Quinoa good for you?

I, too, have heard quinoa pronounced several ways. According to Merriam-Webster, the pronunciation is kēn-,wä, kē-‘nō-ə.

Personally, I get confused about the pronunciation of “bruschetta “ which I pronounce brü-‘ske-tə. So I just looked that one up, too Merriam Webster says, brü-'she-tə & brü-'ske-tə, but I swear that, nine times out of ten, when I order it in a restaurant the wait person corrects me and pronounces it with the “’she” sound. Hey, so I don’t use the preferred pronunciation, but mine pronunciation is acceptable. And if it good enough for Mario Batali, it’s good enough for me!

I don't know about quinoa, but I took Italian in college and I can speak it ok. Bruschetta is pronounced brew sket uh. Hard "c" or "k" sound.

In Italian you put an "h: after a "c" that comes before an "e" or an "i" to get its hard sound. So "ce" has a "chey" sound and "ci" has a "chee" sound. The same is true with g as in gi vs. ghi

[Robin Garr]

I don't know about quinoa, but I took Italian in college and I can speak it ok. Bruschetta is pronounced brew sket uh. Hard "c" or "k" sound.

In Italian you put an "h: after a "c" that comes before an "e" or an "i" to get its hard sound. So "ce" has a "chey" sound and "ci" has a "chee" sound. The same is true with g as in gi vs. ghi

That's good Italian, and I can get by, too.

But note that an awful lot of foreign words change their pronunciation as they move into the English language, so an Americanized pronunciation is not necessarily "wrong" once it has become accepted.

For a couple of obvious examples, it would sound mighty affected to pronounce "menu" in French, "Meh-NOO" with lips pursed around the "oo." Even common words like "ricotta" and "spaghetti" would sound funny if we pronounced them in exact classical Italian. Not to mention the Calabrese-via-New York accent that's common in Italian-American, which is a whole nuther story.

Not picking on you here, just pointing out that referring back to standard, prime-dialect European pronunciations doesn't always work for food words that have become common in American English.

I agree with you when it comes to words that have been heavily anglicized over many generations, I'm just not sure that bruschetta has become that common. I guess I just rank proper pronunciation of words up there with proper spelling and grammar. It does matter.

[Robin Garr]

I agree with you when it comes to words that have been heavily anglicized over many generations, I'm just not sure that bruschetta has become that common. I guess I just rank proper pronunciation of words up there with proper spelling and grammar. It does matter.

I agree, mostly. We have no chain-unchain-level argument here.

And I agree that proper pronunciation does matter, whether we're speaking English or Italian or Urdu.

All I'm saying - and certainly not targeting present company - is that there's a fuzzy line between clearly foreign terms that need to be pronounced reasonably close to the original, clearly assimilated terms that would sound pretentious if dragged back to the original, and a significant middle ground where words are becoming Anglicized. At some point, the dynamic shifts from sounding ignorant if you say it in English to sounding pretentious if you don't. And I'm thinking that bruschetta may be starting down that road, although I certainly agree with you that it hasn't arrived at the station yet.

I don't intend this as argument for the sheer joy of debate, either. If we're serious about food, then thinking about how we talk about food is also important.

I can't figure out how to use the "quote" button but I totally agree with Ron" "I don't know about quinoa, but I took Italian in college and I can speak it ok. Bruschetta is pronounced brew sket uh. Hard "c" or "k" sound.

In Italian you put an "h: after a "c" that comes before an "e" or an "i" to get its hard sound. So "ce" has a "chey" sound and "ci" has a "chee" sound. The same is true with g as in gi vs. ghi"

That was my point, I pronounce "bruschetts" brew sket uh, hard "c" or "k" sound. And I am getting sick and tired of almost every waitperson correcting me.
[/quote]

I, too, have heard quinoa pronounced several ways. According to Merriam-Webster, the pronunciation is kēn-,wä, kē-‘nō-ə.

Personally, I get confused about the pronunciation of “bruschetta “ which I pronounce brü-‘ske-tə. So I just looked that one up, too Merriam Webster says, brü-'she-tə & brü-'ske-tə, but I swear that, nine times out of ten, when I order it in a restaurant the wait person corrects me and pronounces it with the “’she” sound. Hey, so I don’t use the preferred pronunciation, but mine pronunciation is acceptable. And if it good enough for Mario Batali, it’s good enough for me!

However it is supposed to be pronounced, I find it very rude to have a server "correct" me. I might even say something to the server

I believe the last time I said somehing to the waitperson, the response was along the line of "brew sket uh, bres shet uh, big deal."

It's so yummo and good for you.

Yummo?!!!! Does the R stand for Rachel!

No. Ha, ha.

[Robin Garr]

And I am getting sick and tired of almost every waitperson correcting me.

Now, that's an easy point to agree with! A good server (and a <i>smart</i> server) won't try to show off his brainpower by humiliating his diners. Not if he wants a good tip.

Now, I could see doing it very discreetly: "Here is your Brus-ket-tah, ma'am," without any trace of snideness. But beyond that, nothing more. And correcting you on the spot? Absolutely not. That's a whole nuther issue.

(Note, by the way, that as long as we're calling for proper Italian here, separate and distinct from the "h after c" issue, the double T needs to be pronounced as two separate consonants if we insist on authenticity. Not "Brus-keh-tah" and certainly not the Anglicized "brus-keddah." "Brus-ket-tah," with both T's clearly sounded. Harrumph!

I dropped by Nuts N Stuff for the first time and met Paul. It is a wonderful stor and a great guy I highly suggest them for any spice. I picked up 5 lbs of quinoa and 2 ounces or ground habanero. I am gonna light up the night now. I would just like to thank Paul for his help he was a great guy

Shiraz has it as a great side dish. It's so yummo and good for you.

You can also get it there as a topping for a "panini". I put that in quotes b/c it's more like a quesadilla. They said they used to put it on bread, but it overwhelmed the topping so they switched it. Whatever it's called, it's awesome.

Thanks for the kind words Ned, come back soon.

Paul