Pronunciation

[stanky]

[ QUOTE ]
I say and hear j- eye- row

[/ QUOTE ]

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]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I say and hear j- eye- row

[/ QUOTE ]

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


-Pete

[/ QUOTE ]

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]

[ QUOTE ]
tortilla ("tor-tee-ya") is wrong

[/ QUOTE ]

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]

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

[/ QUOTE ]

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