Status Anxiety

31 October 2009

Americans taking offence on behalf of poor ‘victimised’ foreigners is offensive — to me

Oh dear. I may have to write a book called How to Lose More Friends and Alienate More People. In a recent episode of Top Chef, the American cooking show I appear on, I complained about the other judges’ insistence on pronouncing ‘paella’ as ‘py-ay-a’. ‘You don’t say “Bar-the-lona” or “Me-hi-co”,’ I pointed out. ‘So why say ‘py-ay-a’?’

I thought this was fairly uncontroversial, but it was as if I had just produced a white hood and a burning cross. After the other judges had picked their jaws up off the floor, one of them raised herself to her full height and said, ‘Actually, Toby, I do say “Bar-the-lona”.’ Now I know how Nick Griffin felt on Question Time. The reaction in the blogosphere was instantaneous. ‘Toby displayed no respect for either Spanish culture or cuisine on tonight’s episode,’ wrote a typical blogger.

The irony, of course, is that Johnny Foreigner doesn’t give a fig about any of this. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Spain and my pronunciation has never once been corrected. On the contrary, Spanish waiters are usually quite amused by Anglophone pronunciations of the dishes on their menus. Spaniards would no more expect me to say ‘py-ay-a’ than I would expect them to say ‘London’ instead of ‘Londres’.

No, the only people who take offence if you Anglicise foreign words are upper-middle-class Caucasian Americans. They imagine that other, less fortunate people will be insulted by your ‘imperialist’ attitude and they get offended on their behalf. In fact, to imagine that non-English-speakers are a poor, victimised group, requiring the protection of the American elite, is far more condescending than mispronouncing non-English words.

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Ruth Fitch

November 1st, 2009 12:37pm Report this comment

I agree with you - it's very irritating. I used to hate it when newsreaders insisted on calling the Republic of Ireland 'Eire' - they didn't refer to Germany as Deutchsland, so why Ireland? And it does sound really affected too.

Bronwynmac

November 3rd, 2009 9:00pm Report this comment

I completely agree. While an American- somewhat liberal but more middle class, I do pronounce paella- pi-ay-a only because that is how I was taught to pronounce it. I read your blog on the Top Chef website and agreed with everything you had to say. I still agree with everything. I live in Texas and in a city where, no doubt, you would be run out of town- being beat with liberal wet noodles (or whatever they beat people with. Your words would, no doubt, hit a very large indignant nerve. I could go on but you get the idea. (and I say Texas , not Tehas [Tejas] ).

Bronwynmac

November 3rd, 2009 9:15pm Report this comment

I totally agree with you- agreed with you when I read your blog on the Top Chef website. I am an American, somewhat liberal and middle class. I do say ‘pi-ay-a’ only because that is how I was taught to say it. I believe everything you say is right on. I live in Texas and in a city where your words would hit a very large indignant nerve. You would be run out of town by a bunch of flaming liberal- them beating you with their wet noodles (or whatever they beat people with). You’re welcome in our house anytime! Oh, and I say ‘Te-X-as’ not ‘Tay-has’. (I apologize if this posts twice, my browser crashed when posting)

JayBay

November 6th, 2009 8:59pm Report this comment

I love Americans, but I have always been amused by their habit of pronouncing the "A" in foreign sounding words in a very southern English "AR" way ("Parsta, Milarn" etc.)I have always taken it as further evidence of their endearing lack of worldliness. To hear that they regard it as a mark of sophistication is an absolute delight!

ken kem

November 20th, 2009 2:36pm Report this comment

Reminds me of when SNL did a skit many years ago where they had a Waspish newscaster speaking very good English but when they had to say "Nicaragua" they did so as if they were born in that country. Jimmy Smits, also part of the skit, looked at the newscaster like they had two heads. He asked something along the lines of "WTF? Why are speaking like that?" The newscaster looked at Smits and didn't have a clue what he was going on about.

Murican

November 20th, 2009 5:23pm Report this comment

Toby, Toby, Toby. It was *you*, my friend, who started the row by sneeringly slamming people for pronouncing the double-ll as a y. If you had simply said pa-ell-a while they said pa-ay-ya, no one would have said anything or even paused. But once you attacked, they defended. No one attacked you for pa-ell-a. They attacked you for your intolerance!

So chill out, dude, as we say here in California. (Another SPanish word by the way, even if our Gov Schwarzengger says Kal-ee-for-nee-a.) Using anglicized pronunciations of the romance languages "gl" "gn" and "ll" is ho hum stuff. If you refrain from slamming us for that, we'll forgive you for brutalizing the language that Americans have made the world's standard.

Murican

November 20th, 2009 5:59pm Report this comment

JayBay, you’re being overbroad. In the US, we have r-droppers (a New Englander’s “pahk your cah in ha-vahd yahd,” and a southerner’s “so fah, dahling, it's a boah”). And we also have r-adders (a “ga-rarge” is where you park your car; our nation’s capital is “War-shing-ton”). Either way, no one in the US regards r-adding as a “mark of sophistication.” It’s considered acceptable, if a touch odd. But I will plead guilty to this: a large segment of the US can listen to a cockney accent and think “those British sure sound classy.” Go figure.

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