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Pronunciation tip: French cuisine

Posted on July 27, 2025 | Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve done a pronunciation tip video, and it’s mainly been because I wanted to do this one but I was hoping to do some kind of stunt for it such as making coq au vin. Well, I made coq au vin less than a month ago, and I was too busy cooking to make a video. So never mind. Here, for those who want to know the French pronunciations, is how you say 65 food-related terms from French that show up in English: aigre-doux, aïoli, à la carte, à la minute, à l’orange, amuse-bouche, apéritif, au jus, baguette, bain-marie, béarnaise, béchamel, beurre manié, beurre noisette, bon appétit, bouillabaisse, bouillon, bouquet garni, brioche, brunoise, chiffonade, confit, coq au vin, cordon bleu, coulis, court bouillon, crème brûlée, crêpe, croissant, croustade, demi-glace, digestif, en croûte, entrecôte, fleur de sel, foie gras, fricassée, hors d’œuvre, julienne, lyonnaise, macaron, macédoine, Madeleine, mélange, mesclun, mirepoix, mise en place, moules marinières, pain d’épices, pain perdu, papillote, pâte à choux, pâtisserie, piperade, ratatouille, rouille, roux, salade niçoise, sauce bordelaise, sole meunière, soupe du jour, tournedos Rossini, velouté, vichyssoise, and vol-au-vent.

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Tagged aïoli, aigre-doux, amuse-bouche, apéritif, au jus, à la carte, à la minute, à l’orange, baguette, bain-marie, béarnaise, béchamel, beurre manié, beurre noisette, bon appétit, bouillabaisse, bouillon, bouquet garni, brioche, brunoise, chiffonade, confit, coq au vin, cordon bleu, coulis, court bouillon, crème brûlée, crêpe, croissant, croustade, demi-glace, digestif, en croûte, entrecôte, fleur de sel, foie gras, French cuisine, fricassée, hors d’œuvre, julienne, lyonnaise, macaron, macédoine, madeleine, mélange, mesclun, mirepoix, mise en place, moules marinières, pain d’épices, pain perdu, papillote, pâte à choux, pâtisserie, piperade, pissaladière, praline, Pronunciation Tip, ratatouille, rouille, roux, salade niçoise, sauce bordelaise, sole meunière, soupe du jour, tournedos Rossini, velouté, Vichyssoise, video, vol-au-vent

Pronunciation tip: 64 French expressions

Posted on January 12, 2025 | 1 comment

A little bit of French has long been a sign of culture in English (never mind how much of our vocabulary comes from French). We like to drop in the occasional cultured phrase… and many of us aim to be particular about the pronunciation… including some people who don’t really know the original French pronunciation. I have pronunciation tips for 64 French terms that get tossed around in English, not always accurately. This doesn’t include food-related terms; I’ll do a separate video for those. Today I cover aide-de-camp, au contraire, au naturel, avant-garde, Beaux-Arts, Bell Époque, bête noire, bon voyage, boudoir, bric-à-brac, bricolage, cache, cachet, carte blanche, cause célèbre, chaise longue, cherchez la femme, clique, concierge, couloir, coup d’état, coup de grâce, crèche, cul-de-sac, de rigueur, déjà vu, eau de toilette, en pointe, en route, esprit de corps, fait accompli, femme fatale, fin de siècle, fleur-de-lis, haute couture, idée fixe, je ne sais quoi, joie de vivre, laissez-faire, lèse majesté, lingerie, ménage à trois, naïveté, noblesse oblige, nom de plume, nouveau riche, œuvre, oh là là, papier-mâché, pas de deux, petite bourgeoisie, pied-à-terre, prêt-à-porter, prix fixe, quelle horreur, raison d’être, roman à clef, roué, sacrebleu, sang-froid, savoir-faire, tête-à-tête, trompe-l’œil, and vis-à-vis.

