having watched all the series over the years some of the worst episodes have involved non-British cuisines - the worst that I can recall (havent seen this Mexican episode yet) was Japanese - you cant say its because of lack of respect for that great culture, or racism - its just sheer ignorance and lack of seriousness. American Pie was another bake that was just ridiculous, because the judges didnt accept the way Americans bake pies.
Unfortunately the show in general has become less about great baking than stupid challenges and “entertainment”. The bakers are asked to make things that are pointless and ugly, dont really show their cooking skills or like this one dont properly represent a foreign cuisine. I very much wish they would go back to cooking british regional specialties or tricky, delicious bakes that make you want to go into the kitchen - rather than hideous showstoppers that would be thrown into the garbage rather than served with pride. so sorry Matt Lucas is back. The humor here is very dim.
I agree largely although 1) think that ignorance is a feature of racism/orientalism in which exotic fantasy is privileged over material reality*; and 2) GBBO does much better with accuracy/ respect for practice when it’s a European bake (not put into a theme week but integrated into the theme of the week which might be the difference.
And yes, Matt Lucas is pants, but especially when paired with Noel Fielding because there is no comedian to temper the nonsense and pleas for attention. (But oh I miss Mel and Sue— although at least I watch them on other things.)
*not going to argue this here— I don’t need you all to believe what I hold.
Since we’re disagreeing, you might be interested to know that Spaniards (you know, those people from Spain who tend to speak Spanish) pronounce it with a hard “a” like they did on Bake Off, not as “tahco”.
Yes!!! Jalapeeeeños! Fortunately I haven’t heard that in a long time. And I live in Boston, which has a significant Central American population and a very small Mexican population.
Interesting question. Venice, Rome, Florence, Milan are among those city names with standardized English “translations.” Do native Italian speakers use those names when they are speaking English?
I grew up in North Carolina, where the third a in Appalachia is pronounced as a short a. Now I live in New England, where it’s pronounced with a long a. My thinking is that the people who live there know the correct pronunciation in their region, even though it’s the same mountain range.
That’s interesting about native Spanish speakers. I lived in Spain for two years decades ago and never heard a Spaniard pronounce taco at all. There was no restaurant food in Spain way back then from the former Spanish colonies.
Just found this topic and was most attracted by the issue of pronunciation/mispronunciation of words. I may be one if the few people here who doesn’t watch GBBS but I AM aware of the ‘tacko/tahco’ thing from other input. I’m admittedly a bit OCD on correctness but realize that fighting most of this kind of thing is a losing battle. It seems like the ‘modern’ method of language ‘building’ is to just allow whatever people insist on using (regardless of what has been ‘correct’’ in the past.
My personal peeve is Porsche. It’s a person’s NAME for heaven’s sake, yet it seems that more people pronounce it ‘Porsh’ than ‘Porshuh’. I’ve even heard people who own one mispronounce it. I suppose the underlying issues are exposure, knowledge, and giving a damn.
H and I have this argument. English is a second language for me, so when I had my grammar and comp, etc. classes in middle school I soaked it up. And can tell you the “right” way to say all kinds of things. I’m always on my family for saying less instead of fewer and so on. My H was trained as a linguist, and his approach is that the right way to say something is the way most people say it, or think it is acceptable to say.
That said, arguably the right and respectful way to say a word, or food, or name of someone or something, is the way that the people from whence this thing originated pronounce it. I don’t believe that tacos are part of native Spanish cuisine, so how they pronounce it isn’t telling.
I agree. I would not presume to tell someone from Munchen that they are pronouncing the name of their city incorrectly.
So Mexicans and Salvadorans are the ones that are pronouncing it correctly and the ones i talk to call them a tahco.
Flip side if the coin, though, is that i would not tell someone from Madrid that they are pronouncing it wrong when they say takoe. Whatever floats your boat, pronounce it how you like.
As long as the tortillas are corn, not flour. You go with flour tortillas for a tahco and we have a problem. LOL!
I truthfully don’t get your point about the name Porsche. If you choose to give a child a name that is mispronounced by so many people as the name of a car it shouldn’t be a surprise that they do the same with the child’s name…… but that doesn’t make it right.
As to Jaguar…… the car is British in origin so I suppose a case could be made that the ‘jag-you-ah’ pronunciation i hear from Brits is correct. But the car is, presumably, named after the animal, which is native to the Americas, so a case could also be made that the pronunciation should be that of English and Spanish, so ‘jag-wahr’. But certainly not ‘jag-wire’, which I hear a lot too.
I simply commented on your Porsche rant . Nothing personal. And my divisional line was meant for anyone else who cared to put their two cents worth in on the pronunciation of Jaguar.
That’s right. I’m not off to Spain to correct them all on their pronunciation. I’m only saying that we shouldn’t look to Spaniards for the correct pronunciation of a Mexican food, especially if it is said differently by Mexicans. And I love flour tortillas, but only for burritos and quesadillas. If it’s tacos, it’s corn.
