Pronunciation

[bennyk]

This occurred to me today while ordering a gyro.

It seems widely accepted that the "correct" way to pronounce it is "yeerow" or sometimes "shjeerow" (or at least, my friends who care about seeming ethnically correct pronounce it this way).

Does your planned pronunciation change if you hear someone around pronounce the word differently? The guy at the stand was saying "jy-row" and so i just said it that way, but the prick i was there with used the "correct" pronunciation and it [censored] everything up.

This happens a lot in restaurants when the server pronounces something one way, and some jerk insists on pronouncing the word the "correct" way.

Or maybe this just annoys me, because don't want to rock the boat by presuming my pronunciation is better than someone else's.

mmmm...."jy-row"
bk

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
This occurred to me today while ordering a gyro.

It seems widely accepted that the "correct" way to pronounce it is "yeerow" or sometimes "shjeerow"

[/ QUOTE ]

Never heard this pronunciation a single time in New England.

I say and hear j- eye- row

[bennyk]

well, that's good to know.

maybe it's not as widely accepted as i thought.

bk

[kerssens]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This occurred to me today while ordering a gyro.

It seems widely accepted that the "correct" way to pronounce it is "yeerow" or sometimes "shjeerow"

[/ QUOTE ]

Never heard this pronunciation a single time in New England.

I say and hear j- eye- row

[/ QUOTE ]

Is anything pronounced correctly in New England?

[pshreck]

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Is anything pronounced correctly in New England?

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Let me clarify... Connecticut.

[kerssens]

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Is anything pronounced correctly in New England?

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Let me clarify... Connecticut.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking more along the lines of Bawwwwston.

[pshreck]

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Is anything pronounced correctly in New England?

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Let me clarify... Connecticut.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking more along the lines of Bawwwwston.

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Yeah I am in no way defending Rhode Island or eastern Mass.

[Jack of Arcades]

How the hell does anyone look a gyro and say, "yep... yeeero"?

[kerssens]

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How the hell does anyone look a gyro and say, "yep... yeeero"?

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The same way that you look at tortilla and pronounce it tor-tee-ya (hopefully).

[sfer]

This was settled by Chief Wiggum on the Simpsons. Better check Greektown.

[bennyk]

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This was settled by Chief Wiggum on the Simpsons.

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i'll have to review this episode for the definitive answer.

if it was resolved in a simpsons ep, i consider the matter closed.
bk

[kerssens]

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This was settled by Chief Wiggum on the Simpsons.

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i'll have to review this episode for the definitive answer.

if it was resolved in a simpsons ep, i consider the matter closed.
bk

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I don't think they settled the matter in the episode.

[bennyk]

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How the hell does anyone look a gyro and say, "yep... yeeero"?

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The same way that you look at tortilla and pronounce it tor-tee-ya (hopefully).

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so, you're arguing that "yeero" is as correct as "torteeya"?

ok, but i'm not sold.

bk

[astroglide]

the popular pronunciation by the employees at the greek joints around here seems to be 'GI-doh' (long I)

[kerssens]

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How the hell does anyone look a gyro and say, "yep... yeeero"?

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The same way that you look at tortilla and pronounce it tor-tee-ya (hopefully).

[/ QUOTE ]

so, you're arguing that "yeero" is as correct as "torteeya"?

ok, but i'm not sold.

bk

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not saying that because I'm not sure of what the answer is but stuff just kinda seeps in. The reddest of the red-necks knows how to say tor-tee-ya. If I had to guess I'd say that yee-ro and gye-ro are both incorrect but that yee-ro is closer.

[bennyk]

[ QUOTE ]
'GI-doh'

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes...i have heard this by people at greek joints. For some reason it didn't occur to me in the OP.

But the question is really, if you knew one joint that pronounced it a different way, would you change your pronunciation to make things easier, or would you insist on using yours?

bk

[kerssens]

I'd go with what the Greeks say.

[Jack of Arcades]

There's a difference between the two. "Gyro" has become an anglicized word while "tortilla" has not. I'd say both are acceptable.

[Jack of Arcades]

Well it's not exactly "yeero" either.

[kerssens]

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Well it's not exactly "yeero" either.

