# How do you pronounce the phrase "interesting restaurant"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 6, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218 "2010-10-06T04:55:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/1 "2010-10-06T04:55:11Z")
I say it the first way:
“in-ter-es-ting rest-ront”
I’m also interested (:)) in what part of the world you hail from. I’m from the southwestern U. S., and my pronunciation of “interesting,” I think, definitely puts me in the minority in my neck of the woods, but pronouncing “restaurant” without the second syllable is pretty common.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/2 "2010-10-06T05:04:33Z")
I’m with you. However, that is only my current pronunciation. I grew up pronouncing the word “in-tres-ting.” That was in West Texas, but it’s possible that pronunciation was used only inside our household – mother from Arkansas, father from California. It was only in later years after I left Texas that I noticed most people saying “in-ter-es-ting,” and so I started saying it that way. I notice still slip into “in-tres-ting” if I’m tired.
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### Author:  [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/3 "2010-10-06T05:10:18Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I’m with you. However, that is only my current pronunciation. I grew up pronouncing the word “in-tres-ting.” That was in West Texas, but it’s possible that pronunciation was used only inside our household – mother from Arkansas, father from California. It was only in later years after I left Texas that I noticed most people saying “in-ter-es-ting,” and so I started saying it that way. I notice still slip into “in-tres-ting” if I’m tired.
Yeah, I’m from West Texas as well, and I hear “in-tres-ting” a lot. I just wasn’t sure if the four-syllable pronunciation was an over-correction on my part.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/4 "2010-10-06T05:17:06Z")
Bear in mind I hang out with a lot of Brits and Aussies and non-native speakers, so there’s no telling what’s “correct.”
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### Author:  [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/5 "2010-10-06T05:31:56Z")
I chose “in-tres-ting res-tront” because that is the way I would say it most naturally if I was talking to friends, for example.
If was trying to enunciate more clearly I would say “in-ter-es-ting res-tront” or “in-ter-es-ting res-tah-ront”.
I think about this sort of question almost every day because I teach ESL. With words like \*library, restaurant, interesting, everything \*and _different_ I usually teach the “correct” extended pronunciation but I will use the reduced forms whenever I can so students get the opportunity to hear them.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/6 "2010-10-06T05:56:20Z")
The second, every syllable delineated. That’s the antipodean way.
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### Author:  [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/7 "2010-10-06T06:09:41Z")
option #4. Born and raised in New Jersey.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/8 "2010-10-06T06:14:32Z")
> [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](#):
>
> option #4. Born and raised in New Jersey.
Likewise. My English comes from NJ, too.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/9 "2010-10-06T06:20:01Z")
Option #2. New Yorker.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/10 "2010-10-06T06:23:10Z")
Brit with RP here: IN-truhst-ing REST-ront. Though some some of my older, posher relatives pronounced the word REST-rong to sound more French. They also said goff instead of golf.
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/11 "2010-10-06T07:46:30Z")
Seems I pronounce it differently than all posters so far: IN-tə-resting REST-ə-ront. Each syllable is separate, but the shwa in restaurant is slightly less distinct than the other syllables.
It’s funny though, my pronunciation of the word ‘interest’ depends on how I use it. For example, in the sentence “The interest on my savings account is crap”, or any sentence where the word ‘interest’ is money-related, I pronounce it: IN-trest. However, in a sentence such as “I have no interest in your problems”, or for any non monetary reference, I pronounce it: IN-tə-rest.
I was raised in Kansas, went to college in NY, and have spent most of my adult life in the Mid-Atlantic states with a few stints in various parts of Europe.
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/12 "2010-10-06T08:13:34Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Brit with RP here: IN-truhst-ing REST-ront.
Another Brit, agreeing with jjimm.
Pronouncing every syllable sounds quite American to my ears.
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### Author:  [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/13 "2010-10-06T08:15:24Z")
“in-ter-es-ting res-tront,” raised near Seattle.
Interestingly, it’s split 5 votes even for each of the main options at the time that I voted.
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### Author:  [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/14 "2010-10-06T08:19:03Z")
“in-ter-es-ting res-tah-ront” (#2)
Born to a Bostonian mother and an Israeli father who lived for ~15 years in the Boston area at a point in his life before I was born; living in Israel since childhood.
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### Author:  [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/15 "2010-10-06T08:26:40Z")
Aussie and option #2
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### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/16 "2010-10-06T08:31:33Z")
Northern England, option 3 - “in-tres-ting res-tront”
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/17 "2010-10-06T08:36:19Z")
Also northern England. Option 3.
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### Author:  [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/18 "2010-10-06T09:27:32Z")
Australian, option number three, though in different sentences I might pronounce interesting as “in-ter-est-ing”.
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/19 "2010-10-06T12:58:23Z")
Casual speech and/or speaking quickly: inner-esting rest’rant.
Speaking deliberately and/or slowly: inter-esting rest-er-ant.
SE Michigan.
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### Author:  [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/20 "2010-10-06T13:03:46Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> > [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](#):
> >
> > option #4. Born and raised in New Jersey.
>
> Likewise. My English comes from NJ, too.
Me three.
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