atw: Re: a taco by any other name...

My ex-OZ BF did indeed pronoun taco as "tack-o", (taking his Melbourne accent into account), however, you are barking up the wrong tree per the Mexican pronunciation. Our Mexican neighbors (both across town and across the border), pronoun it "tah-ko", as do we here in the states. There is a slight variation in the annunciation of the "T", with the Mexicans using a softer, muted "T" sound (minor variation in the placement of the tongue). The natural USofA predisposition sans the Mexican influence would be to pronounce taco as "tay-ko" (as in "way", "day", "may" and "say"). However, those proper east coast sorts with a bit of lingering pom ancestry might well lean towards "tack-o", were it not for the Mexican influence. 
Regards,
MNMary


> Damien.Wise@xxxxxxxxx
> On 2/20/2007 7:54:07 PM, austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> Just to confuse things, Australians sometimes pronounce Taco (the
> food) such that it sounds like "back", forgetting that
> it's pronounced
> like "bark" in Mexico.  Used to drive my (American) ex mad.
> Then-again, she didn't
> understand the way Australians -- and the rest
> of the world outside America -- slip an extra vowel into "aluminum."
> ;)
>
> Cheers,
> Damien

> On 2/21/07, MHT <runfox@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >  YUP, tachometer wins the prize.  We (USofA) say "tach" rather than
> "tacho"
> > for short, which here could be mistaken for "taco" (especially if
> pronounced
> > as in an OZ) which can mean either a delightful Mexican food, or a
> slang
> > term  that shares some similarity  with the OZ re-framing of the
> American
> > fanny pak.
> >  MNMary
>

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