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Yeah, I'll never understand Greek, I tried to learn some from a friend and its insane with the Greek letters and such.

[stanky]

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I say and hear j- eye- row

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Thats hilarious. When you go to a Mexican joint do you order a steak key-so-dell-a.


-Pete

[Jack of Arcades]

OK, so go to a greek joint, ask for a "yeero," and get served an old man.

[stanky]

If I walked into a place and the guy said "our special today is jeye-rows" I'd reply, "sure give me one of those", thus avoiding the pronunciation thing.

But around the Chicago area I rarely hear it pronounced anything other than "year-row" maybe a slight tweek on the "ye" part.

On second thought if the guy behind the counter pronounced it "jeye-row" I'd probably order a hotdog.

-Pete

[tbach24]

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I say and hear j- eye- row

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Thats hilarious. When you go to a Mexican joint do you order a steak key-so-dell-a.


-Pete

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My Spanish teacher is from Mexico and gets mad when we pronounce it that way. It's pretty funny to see her trying to correct us only for us to continue the way we say it.

[Jack of Arcades]

Even something like the common american pronunciation of tortilla ("tor-tee-ya") is wrong, but it's more or less an english word now

It just so happens that the english word "gyro" sounds nothing like the greek word "gyro."

[Keats13]

There's a Greek place in Boston with signs that say "It tastes better when you prounounce it YEE-ro". I can only assume this means that if you say JIE-ro that they spit in it.

[tbach24]

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tortilla ("tor-tee-ya") is wrong

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That's wrong? How is it supposed to be said?

[Jack of Arcades]

mostly the r should be tapped (think "butter"). also, in many places, "y" sounds are replaced by "j" sounds. you'll find many spanish speakers saying "tor-teejh-a".

the ts are also softer, closer to Ds than the english pronunciation.

[hoyaboy1]

Saying "tor-tee-ya" is wrong is a bit of an overstatement. It's just barely different from the way most spanish speakers say it - the fact that some regional accents are different doesn't make it wrong.

I am currently in Spain and speak spanish pretty well, but if you are gonna get that technical half the words I say are wrong because my accent isn't perfect (IOW, they always know I am a foreigner).

[stanky]

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It just so happens that the english word "gyro" sounds nothing like the greek word "gyro."

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If you are referring to "gyro(ji-ro)" as in "gyroscope" than yes it's totally different than the greek "gyro(yee-row)" as in "gyro sandwich"

But we are talking about an American sandwich which has its origins in Chicago and ALL the greek joints around here that are run by greek-americans pronounce it "yee-row" but most non greeks including myself pronounce it "year-row" which is widely accepted. "Ji-row" would get a chuckle from someone standing in line behind you.

-Pete

[GuyOnTilt]

The singular is gyros, not gyro. Plural is something like gyroi or gryon or something weird like that. I've always pronounce it "yeeros", but I've heard it said differently.

GoT

[bennyk]

i guess i didn't know this.

so the article "a" is not necessary. one could say, "i ordered gyros this morning, but i already ate it."

ok...

bk

[GuyOnTilt]

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i guess i didn't know this.

so the article "a" is not necessary. one could say, "i ordered gyros this morning, but i already ate it."

ok...

bk

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No, you say, "I order a gyros this morning."

GoT

[bennyk]

i think you're better off avoiding that usage altogether. people who know it's right will not care, and everyone else will think you're a tool.

bk

[daryn]

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Is anything pronounced correctly in New England?

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Let me clarify... Connecticut.

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I was thinking more along the lines of Bawwwwston.

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by the way nobody says this. i never understood this one.

[jakethebake]

This reminds me of the guy I work with. He speaks fluent Spanish and is very into Latin culture, but he's from Pennsylvania so his pronunciation is terrible. Yet everytime he says a Spanish word, including the names of places, he insists on trying to put this really thick Spanish pronunciation on it and he just sounds ridiculous. It reminds me of Alex Trebek. He does the same thing except worse. I always just ask him "where?" like I don't understand until he says it like a plain Anglo American. It's co-LUM-bee-ya not co-lome-BEE-ah. Really [censored] annoying.

[tek]

Try 'Chanukah" /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

The first syllable sounds like you are coughing up a loogie...

