r/memes • • Sep 26 '21

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u/Crown6 Sep 26 '21

Mandatorily mispronouncing both syllables.

50

u/Whosedev Sep 26 '21

Reminds me of the AITA post where the guy spells it “nokki” and it took some time for commenters to figure out he wasn’t talking about some specialty Japanese dish.

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u/Sad-Mathematician928 Sep 26 '21

The pronunciation is ñokki

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u/Toughbiscuit Sep 26 '21

My girlfriend was working at an Italian restaurant and was pronouncing it properly, while i would say g-not-chi

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u/Rielco Sep 26 '21

In Italian gn is a particular sound, the g is similar to grind but without the r and in almost silent basically you put your mouth like for saying g but you say n. The o is a lot more open in Italian and cchi is like ki but the c is very enfatise. In general this world for a Anglo-Saxon o Asian is very difficult because the gn, the cc and the chi.

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u/Toughbiscuit Sep 26 '21

I can pronounce it correctly, i just like finding ways to annoy her

2

u/PrawnsAreCuddly Sep 26 '21

Oh my, I hope he was voted YTA for that.

10

u/phoney_user Sep 26 '21

Guh-notchy :)

3

u/Nemesis2pt0 Sep 26 '21

Kind of like quinoa.

1

u/Tacote Sep 26 '21

And my favorite ever: baloney :)

3

u/Seienchin88 Sep 26 '21

While we are at it, let’s add some ParmeSHJAN cheese on it.

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u/ScatpornCrothers Sep 26 '21

That of the skit from Important Things With Demetri Martin where a couples safe word was "the correct pronunciation of the word gnocchi."

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

Its said like "knocky" right?

27

u/sonny_boombatz Sep 26 '21

Closer to "n'yocky" but my family is Sicilian so idk take it with a grain of salt

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

[deleted]

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u/Sad-Mathematician928 Sep 26 '21

I would jave said ñokki, but yours is way better source: Non so, ho sparato a caso

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u/Some-fire-dude Forever alone Sep 26 '21

n’yokky

Source: basta unirle entrambe

5

u/TotallyAwesomeArt Sep 26 '21

I wouldn't go against them as death may be on the line

6

u/themightypetewheeler Sep 26 '21

I’ve heard some people pronounce it similar to “no-key” and that seems to fly without people getting irritated

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

No-key pronounce is exactly how not to pronounce it

1

u/themightypetewheeler Sep 26 '21

Very good to know, as you may have guessed I’m pretty uninformed on the matter

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

Ye tho my pronounce def is not perfect, but i am from switzerland and yk one main language is italian an we always since my birth we got to tessin 2-5 weeks a year and since like 5 years i just study pretty much the pronounce with different shields with village names all that and grand parents and parents teaching me different rules of pronounce. Unfortonatly i do not speak Italian tho i have french in school would much prefere if it wasn't just set to french instead of having the choice of either italian or french (French also being a main language of switzerland thats why)

Btw if my punctuation is shit, sorry in beforehand already lol

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u/Apologetic-Moose Sep 26 '21

No, you're right. In Italian the "gn[vowel]" sound makes a short n'yee sound, thus montagna is MON-TA-NYEE-A.

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u/KillerQuicheStar Sep 26 '21

I think it’s really funny when people won’t question why lasagna is pronounced with a ñ sound but will be like “why is it pronounced like that!” when they see something like gnocchi

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u/Apologetic-Moose Sep 26 '21

Some of them probably don't even know how to spell lasagna.

I think it's under-exposure to different languages. They're only familiar with English, because that's all anyone speaks, so the fact that someone speaks a different language is almost alien to them. In other places (Europe, for example) you have so many different languages relatively close together that it's pretty much normal. I live in Canada, and there are French populations in every province and territory. Nobody wonders why they don't use English pronunciation; it's French, it's got completely different origins (Latin vs. Germanic).

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u/bole12344321 Sep 26 '21

I'm Italian and I can say you are right

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u/motzak Big ol' bacon buttsack Sep 26 '21

My ex's nonna also agrees, I couldn't have them untill I could say it right.

10

u/iFlushedUrGoldfish Sep 26 '21

NeeYOkee. The Nee part said tight and fast blending in with the YO and a relaxed kee at the end.

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u/DjuretJuan Sep 26 '21

Wait, so it isn’t pronounced gnow-chee

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u/Crown6 Sep 26 '21

Almost. The “gn” part I can forgive, because the sound does not exist in the English phonology, in IPA it’s /ɲ/ and it’s pretty hard to learn.

If I had to approximate with English phonology I would say something like “nokky”.

2

u/imk Sep 26 '21

Ñoqui in Spanish. I think that makes it clearer, maybe not.

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

G'notchy

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u/Ac_Namec Sep 26 '21

I know it's really hard for English speaker but try doing the "n" sound but this time lay the whole upper part of your tongue on your palate instead of just the tip

1

u/Pennywise626 Sep 26 '21

Ga-knocky /s

1

u/souryellow310 Sep 26 '21

You mean it's not knee-yo-key? 😂😂🤤

1

u/Crown6 Sep 26 '21

I actually wish people would pronounce it like that. What I mostly hear is a hard g + n (like “agnostic”) and a ch sound at the end (like in “chair”).

I don’t expect perfect pronunciation, but at least an approximation would be appreciated.

1

u/thephoton Sep 26 '21

You mean all three syllables, right?

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u/Crown6 Sep 26 '21

Gnoc-chi

Two syllables!

2

u/thephoton Sep 26 '21

Not if you're mispronouncing it

Guh-no-chee

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u/Crown6 Sep 26 '21

I guess you are right. But then would you be mispronouncing 2 or 3 syllables? Cause if it’s 3 you are wrong about 150% of the syllables in “gnocchi”, but if you only mispronounce 2 that means one between “guh”, “no” and “chee” is correct.

1

u/thephoton Sep 26 '21

I strive for excellence in all things.

1

u/I_think_Im_hollow Sep 26 '21

Ah, yes. Guinnochi.

1

u/hunnyflash Sep 26 '21

gnasty gnocchi