# Do you say "car mel" or do you say "car amel"?- **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640 "2010-12-18T19:02:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/41 "2010-12-20T14:50:46Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > When referring to actual caramel I pronounce it caramel. When referring to a caramel-something I pronounce it carmel. > > “I love caramel!” > “I love carmel apples!” Ditto! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/42 "2010-12-20T17:29:10Z")
Caramel, and the emphasis is on the first syllable - and the end syllable is not ‘mel’ as in ‘melt’, it’s as in camel (more like ‘mul’). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/43 "2010-12-20T18:02:12Z")
CARR-uh-mell. Stress on the first syllable, short A to rhyme with the first syllable of barrel. Only way I’ve ever heard it pronounced (UK). The dictionary gives that pronunciation as the secondary one, though - the first one has as schwa in the final syllable as well: CARR-uh-muhl. I pronounce it like that in “caramelise”, but “caramel” has a short “e” sound in the final syllable for me. Edit: **Mangetout** ’s pronunciation above is the dictionary’s first one. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/44 "2010-12-20T18:35:28Z")
I always pronounce caramel the way it’s spelled, with the A. It seems like many people don’t pay much attention to the vowels in words…sort of like how so many people say the word “nuclear” as “Nuke-u-lar”, seemingly not noticing that there isn’t an extra U in there. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/45 "2010-12-20T20:33:41Z")
Gargamel Caramel ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/46 "2010-12-20T21:15:00Z")
According to Nestle, it’s pronounced car-mel. [Cite:](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUg_jmHwYw&feature=player_detailpage#t=91s) But according to Nestle, it’s care-a-mel. [Cite:](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q00K-hO62A&feature=related) I’m not sure who to believe. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/47 "2010-12-20T21:37:41Z")
Car-mull If there is someone I think may be snooty listening I may say “care-a-mul” to avoid correction. ---
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/48 "2010-12-20T23:39:43Z")
As mentioned above, care-a-mel is the noun and car-mel is the adjective. Weird. I’d never really thought of it that way before, but that is how I use it. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/49 "2010-12-21T01:03:18Z")
Care-uh-mell. Carmel is a city in California. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/50 "2010-12-21T16:13:24Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > We all say it quickly; the important thing is that we say it. I say care-amel, whether it’s the candy, the topping, or the color of my leather sofa and backpack. > [This](http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_4.html) may be useful. I’m actually kind of disappointed in how those dialect maps look these days. (they are maps of the USA showing who says “Coke” and who says “Soda”, or “Ant” vs. “Aunt”) I looked at a few dozen of the maps and they all look pretty much the same, with very little sharp clustering of only red or only blue. I remember them being much better before. I’m sure that the true regionalisms can be teased out by a statistician, but the “stand back and squint” approach doesn’t really show much difference in the distribution. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/51 "2010-12-21T17:27:19Z")
Caramel. Carmel is a hoity-toity even-toed ungulate with hump(s) on its back. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/52 "2010-12-22T20:06:02Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Car-mel. Care-a-mel sounds silly to me, trying to pronounce by the spelling rather than the standard pronunciation. Like saying “intestines” with a long “i” in the last syllable. I really need to tell Mario Batelli this. My husband used to say intestines with the long last syllable - INT-est-INES. It took me a while to figure out what the hell he was talking about. Anyway, back to the OP: Car-mel. Car-a-mel sounds weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640/53 "2010-12-22T20:47:23Z")
Wasn’t sure which one to tick. I pronounce it KARRA-mel So the first bit rhymes with the first part of paraffin [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-car-mel-or-do-you-say-car-amel/564640.md?page=2)