# EXpresso on Wheel of Fortune! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124 "2009-12-31T01:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/21 "2009-12-31T17:31:29Z")
Did she \*say \*it wrong or was it actually spelled out on the board as “Expresso?” If the latter, then yes that is clearly wrong and I’m not sure how they could get away with that. ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/22 "2009-12-31T17:33:26Z")
If they were in doubt they should have just asked her to spell it. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/23 "2009-12-31T17:37:50Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > Which would be incorrect, as Pluto is no longer a planet. 😃 Well, it’s a dwarf planet, making “Ninth planet or Disney Doc” strangely correct. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/24 "2009-12-31T18:03:28Z")
Well you have to remember in the first place the whole idea behind a game show is to GIVE the money away. They’re not trying to be cheap and save money. If they did no one would watch. People WANT to see others win. So they’re gonna give as much leeway as possible. I say eXpesso, even though I know darn well it’s eSpresso. In the old days we had stricter rules, but with the PC world we live in, we don’t do that. We don’t say a pronounciaton is sub-starndard, because that mean that we’re in effect criticizing a whole bunch of people. If the phrase was “Ask Alice,” and an African American said “Axe Alice,” you’d bet they’d give it to him/her. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/25 "2009-12-31T20:41:15Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Well, it’s a dwarf planet, making “Ninth planet or Disney Doc” strangely correct. _Brava_, sir. _Brava._ ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/26 "2009-12-31T20:50:05Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > Should she have gotten away with this or not? She should be listed as a winner, but with an asterix next to her name. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/27 "2009-12-31T21:11:35Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I say eXpesso, even though I know darn well it’s eSpresso. Thanks, **Marksss**. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/28 "2009-12-31T23:10:14Z")
You guys are awesome! Happy New Year! ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/29 "2010-01-01T03:25:58Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Well, it’s a dwarf planet, making “Ninth planet or Disney Doc” strangely correct. Except that there’s another dwarf planet before Pluto, Ceres, making Pluto the tenth planet. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/30 "2010-01-01T06:09:45Z")
I remember a lady with a southern accent. The answer was “The check is in the mail.” She sort-of pronounced it, “The check is in the _ **mill** _.” She was not given the win. IIRC, the full word “mail” was not visible, so she could have conceivably meant “mill,” but come on! That’s ridiculous! I saw it then, and was pissed, and am still pissed… Joe ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/31 "2010-01-01T09:10:32Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > I remember a lady with a southern accent. The answer was “The check is in the mail.” She sort-of pronounced it, “The check is in the _ **mill** _.” She was not given the win. IIRC, the full word “mail” was not visible, so she could have conceivably meant “mill,” but come on! That’s ridiculous! I saw it then, and was pissed, and am still pissed… I’ll have you know that putting one’s check in a mill is a proud and well-established southern tradition, suh! ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/32 "2010-01-01T14:49:55Z")
maybe instead of just arbitrating pronunciation, they should do as the scripps people do and ask them to… spell it? ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/33 "2010-01-01T16:26:12Z")
Do we haff to go thru this again? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/34 "2010-01-01T17:41:53Z")
Since the eyetalians more or less own espresso (in my not-always-so-humble opinion), and since they don’t own an “x,” substituting the s for the x seems a most reasonable best practice. It grates on me personally to hear “expresso” and I consider it a linguistic incompetence of the polloi. I admit the more educated among them might find a champion who would argue that “expresso” is closer to the Latin root, and it is the Italians who mucked it up. …as I think about it, I guess the polloi just irritate me no matter what they do, but most exspecially when they are possibly right for the wrong–or no–reason. I’m wondering if I’m the only one a bit askance that “Hazle” is worried about spelling issues… ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/35 "2010-01-02T06:34:51Z")
As far as I’m concerned “expresso” is simply a variant pronounciation of espresso. As **borschevsky** pointed out, the rule is that variant pronounciations, even ones that are considered substandard, are allowed as long as they don’t change the actual word used. You say “expresso”, people will darn well know you mean “espresso”, even the prescriptivists. And anyway, since Americans pronounce “lingerie” as “lawngeray” and “Martin Brodeur” as “Marty Broodur”, I wouldn’t complain too much about weird pronounciations. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124/36 "2010-01-02T06:55:01Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > I don’t think she should have got it. Just like people who solve puzzles by saying words like “runnin” instead of “running” There’s a \*g \*at the end. Once you’ve guessed the letters, it’s just freaking reading out loud. (Not freakin readin …) Very, very few people pronounce a ‘g’ sound at the end of “running.” (Generally, these are stereotypical Long Islanders.) The difference you usually hear is a difference in vowels. Think about it. Do you really pronounce that “g”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expresso-on-wheel-of-fortune/523124.md?page=1)