (shahr-KOO-tuhr-ee)
Chipotle (chi-poht-lay)
Chorizo (chore-eetz-zo)
Cognac (cone-yack)
Coq au vin (co-ooh-vin)
Crudite (crew-da-tay)
Endive (en-dive)
Escargot (es-car-goh)
Espresso (es-press-o, no ex)
Fajitas (fah-hee-tahs)
Filet or Fillet (fill-ay)
Ghee (ghee, not jee)
Gnocchi (NYOH-kee)
Guacamole (wah-cah-moe-lay)
Gyro (YEER-oh)
Habanero (Hah-bahn-air-oh)
Herb (erb)
Horchata (orrchata, silent h, roll the r)
Hors d’oeuvres (ohr-derves)
Huitlacoche (wheet-lah-KOH-chay)
Mole (MOH-lay)
Muffuletta (MOO-fa-la-Tuh)

From

I got about half of them right.  Some I’ve never heard of.

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60 thoughts on “43 most mispronounced food words”

  1. Coq au vin is wrong. It’s COKE-oh-VAN.

    I’m tired of people saying VISH-ee-SWAH for vichysoisse. You pronounce the last S sound. “Vish-ee-Swaz.”

  2. In England the correct pronunciation of Basil is ‘bazzle’ or ‘bazzil’, and the correct pronunciation of herb is Herb – with a sounded ‘H’.

    Just so you know, America.

    Oh, and did I mention aluminium?

  3. Weird uncle called them “horses ovaries.” ALWAYS cracked me up.
    If I tell anybody to try the Boo-fay, I would never hear the end of it.
    I was about 50/50 too.

  4. Oh, and a buoy is pronounced ‘boy’. It took me ages to figure out what they were on about talking about ‘boo-eeys’.

    See, you got me started. This could be a long night.

  9. I find the American habit of pronouncing perfectly good English words as if they are French very irritating. In Britain we say Herb, not Erb, and Fillet, not Fee-ay (which I think is how the French would pronounce it) or Fillay.

  10. Actually, “Bazzle” is correct over here as well if you are referring to a man’s name. I have often wondered what happens to syllables that the English omit from pronunciation such as “Worchestershire” beng said as “Wishteshire”. Yep, two great nations separated by a common language…

  12. oh come on, Brits, we beat you, we won the right to have our own correct pronunciation. You can have your al-u-min-ee-um, we’ll have our al-oo-min-um. As long as we know what’s what (which yea, some americans don’t, are we surprised?) what’s the big deal?

    Anyway, I knew all these words. And the correct pronunciation. Too much food network. ffffuuu

  13. Sometime in my life long ago I heard hors d’oeuvres pronounced (in a movie? TV show? Comic?) as Whores de Ervees and it still makes me laugh when I see the word and think of that pronunciation. (The family stopped laughing when I say it a looong time ago.)
    Some of these seem so common I don’t see how people could goof them up…Endive? Cognac? Escargot? Lieutenant? (OOPS Sorry Maffu!)

  14. The only big deal was the one you just made Manticore :0)
    Everything else was simply observation.

    @Richard it’s “Worcester” And “Worcestershire”, pronounced “Wuster” and “Wustersher” (all the ‘er’ sounds are short and with an unvoiced (soft) ‘r’)

    Here are some tests for you all (try before Googling 😀 )

    Loughborough
    Denbighshire
    Clitheroe
    Leominster
    Leicestershire

    Mind you we’d probably have trouble pronouncing the names of The Omigoshgolly river (or whatever it’s called), and I’m still never sure if I’ve spelt Mississississississipi or Pennsylvianarnia right.

  18. As far as “winning the right” is concerned, the USA got smacked upside the head in 1812 when they tried to conquer Canada as part of an ill-planned war against Britain. Britain responded by coming down there and burning down the White House. So it is one-all after two rounds, with the US never having landed a shot on Britain’s home soil.

    If we look at the numbers, North American variants of English (counting the Philippines) account for 375m of the world’s 1.8bn English speakers. So we could safely say that for nearly 80% of the English speakers of the world, US pronunciation is incorrect. Here in the rest of the world we say “bazzil”, “alu-mini-um” and “boy”.

  19. The two French phrases are wrong. Coq au vin is pronounced COKE-OH-VAN (drop the “n” if you want to be truly authentic), and bouillabaisse is BOO-YUH-BESS, or BOO-YUH-BASE if you can’t quite get that nasal-y French “e” sound. And there’s no way chorizo is pronounced CHOR-EETZ-ZOH — it’s Spanish, not Italian. The correct pronunciation is CHOR-EE-SOH.

