I wanted to order something from Zorba’s last night, but wanted to have something other than my usual. I have really wanted to try a gyro from them, but something has kept me from ordering it: I couldn’t decide how to pronounce the word while ordering. I’ve heard that the correct pronunciation is hee’-rro (you roll the r a little). I was afraid to say that because I thought maybe the person on the phone would think I was ordering a hero sandwich and there would be great confusion. I didn’t want to pronounce it phonetically (ji’-ro [long i sound]), because then I might sound like an ignorant American.
I decided to just take the plunge and order a gyro last night. I pronounced it phonetically. I figured the pain of an awkward conversation about hero sandwiches would be worse than having someone think I was ignorant.
When I got my food, there was an ominous note written on the receipt that was stapled to the bag:
I imagined a completely disassembled gyro that I had to construct myself. I was wrong. The gyro was perfectly fine. I have no idea what that note meant.
The gyro was good, but messy. My hands still smell like onions this morning. Yuck.
I always thought it was yee-ro, but on Top Chef one of the chefs said Ji-ro, then one of the well-respected judges said it that way, too! I’m so confused.
(By the way: wash your hands with a stainless steel utensil and see if that helps.)
That utensil thing does work! When I read they sold ‘stainless steel’ soap…I stanked up my hands & them washed them with a spoon. Ta da!
I think the comment was referring to you, and not the sandwich at all.
Why is “come” underlined? For more emphasis? “How they COME!”
Maybe they “go” differently than they “come” and she was pointing out the difference?
How they come? Did you get 2 gyros for the price of one…could Zorbas have read your Apple Pie commentary?
This post reminds me of the word ‘giblet’ as in ‘giblet’ gravy. I LOVE the turkey at Valentinos & they used to offer 2 types of gravy. I used to always ask for the ‘giblet’ gravy pronounced with a soft ‘g’…jiblet…& some servers would say ‘Oh you mean ‘giblet’ said with a hard ‘g’. I’m pretty sure it’s said with a ‘j’ sound…but maybe both are acceptable. (You say tomato, I say tamoto kind of thing) How do you all say it?
I say soft g. I have never heard anyone use a hard g.
The word I always stumble on is “futile”. I always hear Jean-Luc Picard saying it. He pronounced it “fy00′-tile”. But he’s got a British accent. Americans usually say “fyoo’-tle”.
Maybe they mean to say, “Here you go.”
Ha!