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True. In the Philippines, it's pronounced "pie ell ya". That's just how double L's are pronounced there. I have heard Ina say it "pie ella" too, I'm not sure why. Maybe she thinks she sounds like a dork trying to speak Spanish :) Which is likely the difference between "enn dive" and "on deeve" - people sounding like dorks trying to speak French. Hehehehehe.

Yes, she mispronounced it sometimes and correctly pronounced it at other times. I also say "en dive" even though I studied French for eight years. I say "mawv" and "tawp" instead of "mohv" and "tohp," too. Some words have become a part of the English language and I pronounce them as such. Since paella is a national dish of Spain, I figure it should be pronounced as it is in Spanish. Just one woman's opinion.

It is definitely Martha that says herb like the man's name. I figure she must know something I don't? Even so, I leave the h silent.

Anyone who has ever seen Scamdra knows her quirky way of speaking. For instance, she says ay when she should say a. The other day I heard her say ay-nother. That one slayed me.

The ll sound in Spanish is pronounced differently in different parts of the Spanish speaking world. As for Martha, I've heard her say in interviews that she grew up saying "herb" the British way with a pronounced H. I'm not sure, but I would bet that "endive" has more to do w/accent (an American vs. French accent).

The other day I caught Rachel Ray claiming that calvados was a Spanish liquor and she kept pronouncing it call-vail-dos. It cracked me up that she didn't just do a quick wiki search before telling national TV that calvados was Spanish. What a loon. She was making a dish called "poulet au pays d'Auge" but she clearly had 1) no idea how to pronounce the name of the dish 2) no idea that the Pays d'Auge in France is where calvados is produced 3) no idea that there was a connection between the apple and calvados in the dish and the name of the region.
All I'm asking is for FN to do some basic fact checking instead of spreading inaccuracies - it's just irresponsible production and makes them look even more stupid and un-trustworthy.

I think that for Ina and Martha, both of whom are sometimes accused of elitism in their cooking and lifestyle, it might be a matter of code switching. Speaking both up and down 'proper' and 'local' pronunciations to avoid further accusations of being too fancy pants for 'real americans'. I say 'real' in a completely tongue in cheek manner, of course. She might do it sometimes and not others because it's not natural for her, either she remembers or she doesn't.

The only person I've seen who code switches pretty seemlessly between high and low, or urban and mainstream language styles is Oprah. The issue for me is not whether one is 'right' or wrong, if pie-ella has common understanding in parts of the US, then it doesn't have to be 'wrong'--it's a matter of a different accepted pronunciation. Most of those recipes have been 'americanized' to some degree as well. Dialects are just that, and while it is often interesting for me to know how to pronounce things in their language of origin (pie-eyya?). It's equally interesting to me to see the ways in which it is reinvented.

@ellyeats - my Mom is a Brit as well, but I swear everyone in North American said, "herbs" until that guy changed it.

Fintastic. Kind of like me calling myself Jer-zee. Why? So people can pronounce it and then some guy can go steal it and start a blog. Go figure.

Would you pronounce Beef Bourguignon Beef Borg-ig-non? A classic is a classic and should be pronounced as such.

@bessfour I think not every North American can pronounce it in the perfect french fashion. I think if I was in France, I'd make an effort (I do speak French) but I will not willfully confuse someone or insist on denigrating a local dialect because of some academic imperative.

You don't step into the same river twice, American Paella is not hte same as Spanish Paella. All is derivative anyhow. I don't think panties need to get into a knot and people need to be made feel inferior because they use recognized local rules of pronunciation which are just as valid as any other. One only has to step into a country with a colonial history which includes one or more European 'ruler' to see that pronunciations and meanings attached to them change over time. It's still beef stew.

And I'm an academic.

If a dish has a name that happens to be in a language that's not your native tongue, that doesn't mean the name changes because you can't say it. It also doesn't make you elitist if you pronounce it right. It drives me NUTS when people say "broo-shet-a" because the letters sound that way in English. In Italian, they don't! It's "broo-sket-a."
Would you request a "kay-suh-dil-la" simply because you don't speak Spanish? You can pronounce something correctly in its originating language without being a native speaker. Have a little respect for the dish.

To be clear, I'm not advocating that every single thing be purposefully mis-pronounced, I am saying that language is an ever changing and shifting medium, whether we like or not. It's one thing to make an effort to pronounce things correctly, and another to rail against a linguistic change which might not be true to the language of origin, but which has enough cultural salience to be considered IMO, acceptable in it's own right. It's a signifier of something...it's not the holy grail.

