Everyone has that one word or phrase they misspell, can't pronounce, or just can't quite get right. For me it's out, and I don't actually pronounce it wrong, for the record. I pronounce it like a Canadian, which is for some reason a sin anywhere south of the Vermont border. Whether it's places you mispronounce, celebrities names you're saying wrong, or a struggle with the word cinnamon (it's hard, man), you're about to feel a lot better about yourself. Because apparently we've all been saying the word "Parmesan" wrong.
This isn't your average grammar mistake. It's certainly no ordinary "there, their, they're" conundrum. It's big. Because it's not actually pronounced how you might think. It's pronounced: Penn-syl-van-i-a. We no longer have chicken parm, eggplant parm or veal parm. No. It's eggplantpennsylvania. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
From now on when you say "Pennsylvania" there's a good chance that you won't be referring to the home of the world's greatest cheese steaks, or a Dutch colony. You might just want some parm on your pasta. This revelation comes thanks to the Cambridge Dictionary, and what they say goes. Don't kill the messenger. I'm not the grammar wench you're actually mad at. Listen for yourself to the "appropriate pronunciation" on the Cambridge Dictionary's website.
To cope with this news, I've compiled several Gene Parmesan gifs because, like, is there any other appropriate reaction?
You can only call him Gene Pennsylvania from now on. The name doesn't have quite the hilarity I was hoping for. But at least we still have things like Bob Loblaw's Law Blog. They can't take that away from us.
Behold, Gene (Pennsylvania)
S T E A L T H
Child's birthday party–style
The most classic Gene Parmesan maneuver in the books.
And finally, Lucille hearing about the "Parmesan" thing
(She's not taking it well.)
