# Pronunciation of "mishmash?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409 "2006-09-04T17:10:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/1 "2006-09-04T17:10:52Z")
After the Great Giga/Jigga Debate, I’ve got to know how y’all pronounce “mishmash.” A couple of Jewish friends insist it should be “mishmosh” while everybody else seems to use “…mash.” I think those friends should know, but once again, I suppose common usage trumps correctness. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/2 "2006-09-04T17:25:08Z")
From [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) mishmash One entry found for mishmash. Main Entry: mish·mash Pronunciation: 'mish-"mash, -"mäsh Function: noun Etymology: Middle English & Yiddish; Middle English mysse masche, perhaps reduplication of mash mash; Yiddish mish-mash, perhaps reduplication of mishn to mix : HODGEPODGE, JUMBLE So, both are right, I guess. I say mishmash to rhyme with cash. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/3 "2006-09-04T17:29:39Z")
[QUOTE=KlondikeGeoff] After the Great Giga/Jigga Debate, I’ve got to know how y’all pronounce “mishmash.” [/QUOTE] Mishmash as in mashed potatoes! > [@](#): > > A couple of Jewish friends insist it should be “mishmosh” while everybody else seems to use “…mash.” They can pronounce it their way. They can not dictate what others do. > [@](#): > > I think those friends should know, but once again, I suppose common usage trumps correctness. They are only half right. The online dictionary says ‘mosh’ is acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/4 "2006-09-04T17:37:43Z")
For what it’s worth, my grandmother, who was Irish-American, always pronounced it mish-mosh. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/5 "2006-09-04T17:55:12Z")
I’m a “mosh” gal myself, albeit a gentile one. (“Do not go gentile into that good mishmash…”) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/6 "2006-09-04T18:26:29Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] I’m a “mosh” gal myself, albeit a gentile one. (“Do not go gentile into that good mishmash…”) [/QUOTE] An adage should burn and rave at close of day… Me? Mish – mash, I was takin’ a bath… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/7 "2006-09-04T19:01:49Z")
I pronounce it to rhyme with “gosh,” and until recently that’s the only way I’ve ever heard it. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/8 "2006-09-05T04:54:10Z")
The traditional Yiddish pronunciation is “mish-mosh.” See Leo Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish. IMHO, there’s no good reason to use a Yiddish word and pronounce it non-traditionally, if the traditional pronunciation is easy enough to achieve with ordinary English phonemes. Which isn’t to say “mash” is _wrong_; it has, as has been pointed out, made the dictionaries. But I do think “mosh” is the _better_ pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/9 "2006-09-05T15:12:56Z")
I say mash, not mosh. But wouldn’t “ä” be pronounced closer to a “u” than an “o” if you were trying to approximate the correct Yiddish sound in English? I’m assuming the Yiddish pronunciation would be similar to the German pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/10 "2006-09-05T21:34:02Z")
For some people mash does rhyme with cash, but is also pronounced similarly to mosh. When spoken, they sound like m_ah_sh and c_ah_sh. I believe that this is the “broad a” that is somewhat common on the East Coast. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/11 "2006-09-05T22:09:23Z")
I spent about 15 years as a New Yoakuh, so for me it’s pronounced ‘mosh’, not ‘mash’. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/12 "2006-09-06T06:29:12Z")
Hey **John Mace**. Bear in mind that Yiddish was written with the Hebrew alphabet, not the German alphabet. See, e.g., [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish). Mish-mash is a transliteration (no umlaut, btw). (Which is why many Yiddishisms have alternate English spellings.) Mash is intended to convey the broad “a” of _father_, as distinguished from the oh-so-subtly different short “o” of _mop_. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/13 "2006-09-06T14:21:13Z")
[QUOTE=FilmGeek] Pronunciation: 'mish-"mash, -"mäsh [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=John Mace] But wouldn’t “ä” be pronounced closer to a “u” than an “o” if you were trying to approximate the correct Yiddish sound in English? [/QUOTE] That _ä_ is not the _a-umlaut_ of German, but a character used in American dictionaries to represent the _a_ of _father_. And I agree with \*_P-Bear42_ that this sound is not the same as would be heard in _mosh_. [QUOTE=PBear42] IMHO, there’s no good reason to use a Yiddish word and pronounce it non-traditionally, if the traditional pronunciation is easy enough to achieve with ordinary English phonemes. [/QUOTE] According to the reference quoted by **FilmGeek** , this is not solely a Yiddish expression imported into English. It’s also a Middle English word, so it’s perfectly legitimate to give it an entirely English pronunciation. So, if you pronounce it to rhyme with “cash,” then you’re using the English word; if you pronounce it the Yiddish way, you’re using Yinglish. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-mishmash/371409/14 "2006-09-06T16:20:49Z")
So, does that mean that the jumbled mess I’ve pronounced as mish-a-gosh is actually spelled mishagash?