It was a pun. Really.
(Actually, it was me not realizing that @Thing.Fish was talking about the pronunciation of Willamette. I thought he was talking about those two words. D’oh!)
So is it Wil-LAMM-it or Wil-LAHM-it?
The first one. Rhymes with ‘ham.’
You use a long A in camel? From where and when are you? When I was in school (central Indiana, 1960s) a long A was A as in day, and a short A was A as in cat.
I cannot parse what you are saying here. I can’t even imagine how it would be said that way. A long A and accent on the second syllable? day-MIT? cay-MEL?? That doesn’t even follow any rules of English or accent I’ve ever heard of. Can you record yourself saying it or find some kind of audio of this supposed pronunciation online?
OK, other than reversing the meanings of “short” and “long” and saying “second” instead of “first”, I was completely clear. It’s only going to get more confusing if I try to explain further. I’ll show myself out.
This only bothers me: in articles and books written about ancient comic strips, the author invariably refers to the character in the Krazy Kat strip as “Offisa Pup”. No. It’s “Officer Pup”. Offisa is how Krazy pronounces it. He also calls his tormentor “Ignatz Mice”, but that never gets mentioned. These things matter.
Small yappy dogs. They annoy me out of all proportion.
I learned that one soon after I got here.
I can probably think of a few, but being the same general age as a lot of people who complain about the following, it embarrasses me for my generation.
Of course I mean the ones who bitch about people saying “No problem” instead of “Thank you”. It shouldn’t matter so much, but it apparently does.
On the 100, that.
Also the people who say anything over 100 degrees is just hot The hell you say!
The interesting thing is that Cincinnati chili doesn’t actually derive from the original Tex-Mex (chili is a dish that originated in mid-19th century San Antonio) tradition, but rather from the Greek dish Kima, with some tweaks derived from Tex-Mex chili.
So it’s perfectly valid and authentic, if undeniably weird when compared to Tex-Mex chili.
I think that’s where people get tripped up with all these food opinions actually. They get a confused notion of “authenticity” in their heads, and then start judging all other variants of that dish by one yardstick.
If you look at something like Tex-Mex chili and declare that it’s not actually Mexican food, you’ve missed the entire point. It’s absolutely Mexican- the only non-Mexican thing about it is the political boundary in the 19th century when it was developed. It was developed by ethnic Mexicans, using traditional Mexican ingredients, and was eaten by ethnic Mexicans as well.
But since it’s not something developed within Mexico proper, some people will claim it’s not “authentic”. Which is absolute bullshit for reasons mentioned above.
Same thing goes for most American styles of pizza or Italian food. They were originally conceived of by Italians, use traditional ingredients (or ones that were more commonly available; a common refrain among immigrant dishes in the US), and were eaten by the Italians in the US.
I’ve decided to be a bit more catholic in my enjoyment of various styles of food- why should I care if deep-dish pizza is “authentic” or not, if it’s good? Same thing for Tex-Mex, chili, barbecue, etc…
This gripe is especially silly considering how in a bunch of other languages when someone thanks you the proper response is, basically, “no problem.” Like “de rien” or “de nada” you’re literally saying “it’s nothing” and how that differs from “no problem” is an RCH measurement.
Exactly. As a matter of fact I believe there’s a term in linguistics for this type of expression, in which the act of acknowledgment is what’s important rather than the actual meaning of the words.
To the extent that vowels being “long” or “short” has meaning, “A” as in “cat” is neither long nor short to me. It’s in the middle between an “A” as in “Day” and “A” as in “father”.
Don’t worry about what I eat (or don’t eat). It’s not always a barrel of laughs having a picky palate but I’ve been dealing with it for over 50 years and I know how to do so without causing any hardship to anyone else.
The way I learned it back in elementary school (in the USA)—which may or may not have been accurate, but I’ve never run across a reliable source that contradicted it—is that the A in “cat” is what a “short A” sound is. “Day” has a long A. The A in “father” is closer to a “short O” sound (as in “dot” or “clock”).
It’s why I don’t shop there 
Yeah, what I was taught is that a “long” vowel is when you pronounce it to sound like the letter itself.
A=ay
E=eee
I=eye
O=oh
U=you
I have two very picky-eater buddies.
The only issue with them, as far as I am concerned, is ordering food for the gang on game night.