Reply
Contributor
Posts: 53
Registered: ‎04-02-2010

DiBella Famiglia vendor - Italian?

Ok, so I'm watching this biscotti vendor with Mary DeAngelis.  Mary is just delighted that he has taught her the correct pronunciation... but it's NOT Bish-cotty!  The word is pronounced "bee-SKOHT-tee."  It does NOT mean biscuit.  It means "cookies".  One Italian cookie is a Biscotto, and the plural is Biscotti.  

 

Sorry if I sound cranky, but every time I hear this man butcher the beautiful Italian language, I can hear both of my Italian nonne turning over in their graves!

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,968
Registered: ‎05-23-2015

Re: DiBella Famiglia vendor - Italian?

You are not cranky, it is not hard to find the correct pronunciation, google is your friend. 

" You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts."
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,612
Registered: ‎10-25-2010

Re: DiBella Famiglia vendor - Italian?

I understand.  It is like nails on a chalkboard when someone butchers a beautiful language.

 

I get that feeling when I hear most people say Ricotta .

Contributor
Posts: 53
Registered: ‎04-02-2010

Re: DiBella Famiglia vendor - Italian?


@Carmie wrote:

I understand.  It is like nails on a chalkboard when someone butchers a beautiful language.

 

I get that feeling when I hear most people say Ricotta .


It makes me doubt his authenticity.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,916
Registered: ‎11-06-2011

Re: DiBella Famiglia vendor - Italian?

@PunkinEater wrote:

Ok, so I'm watching this biscotti vendor with Mary DeAngelis.  Mary is just delighted that he has taught her the correct pronunciation... but it's NOT Bish-cotty!  The word is pronounced "bee-SKOHT-tee."  It does NOT mean biscuit.  It means "cookies".  One Italian cookie is a Biscotto, and the plural is Biscotti.  

 

Sorry if I sound cranky, but every time I hear this man butcher the beautiful Italian language, I can hear both of my Italian nonne turning over in their graves!

 

 

Tony Notaro is most definitely Italian, but since he has lived in the Northeast for most of his life, I think he's gotten into the habit of using some of the "slangy" Italian that you hear a lot in the region. I also dislike the "sh" sound that gets added too often in Italian pronunciations when it doesn't belong there; I think people try to overcompensate for the "sc" that is actually pronounced that way before an "i" (as in "prosciutto").

 

"Biscotti" actually means "twice cooked." The French word "biscuit" that the English language borrowed is derived from the same root, and in the UK and some other European locations, "biscuit" and "cookie" are synonyms, so I don't think it's a problem to use either definition. Tony also often provides the correct literal definition of the word in his presentations to describe how biscotti are made.