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How Say?

 

 

 The Big Little Fruit Pronunciation Guide

An aid for the public and the media alike that has arisen from the sheer lack of chat about these estimable fruits. Below you’ll find ten of the most frequently-mispronounced fruit names, as gleaned by BLF’s founder, Debbie Hearn, from professional journalists and other human beings. (Every blush spared. You know who you are!)

You might disagree with these wussy-southerner pronunciations. if you’re in a position to do so, you obviously care for culinary fruits already, so enjoy your righteous indignation as much as you might relish your rolled r’s or pancake-flat a’s!

If you can think of other fruits whose names are often mispronounced, email Debbie here, giving a telephone number, for checking.

Capitals indicate the stressed syllable.

 

 

 

Beurré

(dessert pears that have a melting texture like butter, eg Beurré Hardy)

A cross between ‘fur’ and ‘beret’: BUHR-ray

Boysenberry

(a cane fruit hybrid similar to loganberry)

Like NOISE-n-berry

Bullace

BULLuss

(Sounds Anglo-Saxon, doesn’t it?! It’s not.)

Court Pendu Plat

(This apple’s been around for centuries but somehow retained its French pronunciation.)

COOR PAHN-DU PLAH

(Each syllable receives equal stress – more or less.)

Gean

(wild cherry)

GHEE-an

Malling

(as in Malling Jet blackcurrant)

Rhymes with ‘falling’, ‘walling’ and ‘trawling’: Malling

Myrobalan

(aka cherry plum)

Me-ROB-ah-l’n (I’m sure you’ve no intention of robbing Alan, whoever he is.)

Whortleberry

(aka bilberry)

WHIRRT-l-berry (Unless you know better, in which case, do get in touch.)

Williams Bon Chrétien

(pear)

Chrétien:

KHRETT-ee-ahn (French word for Christian)

Worcesterberry

(a gooseberry hybrid)

WUSS-tuh-berry

That's quite enough for now. There's much more to be said about fruit names, but you know what happens when you have too many at once...verbal diarrhoea!