Pronunciation Problems?

[Maggie Dodson]

I'm terrified of menus at fancy restaurants--as the seem to always feature some entree or appetizer that I cannot pronounce, that I have to point at and mumble, that I can't order because of my incompetence. I recently experienced this at Cafe Shelburne, where I had no idea how to pronounce certain entrees and simply pointed, allowing the waiter to judge me harshly, his embarrassment of the situation obvious in his sad smile.

I was wondering if there are others out there, who struggle, who worry, who slink away to the bathroom right before ordering, passing the order baton to another unfortunate soul? I hope you're out there, or I fear I'm all alone in the pronunciation battle. 

[Undead Molly]

Maggie, you are not alone!

I don't think it's possible to be 100% familiar with the pronunciation of every item on every menu in the world. Unless you're Ruth Reichl or Jeffrey Steingarten or something. There are too many variables for any normal person, even a dedicated foodie, to keep track of.

For one thing, you'd have to be a global linguist. You'd have to know every language in the world to keep up with dishes and products from different cultures.

Also, foods are renamed for marketing, import/export, agricultural, and trademark reasons all the time. Sometimes to exotic sounding words that might be confusing to someone who has never seen them before. Kiwis were once Chinese Gooseberries. Orange Roughy was slimehead. Chilean Sea Bass was toothfish. Mahi Mahi is the dolphin fish. Obscure heirloom or new varieties of fruits and vegetables can be referred to by all kinds of new made up names.

I used to be intimidated by haughty wait staff. I don't know if it's age or what but I've learned not to take it personally. If someone cops an attitude because I didn't know how to correctly pronounce something, I assume it is because of their own anger and insecurity, not any deficiency on my part.

Besides, I just took a glance at Café Shelburne's menu online and their "French" isn't exactly flawless. Their diacritics (accent marks) are mostly absent, which makes their French orthography grossly incorrect. Out of all that French, only a few (carré, café, paté, and gâteau) are correct. Maybe it's fixed on their printed menus, but they're obviously not perfect, so screw that frickin' waiter.

For instance, Creme Brulee should be Crème Brûlée. Soupe a L'ail Roti should be written Soupe à L'ail Rôti.

[tonyo]

The response of that waiter is completely unprofessional and rude.  His job is to serve, not to judge.  I have been corrected more than once by a condescending waiter that felt the need to correct my mispronunciation of a food / wine.  In one extremely glaring instance of a server's pompous postering, I stated "as I am paying for the bottle, you might just want to worry about serving it instead of correcting my French" and upon serving the wine, I put the snooty server on the spot by asking a multitude of questions about that particular wine (all of which I knew the aswers to)..........................   

[Morganna]

I'm terrified of menus at fancy restaurants--as the seem to always feature some entree or appetizer that I cannot pronounce, that I have to point at and mumble, that I can't order because of my incompetence. I recently experienced this at Cafe Shelburne, where I had no idea how to pronounce certain entrees and simply pointed, allowing the waiter to judge me harshly, his embarrassment of the situation obvious in his sad smile.

I was wondering if there are others out there, who struggle, who worry, who slink away to the bathroom right before ordering, passing the order baton to another unfortunate soul? I hope you're out there, or I fear I'm all alone in the pronunciation battle. 

I wonder how much of this being judged is real and how much you're projecting into the situation.

My feeling on this is that, in the end, it doesn't matter.  I can't know everything and I refuse to be ashamed of that.  I actually ASK the waitstaff how to pronounce something.  I point to it and say "How do you say that, is it <whatever lame pronunciation I come up with>?" and I let them correct me.  I usually find that my being willing to just accept I have short comings, and to ask for help is disarming and often warms the waitstaff up to me.  I do it in a friendly, smiling way, and -let- them help me.  I also look them in the eye, and smile at them, and repeat their name if they introduce themselves to me.

I think too often people try to come across as sophisticated and in the end they just look snobby.  But then, I'm a rural country girl at heart, and I don't care about being at all sophisticated... I just choose to 1) believe the waitstaff aren't judging me unless there is incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, 2) be actually friendly and -notice people- and try to be warm without being gooey to the people serving me, and 3) actually don't CARE that I am ignorant about some things.