Is Mayonnaise Still a Word?

Do you mean people are pronouncing it as a word? I do have other names/descriptions in my mind for that type of oil, but saying “Evoo” as if it’s a word is disconcertingly weird.

Some accents can seem pretty thick to us 'Mericans. I was on a shuttle bus once in Orlando, and heard a family conversing in what I would’ve sworn was a foreign language, as I couldn’t make out a word. I politely asked the dad what language they were speaking – he looked at me as if I were completely crazy, and replied in an offended, heavy Scottish brogue, “English!”

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No, I mean calling it e-v-o-o ala Rachel Ray. :grin:

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One incident does not equate to a trend.

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Less bad… also probably less likely to catch on, because it takes longer to say. And FEVOO (fake extra virgin olive oil) apparently ought to be what a lot of people say.

Yep I wrote it the other day and was even irritated with myself.

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Add it to your autocorrect: whenever you type the dreaded four letters, have it insert “Olive oil that not only has zero sexual experience, it even has additionally-zero sexual experience!”

(Personally, I think the exclamation mark is an essential feature.)

In 18/19th century Britain, an entrée would be served as one course in a banquet. Of course, this was a time when, for food to be “good”, it had to be French. My understanding is that it could a substantial meat course, served between the fish course and the roast. Alternatively, in a meal with fewer courses, but still relatively formal, the entrée was served as a starter - after the soup but before the main meat course. I have a copy of the menu of a 1918 Christmas meal eaten by officers of a battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. They had soup. pate, an entrée of veal escalopes (with vegetables), followed by roast beef, then dessert and cheese.

In either event, the use of the word was intending to suggest this was the opening of the “real meal”. It would be announcing that the next course would be the main course. I suppose much as it is on modern French menus - the starter.

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Perhaps think of “pepperon1” with the number one at the end - only one of the words ever means meat. (Peperoncini has two of the letter i, so don’t replace both.)

You know what, that was a silly trick, it might be better to just ask for something and see what you get. :stuck_out_tongue:

I used to work with a guy from Glasgow and I really struggled to fully understand him.

On the other hand, we were in a BBQ place in Blowing Rock, NC, and I had to interpret for my wife. She simply could not understand the server.

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Thank you! Obviously my use of “little” was quite wrong - but the fact that in most or all of American usage “entrée” (if used) means “the main course” was what I intended to emphasize.

It seems to me that each country’s “general accent” is turning out mostly manageable for the others (sometimes with a bit of help), but that each country has particular regional or local accents that really require some experience. One of Canada’s main contributions to the really interesting accents (rural Newfoundland) is fading, especially since the almost total collapse of cod fishing forced many people to move to cities. (Quebec French, especially from some of the rural areas, is also interesting, but the main reason I don’t understand it is it’s not English. :grin:)

I lived my whole life in Philadelphia and attended college there. Then I went to grad school in southeastern Ohio (just one state over from Pennsylvania, but closer to West Virginia than any big city in Ohio). No problem understanding the students and faculty from across the country and the globe. Of course they made fun of my pronunciation of wooder (that’s water to the rest of the country) and it took me a few seconds to process the question of whether I wanted my pop in a sack (er . . . my soda in a bag?). I was even the subject of an American English class project whose professor found it fascinating that I had distinct pronunciations for merry, marry and Mary not to mention roof and rough. But as I said, we all understood each other.

But when my car was the victim of a hit-and-run, I had to file a police report. The officer was a local native (this was the foothills of the Appalachians). About 1/4 through the report he laughed, proclaiming I didn’t understand him and he didn’t understand me. When he asked for my home (i.e., insured) address he admitted he couldn’t even begin to spell Philadelphia . . . weird since there’s a Philadelphia, Ohio.

Oddly, when I returned to Philly for my first job I had a Scottish coworker with a heavy accent --never had a problem understanding him. Maybe my studies of old and middle English?

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Possibly - but as above, it depends where in Scotland. They pack the accents in tight in the UK - walk 500 yards and everything sounds different. :grin:

We were visiting Fort Kent, in far-northern Maine, and heard some locals chatting in a coffee shop, who sounded exactly as if they were from New Orleans. When we got home, I did a bit of research on the history of the Acadians, and found out there was a very good reason for that, except that it would be more accurate to say that New Orleaneans sound like Acadians.

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Acadian → 'Cadian → Cajun :+1:

Hmmm it could have come from a classic mis-hearing “He’s Acadian” → “He’s a Cadian”. I don’t know.

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Yes, the word Cajun comes from the word Acadian.

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My friend was enamored with the show Swamp People, the old reality show from a few years back, that showcased this family from the New Orleans area. She turned it on for me one day, and I had no idea what anyone was saying! Apparently I’m not the only one though because the show is subtitled for the rest of the Americans. I honestly was floored that I picked up no more than 1 maybe 2 words every 5 minutes.

I’ll have to check that out. It’s been decades since I was anywhere in Louisiana besides New Orleans, but I don’t remember having trouble understanding people.