Pronounce "Gouda", Please.

[invinotheresverde]

I always hear "gew-duh", but it's "how-duh", right?

[DoobieWah]

Here's Merriam-Webster's answer:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bi...

(how duh)

I had never heard anything but "goo-da" myself, but I'm willing to learn.

As an aside, you wouldn't believe how long it took us to get the cabby to take us to the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. He was North African, (and a cabbie!), but pronounced van Gogh as "vin Hoche". It actually sounded like he was spitting at us!

[Discerning1]

Well, at least the town in the Netherlands is pronounced with a very gutteral "jch-ow da." In 1966 visited a friend's "Dutch family" there from her high school student exchange days. It was an amazing meal of many kinds of dairy and wonderful hospitality.

[LorenM]

I have never heard anything but goo-dah either. Lots and lots of examples like this as mentioned upthread. The one that used to bother me being from the west is people who pronounce jalapeno like hala-peen-oh instead of hala-pain-yo. I think the former is an east coast thing. I have become more tolerant over the years.

[Tripeler]

A Dutch friend told me a few years ago that Gouda has become a highly populated suburb and that cheese isn't being made there any more. Still, the name sticks.

[smartie]

well, a foreigner might ask how to pronounce butter. In English English it's butter but in American English it's budder! Can American's pronounce the letter t in the middle of a word? Can the Brits pronounce the letter r at the end of a word? Look how wh is pronounced by Scots and some American Southerners. It's back to tomaydo/tomahto.

[KaimukiMan]

not all Americans, those of us on the left coast (and beyond) find much to be amused by from those in the northeast and south. and they are no doubt amused by us

[Midlife]

Wow! Very long topic and very interesting.....

Cheese: I've had some semi-professional experience in the US cheese world and had never (in my life) heard it pronounced How-dah until just the other day on a TV show about cheesemaking. And then it was explained as how it would be said in Holland. Even a European who started a nearby cheese dairy specializing in Gouda didn't say it that way when he was explaining and selling his product.

Wine: 35 years of wine experience, the last 10 or so professionally, and I've NEVER heard anyone say Mer-Laht................ ever. At least not anyone who spoke English or French.

[Barbarella]

My Dutch friend Marian always pronounced it "cowda" so that is what I call it.

[brentk]

The way I see it we have half the board going with we don't care how you say it in the old country, this is America and we will pronounce it however we please. The other half wants to show how sophisticated they are by going with the pronunciation found at the point of origin.

Have I got this about right?

[Harters]

Not in my case.

[linguafood]

nah.

[ilovesummer]

interesting thread....dictionary.com gives two pronunciations...
GOOday or GOWday.....have a listen..

http://dictionary.reference.com/brows...

[linguafood]

GooDAY? that's a first.

[chowser]

Doesn't it sound like there's an "r" at the end, too. Gow der (like chowder), or goo der.

[tatamagouche]

Chowhound does it again. Nearly 120 replies on how to pronounce a single word. On my 10 year anniversary with this site (not to the day, just the year), through all the growing pains, I'm still in love.

[chowser]

I was guilty of starting one about "bain marie" and learned my lesson quickly.

I wonder if gowder or goo der should have that uplift in the every other syllable, as in,"My name' is In guh'."

[brentk]

IMy comment was meant in jest, people. Carry on.

[mamachef]

Nope, not even about.

[lagatta]

brentk, also don't assume that everyone writing on this board is from the US.

As for Gouda, the proper pronunciation includes a sound not found in English, so it isn't surprising that English-speakers pronounce it phonetically.

That is not the case for Merlot, though obviously the R, the vowel length and stress are different from the French. I pronounce the name of that wine slightly differently in English and in French (languages I have spoken since childhood).

There are some names of foods I have learnt in French or Italian, not having the faintest idea how anglophones pronounced it. The anglo pronunciation of bruschetta - a food I had first eaten in Italy, before it became trendy in the English-speaking countries - floored me at first. That has nothing to do with pretension.

[Isolda]

Nope, you forgot the tiny percentage of us who admit to being completely ignorant. But in my case, it doesn't matter. I dislike gouda, so will have the Stilton instead, thanks. I'm pretty sure I pronounce that one correctly.

