Expresso vs Espresso: A pro-Expresso Rant
I just read a blog post wherein 20+ people commented about how dumb, uninformed and possible "Trinker" Sandra Lee idiotically mispronounces 'espresso' as 'expresso' on her TV show.
So how about it, SE? Is she as wrong as when she changes the tones of her kitchen to match her clothes, or vicey-versey?
I lived in Brussels, and spent a ton of time in France, and some time in Portugal, so know my answer.
If I could make a poll here, I would: expresso, or espresso?
(And don't give me that bogus Italian alphabet argument either, linguistic scholars!)
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62 Comments:
I always said "espresso" since Expresso is a type of van.
gingercookiewithlime at 10:53PM on 07/22/09
hahahaha!!!! gosh i love when i see posts about stupid ass sandra lee on here!!! i have always, always noticed her 'expresso' faux pas. goddddd. it is ESPRESSO, bimbo.
emilytaylor at 11:01PM on 07/22/09
I expect Sandra Lee to be an idiot but what I can't get over is when baristas at Starbucks say "expresso."
Aunt Sandy is a sort of an english-language train wreck, though, with her melk, aigs, fiend herbs and gerbil.
RegrettableFoodie at 11:05PM on 07/22/09
Mr Tomato says in France (where he grew up) they say expresso. However I am italian and I say espresso. It is a constant debate in my house. Sempre lo stesso che dire che e espresso!
I would love to hear Sloppy say that. As if!
JerzeeTomato at 12:29AM on 07/23/09
no "x" in espresso...
derosa at 7:26AM on 07/23/09
I always heard it pronounces without an x but usually in the coffee shop it was just refered to as a shot.
huneybumper at 8:08AM on 07/23/09
It's espresso. It just is. Go to Italy.
embolini9 at 8:12AM on 07/23/09
Yeah, what embolini9 says. It's not up for debate, people. The word is: "espresso"
Lilla at 8:43AM on 07/23/09
I can't believe this is even worthy of discussion. I was actually just telling my officemate about this pet peeve of mine yesterday! EXpresso is like nails on a chalkboard for me!
Goldilox at 8:45AM on 07/23/09
It used to be my bugbear as well, but after getting back from Portugal, where they do indeed spell it expresso, I'm easier. These are all borrowed words anyway.
wicheda at 8:51AM on 07/23/09
I thought the french called "un express" and not "expresso". Anyway, espresso is an Italian drink. You don't see people insisting on using the Swahili word for bruschetta.
SqueezeBottle at 9:06AM on 07/23/09
In Italy they actually just call it "caffè" but the correct spelling and pronunciation is "espresso." The reason people in the US incorrectly say "expresso" isn't because they all learned the word from the Portuguese - it's that they're eliding an unfamiliar word with a familiar one. "Expresso" is incorrect, and I find that places who can't spell the word correctly in signage don't make the drink well, either.
producestories at 9:09AM on 07/23/09
It's Espresso. It just is. When my co-worker says Expresso, I just think it makes her sound stupid.
bitchincamero at 10:21AM on 07/23/09
yeah, no debate about it. espresso.
gastronomeg at 10:29AM on 07/23/09
Espresso... that is no X in that word!
Alm25 at 10:38AM on 07/23/09
seriously, it isn't that big a deal. When one language borrows a word from another language, there is bound to be phonological change since two no two languages have the same phonology. If you REALLY wanted to be true to the word, the second and third s's form a geminate and and it should be pronounced es pres so not es pre so.
While your at it, penne should be pronounced pen ne not pe ne. Without the double n you are saying a dirty word. And I'm pretty sure its NOT what you want for supper!
blankplate at 10:55AM on 07/23/09
Who wants a go at chipotle/chipolte?