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Tagged aide-de-camp, au contraire, au naturel, avant-garde, bête noire, Beaux-Arts, Bell Époque, bon voyage, boudoir, bric-à-brac, bricolage, cache, cachet, carte blanche, cause célèbre, chaise longue, cherchez la femme, clique, concierge, couloir, coup d’état, coup de grâce, crèche, cul-de-sac, déjà vu, de rigueur, eau de toilette, en pointe, en route, esprit de corps, fait accompli, femme fatale, fin de siècle, fleur-de-lis, French, haute couture, idée fixe, je ne sais quoi, joie de vivre, laissez-faire, lèse majesté, lingerie, ménage à trois, naïveté, noblesse oblige, nom de plume, nouveau riche, oh là là, papier-mâché, pas de deux, petite bourgeoisie, pied-à-terre, prêt-à-porter, prix fixe, Pronunciation Tip, quelle horreur!, raison d’être, roman à clef, roué, sacrebleu, sang-froid, savoir-faire, tête-à-tête, trompe-l’œil, video, vis-à-vis, œuvre

Pronunciation tip: “Happy new year” in 27 languages

Posted on December 30, 2024 | Leave a comment

I’m overdue for a pronunciation tip video. Sorry – I’ve been busy doing things that earn money! (Also things that cost money. Travel in particular.) Here’s how to say “Happy new year!” in 27 languages: Afrikaans, Basque, Breton, Chinese (Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, and Welsh. And I give a bit of linguistic geekery here and there too.

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Tagged Afrikaans, Basque, Breton, Chinese (Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Pronunciation Tip, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, video, Welsh

Pronunciation tip: Turkish medalists at the 2024 Paris Olympics

Posted on August 9, 2024 | 2 comments

There’s time for one more Olympic-themed pronunciation tip, and I’ve never done one on Turkish before, so here you go. There are nine medalists from Turkey (Türkiye), so I’ll give you general tips on pronouncing Turkish and then tell you how to say their names: Şevval İlayda Tarhan, Yusuf Dikeç, Hatice Akbaş, Buse Naz Çakıroğlu, Esra Yıldız Kahraman, Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu, Mete Gazoz, Ulaş Berkim Tümer, and Abdullah Yıldırmış.

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Tagged Abdullah Yıldırmış, Buse Naz Çakıroğlu, Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu, Esra Yıldız Kahraman, Hatice Akbaş, Mete Gazoz, Olympics, Pronunciation Tip, Turkish, Ulaş Berkim Tümer, video, Yusuf Dikeç, Şevval İlayda Tarhan

Pronunciation tip: Modern artists from the Albright-Knox

Posted on April 14, 2024 | Leave a comment

I love the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. It’s where I was first introduced to modern art. In 1987 my cousin Sharon bought me a book of 125 artworks from the Albright-Knox, commemorating its 125th anniversary. I’m using that as the guide for this pronunciation tip, which covers the names of really quite a lot of modern artists. Not 125 of them, though, because I skipped all the obvious American ones. It’s just a guide to how the artists’ names were pronounced in their original home languages, for those who want to know – and especially for those who insist they always pronounce names in the “original.” (If they don’t like modern art, well, I take no responsibility for the etiolated state of their existence.)

Names covered: Albert Bierstadt, Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Gustave Courbet, Alfred Sisley, Jean-François Millet, Camille Pissaro, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jacques-Joseph (James) Tissot, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, Édouard Vuillard, Raoul Dufy, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Henri Rousseau, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Max Weber, Giacomo Balla, Fernand Léger, Jean Metzinger, Francis Picabia, Maurice Utrillo, Robert Delaunay, Albert Gleizes, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani, Constantin Brâncuși, František Kupka, Juan Gris, László Moholy-Nagy, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Oskar Kokoschka, Chaïm Soutine, René Magritte, Julio González, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, Salvador Dalí, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Rufino Tamayo, Piet Mondrian, Yves Tanguy, Arshile Gorky, Max Beckmann, Auguste Herbin, Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Naum Gabo, Jean Arp, Lucas Samaras, Victor Vasarely, Antoni Tápies, Jean Dubuffet, Francesco Clemente