[Pincus]

Never heard anything but 'goo-da' until now.

[Das Ubergeek]

I usually say "Goo-da". The only time I was in the Netherlands and heard it pronounced, people called it "Goudse Kaas".

[sisterfunkhaus]

Goo-da or how-da. If you want to appear to be an elite, foodie cheese snob who likes to alienate others, go with how-da, Otherwise, stick with goo-da.

[Harters]

Thanks. I'll stick with how-da, then.

[linguafood]

not jumping to any baseless conclusions, i see.

[JuniorBalloon]

I pronounce it delicious and will say whatever I have to to get someone to give me some.

jb

[DPGood]

The best reply so far, jb.

[Harters]

I always think of it as "how" - but then I travel to the Netherlands and Dutch speaking Belguim quite often. But it's more gutteral than "how" - almost like clearing your throat while you speak.

Dunno whether that pronounciation would be understood where I live as I've never asked for it - I find it a bland tasteless cheese, much preferring Leerdammer or Passendale if I have to eat Dutch (or Dutch style) cheese, say for breakfas

[BobB]

True, young gouda is boringly bland, but when well-aged it's one of the tastiest hard cheeses on the planet. Try a two-year-old boerenkaas (farmhouse) gouda - it'll wake up your tastebuds in no time!

[Harters]

It's rare to come across anything other than young Dutch cheese where I am (or, indeed, in the Netherlands).

We do see "Old Amsterdam" from time to time in specialist cheese shops - that's an 18 month one that isnt too bad - although I'd never choose it for taste over a decent cheddar aged the same period.

[tatamagouche]

It's rare in the Netherlands? That's odd—I see 2-3-year-aged gouda in cheese shops all the time. Is it one of those things they're more likely to export than keep at home, like Irish potcheen?

[Harters]

I think that's possibly the case. Although, even then, not everywhere will be an export market.

Here in the UK, Dutch cheese is generally regarded as being mild - for children or folk who don't really like "proper" cheese. I really only ever eat it for breakfast as I might in the Netherlands or in Dutch speaking Flanders.

[nooyawka]

I've only heard goo-dah. But I'm not a cheese connoisseur.

[Karl S]

Ok, in standard Amurkan English, it's GOO-da (or whatever IPA phonemes for that you'd prefer).

It's only with the advent of cheese books and fancier forms of Gouda that the more Dutch-like (it's not quite authentic) pronunciation has been making inroads among foodie-types.

So, I won't correct someone who uses the other pronunciation, but I will stick to standard Amurkan usage in Amurka, by and large.

The opposite of this may be observed in "endive". The formerly standard pronunciation in Amurka was more like the French - but the food was normally eaten mostly by folks who knew that (it's what I learned 40 years ago and my peers that knew of it if they weren't calling chickory, which was a generic term for any slightly bitter longish thin green, including dandelions); as the food became more commonly available, a more "Amurkan" pronunciation has gradually displaced it for dominance.

So, as was said before, it depends on whether you want to communicate about the food or about yourself. If the former, go with whatever the standard pronunciation is where you are; if the latter, go for broke.

[chowser]

Endive is one where I hesitate on how to pronounce it. That and "empire waist."

[buttertart]

I believe the waist was a Deuxieme Empire thing so you can French it up (or not, I usually don't).
I also say endive like dive in the water.

[mariacarmen]

i like being Frenchy whenever i can, so i always try to say ahn-deev and ahm-peer. Just gives my whole day a little more je ne sais quoi.

[buttertart]

Vive la différence!

[soupkitten]

please at least consider the fact that in some areas of "amurka," people were familiar with this cheese before now. like, the places where gouda is made, right here in this country. i don't particularly care how someone in florida or brooklyn pronounces the word, and don't regard those folks as the authorities (in either cheese or linguistics), over the rural wisconsin farmer who actually makes the cheese.

there is more than one acceptable pronunciation of the word, and the reverse snobbery of insisting that everyone should only use the lowest common denominator/george w bush pronunciation of words/names-- as many folks in this thread advocate-- is imo just as bad as the viewpoint of those that would insist that people should shellac the word with such fake overwrought hyper-"foreign" accents that it renders the term unintelligible to folks they presumably are trying to communicate with.

i find when people express themselves honestly and unpretentiously they have a better chance of being understood, no matter what their accent-- it's when they either put on pretentious airs, or self-consciously dumb-down their speech patterns, that it's unbecoming, and people get into communication problems.