:p
semarr at 11:10AM on 07/23/09
Or, since the word was brought up by another already, the myriad (incorrect) pronunciations of 'bruschetta'
Lilla at 11:38AM on 07/23/09
See also: mascarpone. I love the fancy restaurants who write "marscapone" on their menus.
emgroff at 11:54AM on 07/23/09
I thought express-o was just a fast-food name that nescafe came up with to market their pre-packaged, one-cup serving, just add water espresso. Or what those horrible coffee places do thinking it's going to entice me in: Express-o in neon lights with the S's shaped to look like steam.
bigfatmouth at 12:04PM on 07/23/09
EsssSSSS
CJ McD at 12:12PM on 07/23/09
Although the French say 'un express', it doesn't matter what they say because they change foreign words all the time to frenchify them. A lot of foreign words are bastardized in the English language, mostly because they are hard to pronounce for English speakers or have different consonant/vowel combinations that English speakers are not familiar with. For example, 'quesadilla' is normally pronounced approximately correctly because Americans are pretty familiar with the Spanish language as a result of the proximity of Mexico and also the many Spanish speaking immigrants in the US. That said -
espresso is NOT hard to say, the sounds are familiar to us and there is no reason so substitute an X into the word. It's just lazy and wrong and people really should not still be making that mistake since espresso has been popular in this country since the 1980s.
laurelie at 12:23PM on 07/23/09
The stupidest justification I've ever heard for "expresso" was "because it makes you go fast." That in itself proves to me how annoying and lame "expresso" is. Go, ESpresso, go!
fanghsing at 12:43PM on 07/23/09
blini vs. bellini. This is fun...
KB in Toledo at 1:06PM on 07/23/09
"walla" instead of "voila" (lord help me, my blood pressure's rising just typing this ;-)
Lilla at 1:34PM on 07/23/09
i would say that since the italians probably deserve credit for inventing espresso, they probably have jurisdiction over the proper spelling/pronunciation of the word. just because americans are stupid and cant speak foreign languages doesn't give us jurisdiction to butcher everyone else's
To quote JerzeeTomato:
"Sempre lo stesso che dire che e espresso!"
d'accordo!!
paulie walnuts at 1:38PM on 07/23/09
I always wear joolery when I drink my expresso and try to avoid drinking it near nuke-ya-ler plants so I won't glow in the dark when I'm done.
Seriously though... the origin of the word espresso is widely debated but the spelling and pronunciation are not.
phaelon56 at 1:44PM on 07/23/09
lose v. loose
crescent used instead of the word croissant (pet peeve of mine)
wary v. weary (as in, I'm weary of people who are overly nice)
laurelie at 2:24PM on 07/23/09
I can't understand why someone would change the spelling--spelling is spelling...I do pronounce it espresso, but I can at least fathom people pronouncing it differently...for example, the word "water", depending where you live in the country is said differently, but you don't ever change the spelling to accomodate pronunciation (unless you are just being silly), for example, I live in Maine, and we are known for changing the R to "AH", so many lobster places in the "summah, will advahtise lobstah rolls and chowdah", hehe.
kmgagne at 2:39PM on 07/23/09
EXPRESSO is an incorrect spelling of the word ESPRESSO. Period. End of story.
Now, to address this:
"So how about it, SE? Is she as wrong as when she changes the tones of her kitchen to match her clothes, or vicey-versey?"
Lee is not WRONG when she changes her clothes, drapes, Kitchen Aid color to match some lame-brained "theme" - she's an IDIOT pushing credibility further and further from her grasp. She is a talking head which is bad enough, but she's talking about a subject with which she is NOT familiar: cooking. Lee knows as much about cooking as I do about the dead language of Aramaic - NOTHING.
@kmgagne - your examples of colloquial pronunciation are a good example of what Lee is NOT doing. Like you said, pronouncing something "chowdah" does not change the spelling. When Lee refers to a thick-ish, potent brew of superior coffee beans, served in a small cup, possibly with some sugar in the raw and a lemon peel - she means ESPRESSO.
Lee is mispronouncing espresso. Plain and simple.
therealchiffonade at 3:43PM on 07/23/09
I don't really care how people pronounce it, if expresso gets enough cultural steam behind it, it too will become a valid pronunciation-even if 'we' don't like it.
I do want to chime in about the menu glitches. I know a fair number of chefs, and a lot of them became chefs in part because learning difficulties made them turn away from academia early on. There are a lot of typos on menus written by chefs because a lot of chefs don't write well. Yeah yeah spell check blah blah. I'm just saying--while some chefs are highly trained highly academic blah blah, restaurant work is often the refuge for those who see spinning upside down and moving letters, and that sometimes accounts for misspellings. Does that mean it should be forgiven? No...if you know you can't spell, get someone else to write 'mascarpone' for you. Just my two cents.
