[Sca-cooks] Wine names

[Elaine Koogler]

I have also seen "Shiraz" on bottles of wine.  But, to be honest, as an Art
History Major in college, the first reference I saw to that was as the name
of an ancient city in Persia...and our professor pronounced it Shi-raz,
short I, accent on the second syllable.  As I believe my professor was a
very knowlegeable man, not given to mispronouncing things, I thought that
that was the appropriate pronounciation!  and I do have a bottle in my
cellar labelled "Petit Sirah" from the Mirassou winery in California, and a
"Syrah" from the same winery.  Evidently even the folks who do the labelling
from the same winery can't agree on a spelling!

Kiri

----- Original Message -----

> Well, yes, sort of... but remember, we started this discussion with a
> misleading word. I see "Shiraz". I know it is from Australia, where,
> last I knew, they spoke English...  I have heard the word is Persian.
>
> Now, I live in Manhattan - pretty cosmopolitan. My Japanese food
> vocabulary is pretty good, as I like the food and ate it long before it
> was fashionable... as is my French. I can also handle some  food terms
> in German, Spanish, Yiddish, Russian, Hebrew, Korean, Hindi, Arabic...
> though I have no doubt that you can tell I don't really speak the
> languages. I have heard people say they drank "Syrah" but I have also
> seen that word on a bottle. I am looking at a word that I hear is
> Persian, on a product I know is from Australia, why on earth would my
> mind instantly leap to France?
>
> Actually, this is one of several that confuse me. Words for which the
> pronunciation is far from obvious, that I do not routinely hear, that
> are said in more than one way (correctly or not). And my experience is
> that, no matter how I say them, *someone* will smugly correct me...  OK,
> that also  happens with words I know perfectly well I am pronouncing
> correctly. There simply are those who like to correct people... even if
> they are not correct themselves... ;-)
>
> Anne
>