[DeppityDawg]

There is more than one acceptable pronunciation of the word, but that doesn't mean that all of these pronunciations are equally appropriate in every situation. And as far as I can tell, no one in this thread has insisted that everyone should "dumb down" their pronunciation. I don't consider "goo-duh" to be a dumber pronunciation than "how-duh". Do you?

The OP's question was "I always hear X, but it's Y, right?" It turns out that this was not an accurate description of the facts (she later wrote "I hear many people say Y"), but the point is that in a situation where most people use and recognize X, you have to have a very good reason to choose Y instead.

[invinotheresverde]

Yes, in the OP, I should have said, "I hear most" instead of "always".

Gouda reminds me of bruschetta. I say "broo-skett-uh", but more often hear "broo-shett-uh".

[ferret]

Broo-schett-uh is just mispronunciation, like jew-lery or nook-u-ler.

[cowboyardee]

Broo-shet-uh is how it's commonly understood to be pronounced among most people I know. If you grew up saying broo-shet-uh, everyone around you says broo-shet-uh, and the people serving and making it say broo-shet-uh, it's not a mispronunciation anymore.

[tatamagouche]

Hmm. I could be wrong, but I think you're in a pretty small minority...And I don't think a minority trumps a majority of Americans who accept the Italian pronunciation of "broosketta." It's not quite the same as this gouda/howdah thing, where the alternations seem to be widespread.

Then again, I have to admit it's one of those things that makes me cringe when I hear a server in an Italian restaurant say it. So I am a cranky stickler in this case, and totally dock points (not tip, of course, just mentally). Same with "a panini" or "a biscotti." I try to be reasonable though—I don't expect Americans to say "pizze" rather than "pizzas." It's all a question of context.

Count me among those who've never heard "howdah" in their lives, and I've lived all over the country—Oklahoma, Los Angeles, Iowa, Boston, Denver. But you learn something new every day, I guess...

[cowboyardee]

A minority pronunciation certainly trumps majority pronunciation when you are speaking in and among that minority.

'Correct' pronunciation has not the tiniest bit to do with history or etymology. It's a matter of what's understood by you and the people you're communicating with. That's it.

[invinotheresverde]

I live in a heavily Italian part of the country (New England) and have heard very few people pronounce bruschetta properly, including when I lived in Eyetie-dominant Providence. I'm not sure the proper pronunciation is more common. Same with gyro. Almost always said incorrectly.

[thew]

gyro is not pronounced incorrectly. that si the correct pronunciation, in english. it would be wrong in greece however

[invinotheresverde]

Because people said it incorrectly until it stuck? I say it the traditional way and I'm not Greek.

[cowboyardee]

"Because people said it incorrectly until it stuck?"

_____

Exactly. Or said it 'incorrectly' until that came to be understood as how the word is pronounced. That's the evolution and differentiation of language for ya. It's the same process by which we have arrived at the overwhelming majority of the English words and pronunciations we use today.

[tatamagouche]

Hmm, I still don't know. I also lived in Boston and I heard more people than not pronounce it properly. And the fact that you're using the words "properly"/"incorrectly" at all suggests you may agree with me that "broo-SHED-a" still isn't widely accepted. By comparison, "maraSHEENoh" which acc to Italian rules should be "mAHraSKEENoh"—I'll give you that one.

[linguafood]

hate marasheeno. what's weird is that both words are pronounced with the EXACT SAME sk-sound. sch is pronounced sk in Italian. how is that so difficult?

