Cunning Linguist

Sometimes it a wonder to me that we can even communicate in this country. It is as though we have dialects that separate us linguistically as badly as the Chinese.

We’ve all heard the song, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”, you say Tomato and I say Tom-otto. I recently met with some Almond Growers from California and they kept calling almonds “Amm-ands.” WTF?

I was reminded of a time when I worked in an up-scale bakery. There was a woman from Texas who came in and wanted a Pecan pie, but addressed it as a Pee-Can pie. I corrected her and told her it was pronounced “P’con” pie. She asked how I knew my pronunciation was correct, to which I said, “Madame, a P’con is a delectable nut and a Pee-Can is that which is kept under one’s bed in homes that do not have plumbing.”

She looked at me, cocked her head to the side and blinked a couple times and then said, “I think I change my order to the P’con pie please.”