# Pecan pie. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671 "2002-08-20T00:43:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/1 "2002-08-20T00:43:51Z")
In the search for a pecan pie recipe (which we hope will be better than my rice crackers…bletch) the question arose with Ms. Plant the New Englander and myself: How do YOU pronounce puh-Kahn? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/2 "2002-08-20T00:50:53Z")
Peeeee Can ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/3 "2002-08-20T01:01:05Z")
That’d be PeeeeCan. Pa-Kahn…bah! That’s just wrong. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/4 "2002-08-20T01:57:01Z")
Peh-KAHN. Pee-can sounds like a urinal. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/5 "2002-08-20T02:15:33Z")
Peeeecan from Tennesse and Peh-KAHN from Illinois? Lsura, are ya’ll from around here? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/6 "2002-08-20T02:44:09Z")
There use to be a little tavern-cafe in Charlottesville, Virginia, right on the Dogtown Strip across from the university hospitals, that served a pecan and fudge pie that was fit for the Gods. It was wonderful stuff. They brought it to you whether you asked for Pee-Can pie or Pee-Kahn pie, although I always suspected that Yankees paid an extra $.50 for the staff to go through the instant mental translation from Yankee to Southern. The stuff was wonderful and made it almost worth wading through all the balderdash to the effect that God made the world according to plans drawn by Thomas Jefferson. Come to think of it, Mr. Jefferson probably invented pecan and fudge pie. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/7 "2002-08-20T02:53:14Z")
The word is originally _Algonquin_. A similar word in _Cree_ is **pakan**. It appears in American English in 1773. Spelled _paccan_. Again in 1802 spelled _paccan_. Both are referring to the type of tree rather than the nut. The nut usages surfaces in 1822, spelled _pecan_. It pretty much gets spelled in the modern way from then on. Hard to believe that the original two cites were pronouncing it any way other than puh khan’. Or peh kahn’. It’s them Southern _crackers_ what changed a perfectly good language into a new dialect. 😃 If there exists a word pronounce _thee_ ater but spelled theater, then there might just be _pee_ cans. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/8 "2002-08-20T03:03:15Z")
[Homer] mmmm, _pi-kahn_ pie, uuurrrrrrrhhhhhh! [/Homer] ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/9 "2002-08-20T03:12:50Z")
> [@](#): > > [Homer] :rolleyes: Your honor, the State rests. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/10 "2002-08-20T03:17:22Z")
I recall a recipe on the Karo syrup bottle being very good. I think the light syrup was used. I’ve heard pee-can, puh-con, and puh-kawn (as in prawn). ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/11 "2002-08-20T04:13:13Z")
I always, always think of Walter Cunningham in _To Kill a Mockingbird_ when I see the word pecan. It’s “P’can.” As in, _“them p’cans pi’zined”_. I say Pee-can. I am Canadian. And, WANT PIE NOW! ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/12 "2002-08-20T04:27:50Z")
P’kon. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/13 "2002-08-20T05:18:04Z")
Random House sez > [@](#): > > pe-can (pi kän’, -kan’, pee’kan) n. > 1. a tall hickory tree, Carya illinoinensis, > of the southern U.S. and Mexico, > cultivated for its oval, smooth-shelled, > edible nuts. > 2. a nut of this tree. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/14 "2002-08-20T06:37:09Z")
Put me down for some (puh-cawn) pie! My favourite pie, and there’s a thread about it! Yay! Unfortunately, October is two months away. That’s the month when Marie Callender’s puts pies on sale. Fortunately, though, it’s my brother’s birthday, my sister’s birthday, and MY birthday that month! Forget Birthday Cake! Blech. :mad: Birthday Pie is the way to go! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![angelicate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@angelicate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelicate)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/15 "2002-08-20T06:49:50Z")
I’m originally from TX, and say puh-kahn. I never heard pee-can until I moved to SC, and then I just thought it was funny, because people laughed at me because of the way I said it, when I’m _obviously_ the one who’s saying it correctly. =) ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/16 "2002-08-20T07:16:16Z")
I’m from Texas, too. The Pecan tree is the **official tree** of the state. If anyone has authority on how it is pronounced, it’s Texans. And Texans pronounce it puh-kahn. Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/17 "2002-08-20T08:08:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup\_du\_jour \* > \*\* > > And Texans pronounce it puh-kahn. Nuff said. \*\* As do transplanted Ohioans. My mother makes a delicious sugar version of the pie. ---
**Author:** ![VDarlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e56c9b/32.png) [@VDarlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VDarlin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/18 "2002-08-20T08:26:34Z")
I am from Southern California and pronounce it pee-kahn, my boyfriend is from South Carolina, and says pee can. Some members of my family, who are from Iowa, also say pee can. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “uh, the pee can is in the bathroom, the pee-kahn’s are in the pie”. BTW, I love pecans, butter pecan is my absolute favorite ice cream flavor of all time, but I do not like pecan pie. Ick. When visiting a friend of mine in Seattle, over Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, we were discussing this, as she always makes the pecan pie for Thanksgiving dinner, but she does’t like it, either. We came up with an apropriate name for the dish, at least, appropriate for us - gelatinous nut pie. Sounds just oh so delicous, doesn’t it? 😉 ~V ---
**Author:** ![VDarlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e56c9b/32.png) [@VDarlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VDarlin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/19 "2002-08-20T08:28:48Z")
_note to self_ preview is your friend, **VDarlin** , especially when you’re posting half asleep. ZZZzzzzzzzz… ~V ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671/20 "2002-08-20T08:29:02Z")
Though I have an English accent, I learned to say “pecan” when at school in Texas: “puh-KAAN”. It sounds quite incongruous, as most of my fellow countrymen say “PEE-kun”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pecan-pie/124671.md?page=2)