There are so many Italian words we use every day, from pizza to paparazzi, that don’t cause us any trouble at all. The word for pine-nut, however, is not one of them; we sprinkle chopped perfectionists into our pasta sauces in continuazione. Here’s what I mean:
pinolo (peen-oh-lo) is a pine-nut
pignolo (peen-yo-lo) is a perfectionist; a painstakingly meticulous, hair-splitting, persnickety sort of person; you know the type.
So you see, there’s a difference. It’s best to stick to pinoli when you’re cooking, and with the pignoli, well…abbi pazienza. And while we’re at it, it’s bru-SKET-ta, not bru-shet-ta; this is another ubiquitous error that drives me crazy! Please help reverse the trend.
(Now who’s the pignola?)
Ditto…A few times back in the States I’ve tried to “gently” correct/teach the servers at Italian restaurants the correct pronunciation of bruschetta – but let’s just say it’s not appreciated. I’m trying to be content with just correcting my family.
PS: I am also a pignola.
Pignolo is also a type of wine-grape grown around Friuli.
Still not a pignolo you make pasta sauce with though, right?
Ah, Friuli; every time I sample a wine that peaks my interest these days, it’s a Friuli wine… Thanks, Shannon; looking forward to my first experience with a pignolo that you can drink. 😉
Wonderful post, Nan!
I’ll take the pinolo rather than the pignolo!
My husband has been correcting people for years with the word “bruschetta”–it drives him crazy the way people pronounce it in the U.S. But it seems to have caught on the incorrect way and no one wants to be corrected.