The pronunciation of some words is regional like tomato (t’may-toe) and tomato (toe-mah-toe), and basically equally correct. Other times, the pronunciation of a word is just flat out wrong, like pronouncing the word “supposedly” as “supposably” or “specific” as “pacific”.
But why on Earth would you ever correct somebuddy who pacifically says “supposably”? Please don’t, because correcting people is one of those Catch-69 situations, like when somebody has ketchup on their face: If you tell them, you embarrass them by pointing it out, but if you don’t say anything, then you embarrass them because you let them walk around with ketchup on their face. Not to mention, maybe the person is intentionally wearing ketchup on their face. Like I said, Catch-69.
Likewise, please don’t go around correcting people who say the words on this list incorrectly.
Bryan
What about Duchesse de Bourgogne?
D.J. Pander
A great beer and a great question!
Duchesse de Bourgogne is pronounced “Do-Shess D’Bur-Gohn-Yah”. “Bourgogne” is pronounced kind of like the flower begonia, just replace the “beg” with “bur” like “burgonia”. Also, the “de” in “Duchesse de Bourgogne” is spoken so quickly that it almost becomes part of the word “Bourgogne” like “D’Bourgogne”.
The beer is named after Mary of Burgundy (sometimes known as “Mary the Rich”) who was born in Brussels in 1457. She was the daughter of Charles the Bold (Duke of Brussels), and sole heiress of many of the territories of the Duchy of Burgundy. Mary was married to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and she was succeeded by her son Phillip the Handsome after she died from a horse riding accident.
Here’s a bonus: Duchesse de Bourgogne is brewed by Brouwerij (Brow-Er-Eye) Verhaeghe (Ver-Ah-Ga) Vichte (Vish-Teh). “Brouwerij” means brewery, “Verhaeghe” is last name of the original founder (1885) and also the current owner, and “Vichte” is the village in Belgium (West Flanders) where the small brewery is located.
Tyler
How about Duvel?
D.J. Pander
The pronunciation of “Duvel” is pretty straight forward: “Doo-Vill”.
Duvel is brewed by the Duvel Moortgat Brewery (formerly Brouwerij Moortgat) located in Antwerp, Belgium, and the word “Duvel” means “devil” in the Antwerp dialect.
Legend has it that the beer “Duvel” was originally called “Victory Ale”, and in 1923, a fan of Victory Ale referred to the beer as a “rare devil” or “a devil of a beer” (or something similar), presumably alluding to the well-masked alcoholic strength of the brew. Not long after, the name stuck.
Today, the Moortgat Brewery refers to Duvel as “the most angelic devil of a beer.”
“Duvel” is not the only beer with devilish connotations: There is also “Lucifer” from Brouwerij Het Anker and “Satan Gold” from Brouwerij De Block, both of which are Belgian Strong Pale ales, the same beer style as Duvel.
Bonus: The Duvel Moortgat Brewery owns the popular American brewery Ommegang. The American brewery pronounces “Ommegang” as “Oh-Ma-Gang” which is close to the French pronunciation, the language predominately spoken in Brussels where the Ommegang parade takes place each year around the beginning of July. However “Ommagang” is a Dutch word pronounced “Oh Ma Hong”.
KarPon
plenty of practice pronouncing “Pliny”. FUNNY ~ I couldn’t even read it in my head right the first time
Tom Stevenson
I promise I won’t correct people who have ketchup on their face or those who say Ar-toys,
But what about those who say “Catch-69” when they mean “Catch -22”?
D.J. Pander
That is a tricky situation, indeed. It’s rare, but there are those among us who intentionally put ketchup on their faces while ordering a Stella “Ar-Toys” even though they know they’re pronouncing it incorrectly. Those are the folks you have to watch out for…
Dev Martin
I looked this up because Stella Artois commercial says it like “our toys”. But it may be like Hyundai USA and Xiaomi and others simplify the “official” pronunciation here. Nevermind that the USA office isn’t actually official.