BananaMonkey at 4:12PM on 07/23/09
wow, I'm really shocked that people really have such harsh feelings. If I wasn't clear before, I think its a bit ridiculous to think people are lazy or uneducated for pronouncing a word they way they've probably have heard it.
And I don't buy the argument about knowing Spanish either because of our proximity to Mexico. We don't say Los Angeles the way we should. In fact, despite the fact that it is masculine we pronounce it las instead of los, and it should be anHeles, Spanish doesn't even have a g sound.
I personally think its really judgmental to criticize people for the pronunciation of a particular word. How many of you have been having penises for dinner? (see my last post)
blankplate at 6:42PM on 07/23/09
I love it. People with the most horribly put together sentences judging someone based on her mispronunciation. I know very little about Sandra Lee, but she does not seem to be claiming ownership or expertise regarding much. After all this vile poison spread about her, while I am sure none of you know her personally, I hope she is laughing her way to the bank.
JacquelineS at 7:33PM on 07/23/09
clearly people didn't understand my last post. To say people are lazy or uneducated because they pronounce a word they way they probably have heard it is silly. Do you really know how many words your mispronouncing? How about Los Angeles, which many people say las anGEles when it should be los AnHELes. And should I mention the penne example again. If you don't pronounce both n's, because your stupid and lazy you end up ordering something dirty for dinner.
I think people who judge based upon the way they pronounce people are judgmental. Seriously, Sandy Lee has enough problems with her cooking to get berated for her pronunciation that the starbucks baristas cant' even get right!
blankplate at 8:39PM on 07/23/09
I'm pretty sure there are things I pronounce wrong. I have a midwestern US accent, and I'm not fluent in any other language, although I can mumble in several.
There are a whole lot of words that I saw in print well before I heard them pronounced by anyone credible, so there's a fair chance I might say some of them wrong. I ate Quinoa before I heard it pronounced by anyone, for example.
The first time I heard the word "espresso," it was well before the 80's and it sounded like expresso to me. So that's what I used to say. That's what everyone used to say. Until I learned that I was wrong, and I changed my evil ways. But in a moment of drunkenness, stupidity, or when I'm choking on a cracker, I might say exxxch instead of esss...because I really don't listen to myself when I speak. I know it's supposed to be espresso, and I think that's what I say, but since I spent a lot of years saying it wrong (and no one to correct me) there's an ingrained habit of saying it wrong.
So many words have multiple pronunciations, and there are so many regional pronunciations and ethnic accents that I just can't get myself all worked up over the way someone says something, as long as I can figure out what they're trying to say.
On the Food Network, it would be nice if someone coached these people to say things correctly, but even so, I'm more annoyed by the factual errors than by someone's peculiar speech.
dbcurrie at 8:52PM on 07/23/09
Why wouldn't people have harsh/extreme feelings about this? Someone is being paid as an authority figure i.e. a person "of knowledge" to instruct others - and in her "teaching," she is mispronouncing words. If you were taking a college course and the professor used incorrectly presented material to teach you, wouldn't you feel slighted? Every time you used that mispronounced term in public, it would be an erratum. You used it in good faith, secure in the knowledge that you paid attention that day and absorbed the correct term in the correct context, in what you believed was the correct pronunciation - and BOOM, out of your mouth comes a toad.
Next time you're in the presence of a Japanese person, say "SOO-KEE-YAH-KEE.," meaning sukiyaki. I tried that once and was corrected - the pronunciation is SKYAH-kee. My original pronunciation of sukiyaki was as incorrect as Lee's mispronunciation of espresso - I just had the good sense to learn and use the correct pronunciation. Veracity has never been very high on her priority list.
therealchiffonade at 10:19PM on 07/23/09
essss-presss-o
x-presso makes me think of all the topless/nearly topless coffee shops in my area.
mhurst826 at 12:21AM on 07/24/09
It's certainly espresso, an Italian word, and considering that the X is a no-show in the Italian alphabet, there's no way that it could be expresso. Anyway, that's why I watch Giada, I can learn to cook and pronounce the Italian food terms correctly!!
