# Beer Is Beer In Most Romance Languages, Except In Spanish And Portuguese; Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429 "2022-07-23T14:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429/21 "2022-07-26T19:13:33Z")
The native Japanese word for milk is pronounced nyuujuu or chishiru or chichishiru per Japanese Wikipedia, but miruku (note, short “i” not mii) is a common usage. The “why” is probably complex. Japanese does have some non-Japanese or Chinese root words that are pretty old. Bread is “pan” from Portuguese “pão” (Portuguese note: that’s nasalized so it’s not too far off). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429/22 "2022-07-31T21:42:33Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Bread is “pan” from Portuguese “pão” (Portuguese note: that’s nasalized so it’s not too far off). I’ve always pronounced Sao Paulo as ‘sow- [like a [female pig](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sow), or the first part of ‘[sauna](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqdfehEgW_g)’] pow-lo’, but when I hear some other people speak it, it sounds like ‘san pow-lo’. Any guidance on this? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429/23 "2022-07-31T21:58:22Z")
Welsh is cwrw, which is distantly cognate with cerveza. There’s an Irish cognate, too (cuirm), but I can’t remember if it exists in Modern Irish. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429/24 "2022-07-31T22:41:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve always pronounced Sao Paulo as ‘sow- [like a [female pig](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sow), or the first part of ‘[sauna](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqdfehEgW_g)’] pow-lo’ You are not a Paulistano 🙂 > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Any guidance on this? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/oAyBDx-Eyxk/hqdefault.jpg "SOTAQUE PAULISTA, seus dialetos e as expressões de São Paulo (Parte 2)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAyBDx-Eyxk&t=500) You want to be at 8:20 ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429/25 "2022-07-31T22:51:35Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > There’s an Irish cognate, too (cuirm), but I can’t remember if it exists in Modern Irish. Sort of, yes. Most commonly in the word “ceolchoirm” meaning a concert. Coirm drifted semantically from its primary meaning of “beer” to meaning a feast and then festivities. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429/26 "2022-08-02T01:54:28Z")
James Thurber told an anecdote about being at a Paris café during WWI with a friend who asked for “beer”. The waiter brought him [this](https://alpenz.com/product-byrrh.html). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-beer-in-most-romance-languages-except-in-spanish-and-portuguese-why/968429.md?page=1)