[HesseJam]

Reminds me of when I ordered a croissant in a Florida bakery and I only received an empty face expression from the girl vendor. After pointing to the thing she set me straight and said "Uh, you mean a kruhssante!".

OTH, I tried to order a Southern Comfort in a bar in Nice, France and the bartender could not figure out what I wanted. So I made him point slowly from bottle to bottle and shouted when he reached the SC bottle. The guy a) almost collapsed of laughter, b) corrected me that I must have meant "Sooh-terne-com-forr" and c) turned to his fellow bartender and mimicked my pronunciation to which a lot of laughter and head shaking ensued.

Well, the SC was good and I got laid so I won't complain too much about Nice here.

[jakethebake]

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said "Uh, you mean a kruhssante!".

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How do you pronounce it?

[HesseJam]

Uhm, the way the French say Croissant?

I try emulate it here:

Kro-a-sso(ng) where the (ng) is not "ng" but the nasal ending between the "o" and the "n".

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Uhm, the way the French say Croissant? I try emulate it here:

Kro-a-sso(ng) where the (ng) is not "ng" but the nasal ending between the "o" and the "n".

[/ QUOTE ]

I really hope you're kidding.

[Jack of Arcades]

Huh? That sounds about right. The t is either silent or soft, and the n sound is a very soft n, as is most french ending n sounds.

[jakethebake]

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Huh? That sounds about right. The t is either silent or soft, and the n sound is a very soft n, as is most french ending n sounds.

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This is exactly what i was talking about. Unless you're actually French why would you go around talking like that. everyone knows it's a [censored] Kruh-sant! Do you suddenly break out some goofy accent when you pronounce the names of Chinese foods? Any other kind of foods? No, you speak in your normal accent. Do I go around telling people I'm going to MAY-hee-ko? Or KU-bah? No. It's MEKS-i-ko and Kyu-buh.

[Ulysses]

Hahahahhahaa. Hahahhahahahha. Hahahhahahahahahaa.

I have a friend who insists on pronouncing everything "correctly" in every situation. It is f'in hilarious.

[HesseJam]

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Huh? That sounds about right. The t is either silent or soft, and the n sound is a very soft n, as is most french ending n sounds.

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This is exactly what i was talking about. Unless you're actually French why would you go around talking like that. everyone knows it's a [censored] Kruh-sant! Do you suddenly break out some goofy accent when you pronounce the names of Chinese foods? Any other kind of foods? No, you speak in your normal accent. Do I go around telling people I'm going to MAY-hee-ko? Or KU-bah? No. It's MEKS-i-ko and Kyu-buh.

[/ QUOTE ]

That was not my point. I am actually German and did not know the American way to say "croissant" but just the French way. My point is that how hard could it have been for the stoopid girl to understand what I meant even if I used the French way? It is not that different.

[asofel]

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Hahahahhahaa. Hahahhahahahha. Hahahhahahahahahaa.

I have a friend who insists on pronouncing everything "correctly" in every situation. It is f'in hilarious.

[/ QUOTE ]

this makes me think of Alex Trebek and words from spanish, french, etc, and his over pronounciation of them...

[asofel]

[ QUOTE ]
The singular is gyros, not gyro. Plural is something like gyroi or gryon or something weird like that. I've always pronounce it "yeeros", but I've heard it said differently.

GoT

[/ QUOTE ]

that is correct. os = masc nominative singular, oi = masc nominative plural (if i remember my greek correctly). its from greek guros (gooo-ros) meaning circle. It'd be interesting to know what they say in Athens currently...

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
That was not my point. I am actually German and did not know the American way to say "croissant" but just the French way. My point is that how hard could it have been for the stoopid girl to understand what I meant even if I used the French way? It is not that different.

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It wasn't clear that you're not American. You're right she's stupid not to know what you were saying.

[sfer]

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I don't think they settled the matter in the episode.

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He said it; it's settled.

[kerssens]

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I don't think they settled the matter in the episode.

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He said it; it's settled.

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Pretty sure he said "yee-ro, or is it jie-ro?"

[sfer]

He said, "Better check Greektown...and bring me one of them jai-rohs."

[kerssens]

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He said, "Better check Greektown...and bring me one of them jai-rohs."

[/ QUOTE ]

I stand corrected.