  20. Chorizo – cho-REE-so. The z is a soft “s” sound in Spanish, which the word is, not Italian.

  21. I pronounce it “GACK-a-molay because I don’t like avocado. Also, continuing to nitpick, the G is not silent in Spanish, nor is it pronounced like a “W”. The “H” in Habanero IS silent, but most Americans pronounce it anyway. Just shows that you can pronounce these things however you want, and as long as it is close, nobody cares except pedants and schoolmarms.

  23. I got most of them correct. Only 3 I didn’t know
    Charcuterie (shahr-KOO-tuhr-ee)
    Crudite (crew-da-tay)
    Huitlacoche (wheet-lah-KOH-chay)

    What is this stuff?

  25. I think Cabernet sauvignon is wrong too…it’s French so I don’t think that last “n” should prounounced.
    Ca-ber-nay So-ving-yo

  26. Since everything else in the VV is about half wrong most of the time, (or even mostly wrong half of the time), it doesn’t surprise me they screwed this up, as well.

  27. Huitlacoche can also be spelled “Cuitlacoche”. Read all about this disgusting stuff at http://www.thesneeze.com/steve-dont-eat-it/. The rest of that site is fun too.

    As for Worcestershire sauce, as pointed out, first spell it right. The problem comes when ‘Murricans try to make it into a 4-syllable word. Divide the syllables differently than what you think and the pronunciation becomes obvious.

    Worce – Rhymes with “force” and make it the accented syllable
    Ster – obvious
    Shire – obvious but, when used as the end of a place name, usually pronounced “sher”.

    “Worce Ster Sher” Say it with normal conversational sloppiness and you’ve got it?

  30. I believe that the word “herb” originates from the french which did not pronounce the H. It only makes since that it would be pronounced with a silent H in a country that has not only English influence but also French influence.

    I think the correct pronounciation of “buffet” is buh-fey like in the words buffoon or buffalo.

    Also, when saying boudin, the “n” is not pronounced.

  31. I’ve never cooked or served andouille sausage because I don’t know how to pronounce it and don’t want to look ‘unfoodcool’ lol. Oh…and what is the right pronunciation of kielbasa – My Polish inlaws call it ‘kill basee’ rather than an ‘a’ at the end. Is it because they’re from New Joisey, or is that the right way to say it?

  32. Stacy – Looks like there are endless ways to pronounce kielbasa. My grandmother (from what would today be the Czech Republic) pronounced it kō BAH see. Most common around here is probably kill BAH sah.

  33. Habañero is not pronounced “hah-bahn-air-oh”….. the n is a spanish ñ. “hah-bahn-yair-oh”.

  34. Maffu those town names are a hoot
    Here are some regional names near me commonly mispronounced by non locals
    Cuyahoga
    Pymatuming
    Kanawha
    Monongahela

  36. StAnne, do you say ‘Muh non guh hay la’ or ‘Muh non ga hee la’ or something else? Are you familiar with the Youghiogheny River?

  38. Try that again.

    ‘Muh non guh hay la’ or ‘Muh non guh hee la’. I say it the first way. Or simply ‘The Mon’ for the river or ‘Mon City’ for the town in Pennsylvianarnia.

  39. Hephzibah, GA…Can’t be pronounced so I don’t go there.
    Suches, GA…Funny little mountain town such es it is.
    Lafayette, Ga….Even the natives can’t agree on the pronunciation.
    Flippen, GA…Some wanted to name it F**king but were over ruled.

  40. Scott and DJ I had to look up where Youghiogheny was. I think it is pronounced Yo gee haw nee. Is that right? I have visited that way. I have always said muh non guh hay la. My favorite is Kanawha. Pronounced Cannaw by locals

  41. Tuscarawrus is like trying to pronounce February as it is spelled. My kids called it Tusk of Walrus

  42. “Hee la”. Bucyrus is pronounced Byou SĪ rus, but an old Indians broadcaster used to pronounciate it BUCKY russ. And I have no idea about Yough(etc). We always just call it the Yo.

  43. ‘Yaw kuh gay nee’ where I’m from. Or simply ‘The Yough’ (Yock). One of the smaller but very scenic rivers in SW Pennsyltucky with rapids and falls very popular for whitewater rafting in Ohiopyle State Park and also has a 43 mile Rails-to-Trails bike path along the banks. Highly recommended.

  44. And Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous ‘Fallingwater’ is nearby. Ahhh I miss PA! I want to go home now please.

  46. Well say’em like we wanta say’em ’cause we’re ‘Mericans, and we don’t need none of them libery-impaired surrender-monkey frenchie words.

  47. That’s some beautiful country right there Scott. Go East young man!
    Two of my fav Ohio town names…Gnadenhutten; Knockemstiff.

  48. Being in Indian Territory now, I have trouble with names of towns all the time. Far too many to list here. Just look at a map of Oklahoma and you’ll see what I mean.

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