darlat at 7:37PM on 07/24/09
It was invented in Italy. It is an Italian coffee drink. It is called espresso in Italy. I think that's the answer.
yayfood at 8:07PM on 07/24/09
I'm not sure which is worse: coffee snobs mispronouncing espresso or wine snobs mispronouncing grape varietals. I've worked in the wine business for over a decade now, and I love it when people are trying to 'school' me and they butcher 98% of the French (or Spanish, or German, or Italian) words they're using.
jboylan at 8:24PM on 07/24/09
This is hysterical - but the mis-spelling of this word has always been a pet peeve of mine. Then again, my husband using apostrophes to indicate a plural - something his father does as well. THAT - I CANNOT TOLERATE. Mis-spelling a foreign word is a bit more forgiveable. However, it is eSpresso. How is it in the 70s Dire Straits song? I believe it is "EXspresso Love"? And "walla" instead of "viola"? OMG - I cannot cope. And please, lets stop the Sandra Lee hating. She is no Cordon Bleu chef, and has made Jell-O a major food group - but she continues to provide her viewers with inspiration. It has to start somewhere! Sandra provides her viewers with quick, inexpensive ideas to bring people together. Isn't that what its all about?
erica1112 at 10:26AM on 07/27/09
As a former barrista I can assure you it is ESPRESSO! Can't say I'd vouch for Sandra Lee in any way, shape, or form or for a few other FN "chefs" who also slaughter the pronunciation of MASCARPONE.......Tyler, Paula, Guy, & alas Michael Chiarello all say: Marscapone!
jackie2830 at 10:38AM on 07/27/09
This entire conversation is just precious!
merlinandme at 11:00AM on 07/27/09
. . . in the real sense of that word.
merlinandme at 11:01AM on 07/27/09
Two comments - people who axe a question instead of ask..(AUGGHH!!)
Sandra Lee makes me ill - how she got a show and calls herself a chef when all she does is by pre-packaged stuff, add some lame ingredient(s) to it and then pass it off as something she actually prepared from scratch...PULEEASE! Get out of the kitchen Sandra. Put the spatula down and just leave. I beg you.
mariacee at 11:10AM on 07/27/09
what is the question - it's espresso so the proper pronounciation is es-press-o
any questions?
Gizmosma at 1:43PM on 07/27/09
Hey guys, with all this in-fighting, how about this one? Tyler, Paula, Guy, & Michael Chiarello all say...............MAR-SCA-PONE instead of the correct MAS-CAR-PONE. Now I could understand Sandra & Paula.........but Chiarello & Fieri [yes, for all of us Food Channel alumni, his name used to be pronounced Fieri, not Fieti]........hmmmmmmm wonder why that change???
And yes, total agreement with the masses.....it is indeed ESPRESSO!
jackie2830 at 2:29PM on 07/27/09
mariacee,
That isn't mispronunciation-------people exchanging the word "axe" for the word "ask"---------- it's ebonics.
KB in Toledo,
There are blini as well as bellini's in the food world.
This has sure put a whole new slant on a food blog!
jackie2830 at 2:39PM on 07/27/09
Sandra Lee is the George W. Bush of the Food Network - 'nuff said.
pgrande at 4:15PM on 07/27/09
amen blankplate...
it's a borrowed word, calm down everybody. and all the 'stupid american' stuff is a bit uncalled for. there are also a lot of english words borrowed into italian, and i assure you they do not pronounce them 'correctly'. every language has borrowed words. it's how the world works. get over it.
l_destouches at 7:28PM on 07/27/09
"Expresso" is a mispronunciation of "espresso." There's not really room for debate in the right or wrong department. However, I can certainly understand the tendancy for non-native speakers of a foreign language to mispronounce borrowed words that are phonetically unfamiliar (same with "bruschetta" or "gyro"). It doesn't make the speaker a bad person or even less intelligent. I second I_destouches -- other lanugages borrow plenty of English words that end up horribly butchered on the other end. That's just how it goes.
jammin83 at 9:04AM on 07/28/09
I heard Ina Garten say "pie-ella" a couple of times yesterday while making a lobster paella, but it seemed as if she also tried to prounounce it the correct way a time or two as well. Hmmm. Surely they have people behind the scenes who coach them as to the correct way to pronounce non-English-derived words?