[tatamagouche]

Agreed. I get that it takes some getting used to—it's counterintuitive for Americans to see an "h" as in "chi" or "che" and pronounce it as "k," then NOT see as an "h" as in "ci" or "ce" and PRONOUNCE the "h" sound. Still, agreed—it's not that hard. If you know "zucchini" is "zoo-KEE-nee," how can you not get that "gnocchi" is "GNOH-kee," not "GNOH-chee"?

[ErnieD]

I think it would be pretty easy not to "get" for anyone who grew up speaking English, a language with no particular phonetic consistency. You get burned pretty frequently by assuming that if you know how to pronounce a letter combination in one word, you'll know it in another. I mean, you would think if you can pronounce "boot" you'd be able to figure out "book," and if you know "though," adding a single letter to make "thought" should be straightforward. But that's not the case. I know how to pronounce zucchini and gnocchi, but I wouldn't bat an eye if you told me that the cch in one of the was a /ch/, or a /sh/, or who knows what.

[Bob W]

I must be old -- I was already grown up before I heard of bruschetta.

[Bob W]

Even worse: brush-ET-a (as in, say it like it looks)

[soupkitten]

are we reading the same thread? there are lots of posts on that do insist on the goo-duh pronunciation in strong terms-- elephant bottoms and getting thrown out of the cheese shop, etc. i never realized that the dutch (and attitudes toward the language) were so despised. but then again i've actually seen and spoken to dutch people. . .

i could not agree more with the broo-skett-uh/broo-shet-uh parallel. it should be noted that dialects, and a person's vocabulary and how a person pronounces any particular word is about where they are from. i don't think a guy who says "pasta fazool" doesn't know what pasta e fagiole is-- i think he knows exactly what it is, he just pronounces it differently than someone from emilia romagna. some words become dialect markers because of whole communities saying them the same way. i think "goo-duh" is the result of a lot of people sounding it out on paper the way sesame street instructs, rather than hearing the term first, and then the pronunciation reinforces itself in areas without dutch culture or cheese culture. in my little area of the world there is a town named "new prague"-- when my father moved into this area from chicago he asked for directions, pronouncing it the same as the european capital. nobody knew what he was talking about, the natives had taken to pronouncing "prague" to rhyme with "vague"-- with a very long, midwestern aaay sound. understandable on one level, ridonkulous on another. as someone else pointed out in this thread, welcome to pronunciation in english. we could go on and on about english words/rules that make no sense. i, for one, still think that since mice is the plural of mouse, that it would make sense for hice to be the plural of house. and spice is not the plural of spouse, it's a whole nother subject entirely. i seriously feel terrible for anyone learning esl.

[DeppityDawg]

Maybe we are not reading the same thread. But I think probably we just don't read the same way. Despising the Dutch and their language? Where in the world did you get that?

When you say "cookie", "cruller", "waffle", "brandy", "coleslaw", "gin", etc. using familiar English pronunciation, is it out of reverse snobbery, or just because you hate Dutch people?

[Vetter]

Gew-duh for me. The ONLY time I've heard how-duh was at a class taught by Max McCalman. And I don't think my friends and family would know what how-duh meant.

[josquared]

How-duh heck do I pronounce it? Goo-duh, but thanks to this thread, I know of the alternate pronunciation

What's the old phrase about when in Rome...or maybe in this case, when in Amsterdam...

[Peg]

In the UK it is always 'gow-da'
'

[mamachef]

This is getting too too funny. I swear, next time I'm buying cheese I'm just going to point and ask for that there red wax-wrapped Dutch cheese, and forget about the pronunciation, as it appears nobody really has any definitive answers. :)

[Peg]

Then you'd get edam (eeee-dam) - gouda has yellow wax.

[mamachef]

Chortle: thanks for catching that Peg.

[DeppityDawg]

Next time, point at the one with the black wax. Mmmmmmm!

[cowboyardee]

"How-duh" is fine if you speak dutch, or if the people in your area with whom you discuss these things readily understand 'how-duh' to mean gouda.

If neither of those two conditions apply and a person still insists on calling it 'how-duh,' they are being pedantic.

[beevod]

It pronounced the way it looks: Goooodah. If you ask for how-dah you'll get a seat that's placed on the back of an elephant.