There are no clear rules on language or culture. I just don't see the point at tilting at windmills.

I've heard Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall pronounce it pie-ella, as well. I thought that was a british thing. I'll pronounce it pa-ella or the more correct pa-ay-ya depending on the context. As for endive, I'm a native French speaker so I pronounce it onh-deev when I'm speaking French. When I'm speaking English I pronounce it in endive. My half-Belgian girlfriend, however, pronounces it shee-conh (chicon).

Merriam-Webster seems to accept both pronunciations: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/endive

I'm not that worked up about it, but I think Ina Garten, as a food authority, should make the effort to pronounce the work vaguely correctly. Paella is not a hard word to pronounce. PestoGal beat me to the quesadilla analogy. Fajita does not rhyme with the female anatomy. I can't pronounce French to save my life, but I can make the effort at least to say bor-gin-yon or boo-yah-bas. I'm sure Ina doesn't say the "t" in fillet, or cabernet.

I was surprised by the way the English do pronounce the "t" in fillet and maybe also buffet (perhaps only the furniture piece?) but not in duvet. Is there a reason?

@embackus, not from maine, eh?

@renzata, see my earlier comment about code switching. It's possible she knows both pronunciations, but for every foodie crazed group like us at SE there is another less food educated demographic watching Food Network who instinctively get their backs up at difficult sounding words. If Ina is to appeal to both demographics she may, even unconsciously, be code switching between dialect preferences. It sounds counter intuitive, and the argument to be made is that she should keep it 'proper' if she wants to educate, but just as Oprah slips into 'urban speak' to avoid charges of elitism or forgetting her roots (I'm not arguing it's conscious code switching necessarily) the more gourmet FN hosts have to appeal to the Paula Deen demographic as well as the Ina demo in order to remain profitable.

I do something similar when I visit family in the English Caribbean, the effect is not to mimic the accent, which I cannot do at all. But I did grow up around dialect speakers from the region, and as a result, I unconsciously change some word pronunciations to more commonly used local forms and alter the speed of my speech adn sometimes even syntax to be more readily understood. It's not something I can do on purpose.

I think I got pulled into two different discussions here, one about Ina, and another about changing pronunciations. I like them both.

My British former BF said "pie-ella" and "ohn-deev." The stone inside of a cherry was a "pip"

So what? It's not that big of a deal. In fact, I think "correcting" someone's pronunciation is a worse transgression. It's rude, it may make the person feel embarrassed, and it's always possible that there is some other accepted pronunciation than the one you believe to be correct.

The way she pronounces "cognac" drives me nuts. I tend to find her a bit pretentious and her food a bit clunky. I try not to bend over backwards pronouncing any foreign words absolutely correctly. It sticks out in conversation and just makes me feel like a smug jerk. I try to draw the line somewhere. For instance, I do say pie-ella (with a Spanish "ll") but say endive the humble way.

@pointy, you cannot mis-pronounce your own name. the proper way to say someone's name is the way they say it.

(sorry, personal pet peeve)

One thing about Rachel Ray, she does try hard to pronounce foreign words correctly. Most just couldn't be bothered....

Yes, she did. Does this make me lose respect for her? No. Does it make me think things sometimes have to be re-shot or edited? Yes.

I agree that just because a dish is not in your native tongue you don't get a "free pass" as to its proper pronunciation. I've been corrected by Japanese friends that the dish is called SKYAH-kee and not SOOK-ee-yah-kee. I like to know the proper way to pronounce something before looking like a dolt by saying it wrong.

Ina's cooking still rules, BTW.

That whole episode of Ina's when she made lobster pie-ella was a disaster in the making. She used basmati rice and kielbasa! If she'd wanted to use a pre-cooked sausage, she could have at least used an appropriate chorizo or even andouille, but kielbasa! And how about a short-grained rice? She could have at least used arborio if she didn't feel like making a run for the appropriate Spanish rice like bomba or calasparra. It was one of the rare times I've seen her remake a classic and thought to myself, What's wrong with the original? It ain't so bad!

I travelled to London and met an old friend for lunch at a museum cafe. I was suprised to hear her order the ahn-dee-vay salad. After all, she's still Texan.

nobody is as bad as Giada. Until then, I don't really care!

I am not saying that Ina's pronunciation was wonderful, however I didn't find it as shockingly off as some earlier posters, and have a sense about how she might have arrived at that pronunciation. Here is an article that talks a bit about the origins of paella and mentions 2 different pronunciations:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06201/707017-34.stm

@Boswell~Thanks for that link. That's really a funny skit.

@shoneyjoe

You say caterpillar, and we say caterpillar.