Reading Judy Epstein’s articles are always interesting. One wound me up in a positive way and I saw room for elaboration. Her March 28, 2014 “Hey, you kids, get off of my cloud!” is the one.
The first part is concerned with pronouncing Chipotle.
I decided first to review Spanish vowels using Old McDonald Had A Farm.
Old McDonald Had A Farm, a (ah) e (eh) i (ee) o (oh) u (oo). And on that farm not just a cow, a (ah) e (eh) i (ee) o (oh) u (oo). With a moo moo here, an oink oink there, here a baa, there a quack, everywhere chirping birds.
The cat’s meow and Shep’s bow-wow. How’d we get here anyhow? A pigeon coo and night owl hoot, not afraid of that old coot. “Over here Paw, I’m comin’ Maw.” Always there’s so much to do.
The hens cluck-clucks and cockadoodledoo and to boot, hee-haw ‘til you’re hoarse.
A Chevrolet, that’s French, you bet. Cha cha, naw, that’s south the line. A brook frog croak and a honking goose or two, there a squirrel runs up a tree. A barn door hinge that always squeaks. When it happens, it depends. Moo oink baa quack chirp meow wow coo hoot Paw Maw cluck doodle hee-haw croak honk. ‘Twas a fine domestic zoo.
Old McDonald Had A Farm, a (ah) e (eh) i (ee) o (oh) u (oo).
There it is. Only one way to say them. Easy as pai, pahee, pie…ah, forget it!
Yet, before Chipotle, typical Spanish syllables like in Mariposa; ma-ri-po-sa; mah-ree-poh-sah: Butterfly. An example of two adjoining vowels and consonants is Rio Grande..
Chipotle can be like chee in cheese and po in poke and the e as in let. Put the first two syllables together as with cheapo.
Rearrange let to tle. Poke the second syllable so it has the accent and there it is-Chipotle; chi-po-tle.
The le ending does not fit our American English pronunciation though it ends so many of our words. It is somewhat laughabull.
We may forgive immigrants as they struggle to learn it. One word we all seem to get correct is gesundheit. Language(s) is/are a large part of our mental activity,
Charles Samek
Mineola