[JungMann]

I studied Dutch, but I know no one will understand me if I say hchowdah, even here in New Amsterdam. It always sends a twinge down my spine, much like when I hear people correct me by saying "chipolte."

[Gio]

I have to ask my cheesemonger for "Goo-dah" or he'll tell me i'm in the wrong country.

[chowser]

I love that you have a cheesemonger. I wish I lived close enough to one to have one.

[chowser]

I've only heard gew duh so that's how I say it. I also say the Americanized eye-key-uh and not the swedish i-kay -uh for IKEA. But then again, if I'm speaking American English, I tend to say words the Americanized way, eg. double entendre isn't doobl ehn tahn dr. If I'm speaking french, it is.

[Pata_Negra]

never heard most versions mentioned here. if you can clear your throat like a mainland Chinese just before they are about to spit then you know how the G is pronounced. it's a really hard G. petooey!

[linguafood]

ya know, i was trying to find a nice way to explain that sound. yours came to mind, but i didn't find it appetizing enough for a food discussion.

sure does it justice, tho '-D

[Claudette]

That's exactly how our Dutch friends taught us to say it! And then they tried to teach us how to pronounce "Van Gogh" - even lots more spitting!

[Bob W]

This is funny! I say "how-duh," but only in a fake-hipster "Tar-zhay" sense. In fact, I say it like thew says, chhhhow-duh. I have no idea where I picked this up. Gouda is one of the first cheeses I remember trying, back in the 60s. Gouda and Edam in the red wax. Just call me Hans Brinker, I guess.

[DPGood]

I pronounce it "Gouda"

[EWSflash]

No. YOU say Gouda. :-)

[pikawicca]

Our new puppy is a Dutch Kooikerhondje. Try to pronounce that! Sometimes the pursuit of the authentic ends in a rendering of the absurd. There is no way I will ever be able to render an accurate pronunciation of this word (and I'm something of a linguist). Stick with what's acceptable where you live (e.g., "goodah" in the U.S.)

[invinotheresverde]

Ah, but mamachef lives in the US and has neverr heard anything but "how-duh". Interesting...

[pikawicca]

Not to diss mama, but I've lived all over the US and NEVER heard "how-duh." Maybe I live in the Twilight Zone.

[mamachef]

Why in the world would I feel dissed by you never having heard a word being pronounced one way or another? It's not as though you're calling me a liar; just describing that your experience differs from mine. No biggie.
It may well have to do with a few things. I too have lived all over the US, but my three major frames of reference, when I was old enough to purchase my own food, are:
1. Mendocino
2. Sonoma county
3. Berkeley
Regions all known to be food-conscious and fairly knowledgeable. These places are where I heard that pronunciation. Since I know zero Dutch, I surely can't make any claims as to correct or incorrect pronunciations, and I never did that; I merely stated what was stated to me, which was what I accepted and now use. And that's about it.

[rabaja]

Well now, that explains it. All those places are known to house freaks and geeks.

I'm kidding. I too have have lived in all of the above, but strangely, have never heard the how-duh pronounciation.

[KaimukiMan]

well no wonder, i grew up across the border in Oakland.

[mamachef]

Hi rabaja! No problema, I can totally own my freakish geekness : )

[pikawicca]

I went to Cal, and at the co-op, it was goo-da, but that was quite a long time ago.

[buttertart]

Would be amusing if our paths had crossed at the Co-op unbeknownst. That's one store I can still visualize lo these many years later.

[pikawicca]

It was certainly a unique food zone.

[buttertart]

That it was. Excellent time to have lived there.

[Isolda]

Wow, you really get an education on these boards! I have never heard or said anything but goo-da (as in no thanks, I don't care for any goo-da). I guess I should have known there was another way to say it that was closer to the native name.

[DuchessNukem]

Isolda, I never knew either until I read another thread on this a couple/few months ago. I spent the day hooting "HOWDUH! HOODUH!" at my cats.

They were un-impressed, until I fed them some (un-imported, un-smoked, easily pronounceable) string cheese.

