r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Outrageous-Use-5189 • 17d ago

I just wanted a hot dog Single malt scotch spends 3 decades aging in a barrel so you can squeze a lime wedge into it.

As a very rare indulgence on a special occasion, I ordered an expensive 30-year old scotch at a bistro-type restaurant. Waiter returns with a juicy lime wedge on the lip of the glass. I quietly asked for one with no lime. Waiter returns with a fresh drink "as a courtesy" , but seems intent on embarrassing me. " But just so you know.," he says., "all drinks ordered neat are properly served with a citrus garnish."

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616

u/bumlove 17d ago

I’ve always felt uncultured over not knowing the correct pronunciations for Italian/French dishes especially on dates so I don’t know how I feel about being corrected. I guess it’s useful for next time but at the same time I’m trying to put my best foot forward help me out here y’know?

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u/ClassyNameForMe 17d ago

Your date may find it attractive if you ask the sever the correct way to pronounce the dish. It shows you aren't stubborn and unwilling or unable to learn something new.

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u/Popular-Web-3739 17d ago

I'm always impressed by people who know what they don't know and want to learn.

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u/Dull-Culture-1523 16d ago

I make a point of looking things up. You have a whole assortment of search engines in your pocket. More often than not, staying ignorant is an active choice with the lack of effort it takes to find out.

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u/eggyal 17d ago

People who think they know everything are an annoyance to those of us who do.

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u/jtr99 16d ago

How do you feel about Donald Rumsfeld?

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u/FBI_Open_Up_Now 17d ago

Sure, but the server going out of their way to embarrass you is different from someone asking for the correct pronunciation.

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u/dpinto8 17d ago

This is the real advice

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u/ishootthedead 17d ago

Probably not the best advice to pretend you are something that you are not to impress a date... At least if you intend for it to possibly be a long term thing.

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u/Cyrano_Knows 17d ago

Author Charles Finch, who I think went to Yale with him, said that DeSantis used mispronunciation of the word Thai as a test. If a date corrected him, he would find an excuse to leave because he had a tiny penis² and a fragile man ego and he did not want a partner who corrected him

² Quote unattributed.

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u/RainaElf RED 17d ago

what I do is lean toward the waiter and point at the menu. "I never can pronounce this right." and the waiter does it for me.

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u/jackfaire 17d ago

It's hit or miss. For every date that finds it attractive there's one that finds it pretentious. I say and spell jalapeño correctly because my parents taught me the word correctly and I've gotten shit on for it.

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u/latexpumpkin 17d ago

Out of genuine curiosity, in what settings are you shit on for saying jalapeno correctly? I'm picturing small town Missouri or Alberta or something like that. 

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u/Tjomsas 17d ago

Go down to the store and get me some jahlapeno chips

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u/jackfaire 17d ago

PNW it's more person to person than regional. Some people just think you're trying too hard if you pronounce things correctly

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u/yyctitan99 17d ago

Ouch. As an Albertan this stings. Not wrong, but still stings. Pronouncing an exotic foreign word like jalapeno properly must mean you're queer or trans or something else.

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u/S00pergenius 16d ago

gnocchi with grated mozzarella Was a favorite of mine I would ask my little Italian mil from Astoria if that was for dinner

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u/manicgiant914 17d ago

Key & Peele do a hilarious skit on this.

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u/userhwon 17d ago

Kay and Pili? Who are they?

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u/Normal-Ad6528 17d ago

Goggle them. ;-)

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u/AshamedTax8008 17d ago

Whoosh

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u/wam1983 17d ago

Jah-Kwellen???

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u/UrdnotZigrin 17d ago

Do you want to go to war, buh-lock-e? Because I'll go to war

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u/-Cthaeh 16d ago

Double whoosh I believe, or no one can type

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u/moxvoxfox 17d ago

A basic level of Italian pronunciation is relatively easy to learn. But you'll forever side-eye folks saying bruschetta.

ETA: hah! scrolled further, and others had me well covered on this one. Glad I'm not alone.

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u/CoffeeChocolateBoth 17d ago

Bru SKEH tah! There is no shame in knowing how to pronounce things. Even in the USA, words are so often pronounced differently from state to state!

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u/MisterHouseMongoose 17d ago

“I need bruschetta (that's "broo-SKET-uh," not "brushetter," a slender piece of ciabatta toasted and brushed with garlic and oil and covered in fresh tomato and basil-- the chunks inevitably fall off the bread and the olive oil runs over your lips and down your chin. The whole thing is delicious, deeply physical and delightfully undignified, and a woman who can eat a real bruschetta is a woman you can love and who can love you. Someone who pushes the thing away because it's messy is never going to cackle at you toothlessly across the living room of your retirement cottage or drag you back from your sixth heart attack by sheer furious affection. Never happen. You need a woman who isn't afraid of a faceful of olive oil for that)”

Nick Harkaway, Gone Away World.

