# Pronunciation - Punjab and Punch **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-punjab-and-punch/835122 "2019-06-06T15:35:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-punjab-and-punch/835122/21 "2019-06-07T01:30:29Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You’re right. I should have specified that I was speaking about people in the US, or at least people that aren’t likely to run into anyone named Punjab. More nit-picking: Punjab is a place name, not a personal name. It’s a region that was partitioned between India and Pakistan in 1948, and now lies partly in each country. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-punjab-and-punch/835122/22 "2019-06-07T02:36:44Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > My American-born Pakistani friend remarked, as we were looking at the menu, “This place is Pakistani, not Indian” She said something about the names of the dishes and maybe what the staff were saying to each other. It was years ago and I don’t remember. I’ll have to ask her. Your American friend is so young, she thinks Pakistan and India are different places. Which wasn’t the case when the English were first introduced to “Indian” food. And of course, a lot of English Pakistanis came from what’s now ‘India’ anyway, after being displaced during the partition. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-punjab-and-punch/835122/23 "2019-06-07T03:33:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I (an American) never knew the origin of the word “punch,” so I wouldn’t have thought to connect it to “Punjab.” > > “Punch” looks like a standard English word, so I pronounce it according to standard English pronunciation rules (like “pun” or “punt” or “bunch” or “lunch”). “Punjab” looks “foreign,” but from a language or part of the world where I don’t know what the standard pronunciation rules are, so I have to guess at the proper way to say it. Yeah, that’s my guess. In most European languages off the top of my head, the “u” is an “oo” sound. Or /u/ for the IPA folk. So when a foreign word is seen, that’s the instinctual first guess. Similarly, the “a,” gets moved to an “ah” sound, as that’s the typical pronunciation for that letter across many European languages, and not the /ae/ of “cat.” Hence, poon-job. The “pun-jab” pronunciation mentioned before surprises me—I have never heard that. It’s either “poon-job” or “pun-job” as I’ve always heard American speakers say it. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-punjab-and-punch/835122/24 "2019-06-07T14:26:38Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Your American friend is so young, she thinks Pakistan and India are different places. Which wasn’t the case when the English were first introduced to “Indian” food. And of course, a lot of English Pakistanis came from what’s now ‘India’ anyway, after being displaced during the partition. I’m sure that’s true. My friend’s father was born just after the partition, and emigrated to the US in the late 60s. So for their entire lives Pakistan existed as a separate political entity, at least. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-punjab-and-punch/835122/25 "2019-06-08T05:40:27Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > I’m sure that’s true. My friend’s father was born just after the partition, and emigrated to the US in the late 60s. So for their entire lives Pakistan existed as a separate political entity, at least. 🙂 Calling a Pakistani an Indian… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-punjab-and-punch/835122.md?page=1)