I'm staying with goo-da. :)

[linguafood]

In Germany, it's pronounced gow-duh. But afaik, the Dutch actually pronounce it hoo-duh with a rather guttural first h.

[Bada Bing]

Dutch is a lot like German as a language but it makes much higher use of the gutteral consant sounds. That's why a German would naturally say "Gow-dah" and a Dutch something closer to "xhow-dah." Even within Hooland or Germany, there can be significant pronunciation differences every 30 miles or so down the train tracks.

[linguafood]

Yep. I can understand most Dutch written down, but rather prefer conversing with them in English.

[JungMann]

But if you speak with them in English, you lose so much of that lilting Dutch cadence. I have to confess that I still laugh every time I see Hape Kerkeling's impression of Queen Beatrix.

[linguafood]

Just saw this now, JM. That is truly one of Hape's funniest bits.

[soupkitten]

i think goo-duh, gow-duh, how-duh, and chxow-duh (sound of bringing up phlegm/hairball) are all considered acceptable, with goo-duh being considered most common, and hairball noise considered somewhat pretentious for english speakers. how-duh is a little more what i hear in my own circle, unless the speaker is a continental european, in which case it's more likely to be gow-duh.

[Philly Ray]

Either way is good-a enough for me.

[jaykayen]

I'm in the how-da camp.

[Sherri]

My Dutch friends taught us to say "how-duh" but if I ask for "how-duh" at my local cheese shop, they look at me with a blank stare. "Goo-duh" gets me what I want.

[Sooeygun]

My mother is Dutch and says goo-duh, because that's how people in Canada tend to say it. When she came to Canada it was all about fitting in. She also stopped going by her Dutch nickname, Joke, for obvious reasons.

[CanadaGirl]

I say Goo-da too. In fact, there was a recent Canadian commercial for cheese that had a boy sent to the store for some goo-da.

[eatswjoy]

A German co-worker of mine pronounces it as gow-da.

Dictionary.com has both pronunciations:

http://dictionary.reference.com/brows...

I pronounce it yummy. :)

[Chris VR]

http://www.forvo.com/word/gouda pronounces it that way as well.

[eatswjoy]

Thank you Chris VR for this link...Cool! I'm going back now to learn some new words. :)

[grayelf]

I'm in the gow-duh camp too, possibly from my days in the cheese shop (cue Monty Python).

[ferret]

If you're referring to it in the normal world, then gew-duh is just fine. Looking to the Dutch for guidance on pronunciation is like asking my cat (and I don't even have a cat).

[Mona Williams]

As my friend says, the problem is that the Dutch can't say "g." :>)

[thew]

depends if youre speaking english or dutch

[invinotheresverde]

Eh. I don't say "mer-laht" when I want a glass of red just because I'm speaking English.

[ferret]

You also don't ask for "un verre de vin." You observe the local custom.

[mamachef]

I've always heard it pronounced How-duh, and I'm right here in America speaking English along with the cheesemonger.

[ferret]

In all my decades of cheese-buying here in the US (and we buy and consume lots and lots and lots of cheese) I've never once heard it any other way then goo-da.

[mamachef]

Oh!

[wekick]

Same here. Interesting.

[pikawicca]

Agree completely. We eat LOTS of cheese; if I ever went into a shop where I buy cheese and asked for "howduh," I'd be met with blank looks.

[KaimukiMan]

never heard of the How-duh pronunciation. live and learn.

[Chris VR]

I had a friend who pronounced it that way, but in a very pompous "I'm more authentic than thou" way.

[DeppityDawg]

You don't say "mer-laht" because the person you're talking to most likely won't understand what you're referring to. Same goes for "how-duh". It really depends on your communicative goal: Are you trying to say something about cheese, or something about yourself?

[invinotheresverde]

I hear many people say "how-duh".

[joonjoon]

I've said mer-laht to refer to merlot plenty of times and no one seems to have an issue. I guess the question on my mind is why we pronounce some thing the way the do in france (merlot, lingerie) and not other (paris), and still not other things from other countries (gouda).

And like others have pointed out, I've heard lots of people call it how-duh.

It's acceptable for one word to have two different but nontheless correct pronounciations. Gouda seems to be one of them.