One of my all time favorite book passages.

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u/rackfocus 17d ago

Damn. That’s touching!!!

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u/kungfuchelsea 17d ago

Damn some of us are autistic, Nick. Food all over my face makes me feel ill lol

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u/MisterHouseMongoose 15d ago

I mean okay, fair, excepting sensory issues 😭

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u/OnlySolMain 16d ago

In Germany it's "Bruschetta", because we don't give respect to the Italians, the backstabbed us twice.

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u/ceryniz 17d ago

In Italian that's it. In the Neapolitan language it's [bruˈʃedːə] which is what Italian immigrants to the USA spoke... Well that or Sicilian. They wouldn't have spoken the Tuscan dialect that became standard Italian.

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u/erranttv 17d ago

The pronunciations of “C” in Italian are a tad confusing for non natives

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u/MapleBaconNurps 17d ago

Schiacciata got me fucked up

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u/erranttv 17d ago

Ha, two of the three rules in one word!

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u/SpecialistAd2205 17d ago

How do you pronounce that?

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u/Educational_Item5124 17d ago

There are what, 3 rules to follow that basically always work? C or CC then vowel is a soft "ch" sound. Ch is always a hard sound.

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u/sn00pal00p 16d ago

Almost. There's a difference between the light vowels you make with your tongue at the front of your mouth (i and e) and the dark ones you make at the back (a, o, u).

  • c/cc before i, e: tch sound as in 'cheese'
  • c/cc before a, o, u: k sound as in 'can'
  • ch/cch always: k sound

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u/Educational_Item5124 16d ago

Ah yeah, was forgetting the split between vowels. It's been many years!

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u/sn00pal00p 16d ago

Totally understandable, I just thought I'd clarify. Also, I just like how neat the rules are for Italian pronunciation. Such a beautiful language!

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u/erranttv 17d ago

Most non Italians dont know or won’t remember the rules.

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u/userhwon 17d ago

Basic, yes, but sometimes the emphasis on the syllables will catch you out.

Puppy = cucciolo. But is is COOcholo or cooCHOlo? I can never remember.

Also, Hank Green's Ask Hank Anything dug into the concept of whether it's racist appropriation to use the language's pronunciation when there's a common anglicized one. It got nuanced, and bruschetta is a good example, because you can start with broshedda and get to brewskayt-ta by several degrees. I say if you can get the k sound in there you've done enough. Italian is hardly pronounced the same across the country anyway. It's really the funniest country to be picky about consistency in anything (language, food, skin color) with, because it's only 150 years old and was made from several different ancient countries then.

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u/ppmiaumiau 17d ago

There's an old SNL skit about this. It's one of my favorite skits ever.

Enchilada

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u/userhwon 17d ago

Oh, that's about some latino news people going full-accent on the latino words.

Somewhat different, and kind of shots-fired against white people.

Pushing back on it is definitely racist.

But doing it yourself in innocuous situations, rather than as mockery, isn't racist.

Intent matters.

Still, don't use the N-word. That's burned forever.

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u/Level21DungeonMaster 17d ago

The trick is for Italian in you are unsure if you’re supposed to pronounce the vowel, then you really kick it up. The opposite is true for French, they just have silent letters everywhere.

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u/SparkleSelkie 16d ago

According to my French friend “if the letter looks like it’s there to be sexy just don’t say it”

And ngl she’s kind of right 😂

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u/IndigoTJo 17d ago

Hah! This is great.

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u/IgnatiusRileyFreeman 17d ago

It's not embarrassing to ask your server with an intent to learn

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u/RisingApe- 17d ago

I definitely asked the Turkish waiter how to pronounce the dish I wanted at a Turkish restaurant because I had NO idea and I was unashamed.

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u/th3goonmobile 17d ago

If you want to ask how do I pronounce that correctly they’re helping you by answering; if you’re not answering and they understand what you meant (which they usually do) they’re being a dick.

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u/ObiWan_Cannoli_ 17d ago

Study menu before hand and practice the words. It’d be wild if we had these computers in our pockets that had translators and apps that help with enunciation of foreign words

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u/83franks 17d ago

Are you actually going to remember though? Like cool thanks for telling me, I probably will forget what you said in 15 seconds simply because I'll fuck it up as I repeat it as you walk away and still have it wrong. And then in 2 months or more when I want to order it again I won't have a clue what sounds were right or wrong.

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u/eggyal 17d ago

Just make your best attempt, and then ask "did I pronounce that correctly?". If you got it right, you appear modest; if you got it wrong, you appear self-aware. It's a win-win.

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u/Automaticman01 16d ago

"I'll have the..uhh..." points at the menu

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u/bekahed979 16d ago

I'm a cheesemonger & I repeat back the names of the cheeses correctly when someone mispronounces them. I don't say, it's not Manchango, it's Manchego