leighana at 10:11AM on 07/28/09
(Threadjack in progress)
Forgive my snobbery, but I stopped watching Food Channel about 18 months ago. Whenever they replaced/second-fiddled the real pros like Mario Batali, Emeril, and Sara Moulton with those overproduced yuckfests with the soft filters, the cheesy music, and the lack of live cooking. (Of course, I do watch Good Eats; Alton talks about COOKING, and it’s not OVERproduced)
EEW: Sandra Lee, Rachel Ray (because she just annoys me), Giada de Laurentis, Ina Garten, Tyler Florence (I like the last 2 a little more than the others).
I would like to see cooking, and learn about why things work the way they do in the kitchen, not learn how to set a pretty table or entertain my guests. It seems to me that would be better suited to a different channel. Now I watch America’s Test Kitchen on PBS, and that replaces the *entire* Food Network for me.
galadiman at 3:47PM on 07/28/09
My grandfather who came from around Trieste always said "expresso;" so did all the Sicilian and Neopolitan relatives in the family my aunt married into. It was also how it was pronounced around Arthur Avenue, a few blocks from where I grew up in the Bronx in the unpretentious 50's and 60's.
MMinNYC at 6:06PM on 07/28/09
Why wouldn't we judge someone as lazy when they choose to mispronounce a word like espresso (assuming, of course, that at least one person at FN can pronounce it and correct the offender)? Given the whole new attitude that Food Network portrays, it wouldn't be a stretch for me to believe that Sandra Lee mispronounces it on purpose to seem more folksy.
I wouldn't judge someone as stupid for not knowing how to pronounce a word the first time they see it, but if you're corrected and you don't even TRY to correct yourself, why can't I judge you as lazy?
marglewis at 6:57PM on 07/28/09
I'm from Bawlmer, hon, and get my woter from the zink, the woter I use to make espresso.
(Translation: as has been said more eloquently already, dialects and localisms aside, Lee is saying it wrong. Expecially as she has no specific accent which might allow it. Not that I've really listened long enough to be sure...)
AliceBlue at 7:41PM on 07/28/09
The only people who think that Sandra Lee brings the world anything of value have apparently not watched more than a few minutes of her show or they know nothing of cooking. Semi-ho is not a money-saving concept and her money saving show, based on imaginary grocery prices, is ridiculous and insulting.
RegrettableFoodie at 9:28PM on 07/28/09
Amen RegrettableFoodie! And the added chuckle of your "Semi-ho" acronym made my day!
I just feel with all the wares these so called chefs push [TV shows, Specials, guest spots on other TV shows, cookbooks, magazines, packaged food, pots and pans, and their own restaurants - some, more than one] they should be able to pay at least one coach who can edit/teach them the proper words involved in the vocation for which they make all that money!
To further irritate yourself, go to:
www.seriouseats.com/talk/2009/06/dear-food-network-please-stop.html and read Matthew Greenberg's sucinct letter to Bob Tuschman!
jackie2830 at 12:24PM on 07/29/09
This is one of my pet peeves. I'm not going to get all high-horse because I'm Italian and whatnot, but I think if you are indulging in the another culture's food/beverage/custom, you should do your best to pronounce and partake properly. I'm not saying go learn Italian, but to completely ignore how the word is spelled and add in letters is a little silly. This is akin to my pet peeve of hearing "rih-cot-uh" cheese and "man-ih-coddy". The same goes for all ethnic cuisine--learn to pronounce and appreciate it, and I bet it'll be even more enjoyable.
sweethunibabi at 3:14PM on 08/02/09
Sandra pronounces "cocktail" correctly :-)
dmcavanagh at 4:37PM on 08/02/09
Espresso is easy... How about bruschetta? Check out these Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves, but warning… you may cringe on a few that you mispronounce.
mpenning at 7:09PM on 08/02/09
jackie2830-You'll never see this, but I just got back from vacation and had to respond. I KNOW! That was my point. One's a "pancake" and one's a drink, but too many people use the drink pronounciation when referring to the pancake. But thanks for the schooling.
KB in Toledo at 12:13PM on 08/07/09