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Tagged Albert Bierstadt, Albert Gleizes, Alberto Giacometti, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Alfred Sisley, Amedeo Modigliani, André Derain, Antoni Tápies, Arshile Gorky, Auguste Herbin, Édouard Vuillard, Camille Pissaro, Chaïm Soutine, Claude Monet, Constantin Brâncuși, Edgar Degas, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fernand Léger, Francesco Clemente, Francis Picabia, František Kupka, Franz Marc, Georges Seurat, Giacomo Balla, Giorgio de Chirico, Gustave Courbet, Hans Hofmann, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Jacques-Joseph (James) Tissot, Jean Arp, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Metzinger, Jean-François Millet, Joan Miró, Juan Gris, Julio González, László Moholy-Nagy, Lucas Samaras, Marc Chagall, Mark Rothko, Maurice Utrillo, Max Beckmann, Max Ernst, Max Weber, modern artists, Naum Gabo, Oskar Kokoschka, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Paul Klee, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Piet Mondrian, Pronunciation Tip, Raoul Dufy, René Magritte, Robert Delaunay, Rufino Tamayo, Salvador Dalí, Victor Vasarely, video, Vincent van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Willem de Kooning, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Yves Tanguy

Pronunciation tip: Vincent van Gogh

Posted on December 2, 2023 | 3 comments

Today’s pronunciation tip comes by request (and actually I’m surprised I haven’t done it already). Many people are aware that the English pronunciation of Vincent van Gogh is quite different from the Dutch original. But how should you say it, then?

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Tagged Dutch, Pronunciation Tip, video, Vincent van Gogh

Pronunciation tip: Canadian provinces, territories, and cities

Posted on November 12, 2023 | 1 comment

I made another pronunciation tip video, but this one is a bit different. Usually I’m doing tips for English speakers on how to say names from other languages. This time I’m doing place names that are in English (one variety thereof, anyway) but may not be familiar to English speakers from other places. If this one goes over well, I may do a sequel… I’ve already thought of some names that I missed that non-Canadians often get wrong!

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Tagged Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia, Calgary, Canada, Canadian, Charlottetown, cities, Edmonton, Fredericton, Gatineau, Halifax, Inuvik, Iqaluit, Kelowna, Manitoba, Montreal, Moose Jaw, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Oshawa, Ottawa, Prince Edward Island, Pronunciation Tip, provinces, Quebec, Quebec City, Red Deer, Regina, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sault St. Marie, St. John’s, Sudbury, territories, The Pas, Toronto, Trois-Rivières, Tuktoyaktuk, Vancouver, Victoria, video, Whitehorse, Winnipeg, Yellowknife, Yukon

Love, Desire, and Tension: Structural Editing of Nonfiction

Posted on June 19, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here’s the video of my presentation at the Editors Canada conference in Toronto, June 17, 2023. This is an updated version of the presentation of the same name I gave at the ACES conference in San Antonio in 2022.

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Tagged conference, Editors Canada, presentation, structural editing, substantive editing, video

Sounding Like the “Right Sort”

Posted on March 26, 2023 | 1 comment

I was in Columbus for the annual ACES conference for the last few days. I gave a presentation on how we use vocabulary and grammar to filter audiences in and out – often in subtle ways. Here it is!

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Tagged ACES, citationality, Douglas Biber, editing, filtering, genre, grammar, jargon, lexicon, phonaesthemes, phonaesthetics, shibboleths, slang, social status, sociolinguistics, syntax, video, vocabulary

Pronunciation tip: Irish counties

Posted on March 16, 2023 | 5 comments

It’s St. Patrick’s again, and why would I pass up a chance to do a pronunciation tip on something Irish? This time it’s the counties (and provinces) of Ireland. And although there are 32 of them (and four provinces), it’s a quick one!