The basis of this joke is the Simplified-vs-Traditional character sets for Chinese languages, but, there actually is a thing called Basic English which is sometimes called Simple English and which is used on the Simple English Wikipedia.
I vote for basic english
They like to say that but ask them how to pronounce herb or tortilla.
Bro tortilla is a Spanish word. How do you think we should pronounce it?
It’s tor-tia
Not Tort-illa
Having a Mexican wife, and having learned Spanish, it makes me irrationally angry when I watch British cooking shows and watch them butcher the pronunciation of basic ingredients. Especially when those same ingredients sound fine when spoken in American English.
I also didn’t know wtf Gordon Ramsey was taking about when he kept saying Picko-Da-Gello, until they showed it on screen.
Y’all spend hundreds of years conquering the planet in search of spices, and failed to learn not only how to use them, but what they’re even called.
As a Mexican I find it humorous and charming. Even if people butcher it I appreciate the effort.
Maybe it’s just because I had the proper pronunciation drilled into me, it bothers me that I had went through a lot of arguments and effort to make myself better understood, and the people on these shows don’t even vaguely try despite having access to professional consultants or even just the internet.
I try to make myself understood, and hearing someone casually butcher a language I worked very hard to learn is frustrating.
Any recent loan word from France or Spain is hilariously butchered by the Brits. I’d love a list. I try to remember them as I hear them but then forget.
Avocado
Pico de Gallo
Tortilla
Garage(from the French, and absolutely butchered by the British)
Aluminum(not really a loan word but what’s with the extra letters)
Those are the ones off the top of my head, but I might actually make a list.
Aluminium at least makes sense by analogy to other elements ending in -ium, like helium, sodium, potassium, cadmium, beryllium, etc.
But a bunch of other elements don’t follow that pattern, why don’t they say “ironium”?
Because words have different etymological roots and different endings can convey different grammatical or linguistic information in many languages? This is just a misguided train of thought comparing the endings of iron and helium and expecting them to be the same. The examples I cited either have Latin roots, or were deliberately latinized words, while Iron comes from an Old English root. Ferrum, the Latin for iron, comes closer to the broader pattern. It’s like saying, “I have a calculator that calculates, a ventilator that ventilates, so why is it a phone and not a callator.” or something.
I have never heard someone pronounce it tort-illa unless they were being deliberately obtuse trying to be funny, and I have always lived in Nowhere, GA.
It’s Tor-ti-lla. With intonation on the ti. I’m a Spaniard but even if I weren’t, intonation and pronouciation rules are fixed. Tórtilla has intonation on the Tó, and has a tilde because it’s the third syllable. Tortillá has intonation on the llá, which since it ends with an a and has the intonation is on the last syllable, in has a tilde. Tortilla has no tilde, so it must be Tor-TI-lla.
Ah yes, the h-drop. Wikipedia says it best:
Although common in most regions of England and in some other English-speaking countries, and linguistically speaking a neutral evolution in languages, H-dropping is often stigmatized as a sign of careless or uneducated speech.
As a yank, I must protest. How dare you, I resemble that remark!
In this case I’m referring specifically to the American tendency to retain pronunciation more closely to the language of origin, for “herb” even more specifically Latin -> French -> English.
I do enjoy the idea that the stigma of a lack of education could be applied in this case though.
Oregano 🧐
Hoisted by my own petard!
My favorite part about British prescriptivism is that when the languages diverged, many of the changes in pronunciation were initiated in British English while American English kept the originals. Of course that’s not universally true but I always giggle when I see one brought up in that context.
I saw something a long while back that suggested the British accent that is well known today started not long after the American revolution and was just a fad because some rich and popular dude started speaking that way and all his fans followed suit.
Not sure if that is actually true though.
🇫🇷 : French (Traditional)
🇬🇧 : French (Mispronounced)
Hwæt be Eald Englisc?
En goðan tongr af aldr tið. (Pardon þu mín norðan mál).