[small h]

It is an interesting question, and it's very hard to discern a pattern. Lingerie is sort of a bad example, because English speakers like myself usually say lon-jer-ay (I actually say "underwear," but whatever), when the French pronunciation is lan-jer-ee. And I pronounce the "s" in Paris, except when I'm talking about a French thing with Paris in the title, like Paris Match.

[la2tokyo]

I say "goo-dah," and I also have a Grandpa who orders "mer-laht" every time we go out to dinner. I never thought we had much in common until reading this thread. Now I'm finding out that we are indeed cut from the same cloth. He'll get a kick out of this.

[thew]

do as you wish, however the name f the cheese in english is not howdah (or chowdah with a gutteral h sound as in the dutch) but goodah. things have different names in different languages. when i'm speaking english i call my home town new york and my country the united states.. if im speaking spanish i say nueva york and estados unidos.

and merlot is not called merlaht in english, it is called merloh, so your example does not hold up.

[invinotheresverde]

Because I'd be pronouncing it French style.

Not trying to argue. Just curious to see how everyone pronounces gouda.

[thew]

i understand. but "merloh" is the name of the wine in english, as well as french. however gouda is not pronounced the same in english and dutch

[invinotheresverde]

But that's the question. Is it or isn't it?

[thew]

no, it's the answer. it is pronounced one way in dutch and differently in english. and differently from either in german, as well, apparently

[invinotheresverde]

I'm not so sure it is, though. There are some posters on the thread who have only heard it "how-duh",some who have only heard it "gew-duh" and some who have heard it both. Kind of makesme think there's not one definitive answer.

[Sherri]

I can't imagine that you would ask for "Cam - en - BERT" cheese, when ordering a camenbert so why is there a problem using the native pronounciation for Gouda? What am I missing?

[BobB]

What you're missing is that if you want to be understood you should use what's customary and familiar to whomever you're addressing. Most people in the US say GOO-da and CAM-em-bare. DeppityDawg put it quite succinctly upthread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7842...

P.S. It's CameMbert, not CameNbert

[Sherri]

Thanks for pointing out the typo, BobB.

[Mona Williams]

Many years ago, I told my date I thought a Médoc would go well with our meal, properly pronouncing the final "c." I have forgotten his name, but I still remember his supercilious, "May-doe, my dear." I guess there's such a thing as trying too hard.

[chowser]

You know, even if he had been correct, that would have been the last date for me.

[wekick]

I love when people correct your accurate pronunciation with a wrong one.

[joonjoon]

I got this the other day when I asked someone at a restaurant about pasta fah-joh-lee. The guy looked at me quizzically and said "you mean pasta fazool?"

Yeah, that.

[linguafood]

or someone saying gym-let when taking my order for a gimlet.

[LauraGrace]

"Pasta fazool" is, IIRC, the sort of American-Sicilian pronunciation, like saying "Capeesh" instead of... however you pronounce it really! ;)

[Bada Bing]

That one struck me to the first time I heard it. Very typical in the Northeastern USA Italian communities.

They also like to drop the gender suffix sometimes. One hears them ordering "mozzarell," "proscuitt," etc., at the deli. I don't think they say "spaghett," though...

[chowser]

It drives my Italian teacher crazy about the dropped vowels at the end of the word with the Italian Americans in the class.

[melpy]

Nope, all pasta becomes "macaroni".

[KaimukiMan]

so that's how it's pronounced.... thanks jj

[Mona Williams]

Another one--In the late eighties, I took a job in the kitchen of a trendy restaurant. The chef told me there was going to be a new kind of bread on the menu--something called foe-ka-seeya. I had just come back from a month in Italy, where I had eaten a lot of focaccia. When I murmured the correct pronunciation, I was brushed off with, "Well, there are different ways to say it." Yeah, but not anymore.

[brentk]

While we may have finally learned the correct pronunciation of focaccia, many Americans still pronounce bruschetta "brush-etta" rather than "bruce-ketta."

[tatamagouche]

See downthread.

[pdxgastro]

"Pro-skew-toe" was one of my favorites. X-D