For people that have known me for a while, there are a couple of stories that they are bound to have heard me tell. They're just amusing stories all around, so they're bound to come up eventually. Everyone involved always chuckles or flat out laughs, so in theory, it should be a win-win situation. Should be. As it turns out, though, I know a few jokers that have managed to use these stories to make fun of me.
Let me start with one of these stories: a long time ago, a bunch of us were looking for a place to eat. These were friends I had known for a long time, and we'll all grown up together, so it was a very casual outing. In fact, it was so casual, that we didn't even have a destination in mind. The plan consisted of: "let's find food." So, we were driving around trying to find something to eat, when someone spotted a restaurant that looked promising:
Friend #1: "Hey, what about that spot?"
Friend #2: "Which one?"
Friend #1: "Right there, on the corner. The tah-kweh-ree-ah."
Friend #2: "The what?"
Friend #1: "The one right there!"
Me: "Um, do you mean the taqueria?"
Friend #1: "Oh, is that how you pronounce that?"
Me: *facepalm*
Mind you, this friend had grown up in a culturally diverse city, the same as I had. This wasn't someone with no experience with Mexican culture, or a sheltered person coming out of her bubble. I remember feeling sheer disbelief that this word had never crossed her path before. Still, it was funny, and I've told that story on more than one occasion.
Well, as it turns out, I have several friends now that think it is hilarious to intentionally mis-pronounce that word. In fact, they will do it front of me because that adds to the humor of it all. I mean, I was the one who told them about how to butcher that word, so they want to make sure that I see the results. And much like the first time I heard that word mispronounced, I also cringe a little bit every subsequent time that I heard the wrong pronunciation.
This last fact has not escaped the notice of a few of my joker friends. They pretty much refuse to pronounce "taqueria" properly in front of me, just to watch me react. I've even had a couple of people refer to it as a twitch. One of these folks even confided that it has become such a habit for her to do this, that she can no longer pronounce the word properly. It just comes instinctively to her to butcher the word. Think about that for a second: the gag has become such a constant that the correct, actual pronunciation of the word no longer comes naturally. That's almost as if she had trained herself to believe that two plus two was equal to five. That takes a lot of making fun of me.
Like I said, I know a few jokers.
Let me start with one of these stories: a long time ago, a bunch of us were looking for a place to eat. These were friends I had known for a long time, and we'll all grown up together, so it was a very casual outing. In fact, it was so casual, that we didn't even have a destination in mind. The plan consisted of: "let's find food." So, we were driving around trying to find something to eat, when someone spotted a restaurant that looked promising:
Friend #1: "Hey, what about that spot?"
Friend #2: "Which one?"
Friend #1: "Right there, on the corner. The tah-kweh-ree-ah."
Friend #2: "The what?"
Friend #1: "The one right there!"
Me: "Um, do you mean the taqueria?"
Friend #1: "Oh, is that how you pronounce that?"
Me: *facepalm*
Mind you, this friend had grown up in a culturally diverse city, the same as I had. This wasn't someone with no experience with Mexican culture, or a sheltered person coming out of her bubble. I remember feeling sheer disbelief that this word had never crossed her path before. Still, it was funny, and I've told that story on more than one occasion.
Well, as it turns out, I have several friends now that think it is hilarious to intentionally mis-pronounce that word. In fact, they will do it front of me because that adds to the humor of it all. I mean, I was the one who told them about how to butcher that word, so they want to make sure that I see the results. And much like the first time I heard that word mispronounced, I also cringe a little bit every subsequent time that I heard the wrong pronunciation.
This last fact has not escaped the notice of a few of my joker friends. They pretty much refuse to pronounce "taqueria" properly in front of me, just to watch me react. I've even had a couple of people refer to it as a twitch. One of these folks even confided that it has become such a habit for her to do this, that she can no longer pronounce the word properly. It just comes instinctively to her to butcher the word. Think about that for a second: the gag has become such a constant that the correct, actual pronunciation of the word no longer comes naturally. That's almost as if she had trained herself to believe that two plus two was equal to five. That takes a lot of making fun of me.
Like I said, I know a few jokers.
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