The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXXI

[Arakhor]

Never let facts get in the way of an interesting story, whether they are half remembered or fully remembered.

That doesn't usually stop me, no.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

This is a question that I've been asked before but I don't know the answer.

Why do Americans pronounce Parmesan like "parmajan"?

 

[sophie]

This is a question that I've been asked before but I don't know the answer.

Why do Americans pronounce Parmesan like "parmajan"?

Because the Italian spelling is parmiggiano, which is pronounced (per your spelling) "parmi-jianno"

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Why is it pronounced like "parmazan" in England?

 

[sophie]

Why is it pronounced like "parmazan" in England?

Because the French spelling and pronunciation is parmesan.

 

[warpus]

I've only ever heard people pronounce it like "parme-zhan". Mind you I live in Canada, but Americans don't seem to pronounce it the way you say they do, unless we're running into completely different Americans

 

[Flying Pig]

I suspect it's also partly to do with demographics. Until really quite recently, I imagine that most of the Americans using parmesan (both the cheese and the word) were vaguely Italian, and so used the Italian pronunciation even though that was out of sync with the written form of the word. By contrast, most British people using the word have no connection with Italy other than liking the food. For a similar sort of reason, what the Americans call a zucchini (an Italian word), we call a courgette - again, the Italian has more 'sticking power' in America because it has mostly been Italians using the word.

 

[warpus]

I suspect it's also partly to do with demographics. Until really quite recently, I imagine that most of the Americans using parmesan (both the cheese and the word) were vaguely Italian

That doesn't sound right to me, pastas, pizzas, etc. have been a staple of American cuisine for a while now, haven't they?

 

[Flying Pig]

Yes (for around half a century), but that's thanks to Italian-speakers bringing them over. The spread of pizza, pasta, zucchini, parmesan and so on was directly from Italian-speakers to non-Italian-speakers, in a way that it wasn't really in the UK, because we never had large-scale Italian immigration - in fact, we got pizza from the Americans.

 

[warpus]

Ahh, I see what you mean. Just seems to me that pizzas for example have been Americanized a long time ago. I wouldn't have guessed that it happened after most of the Italian immigrants came over.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Kraft makes a (wretched) grated Parmesan cheese. There were TV ads for it years ago. I'm going to bet Americans (not themselves of Italian-American descent) took their cue for pronunciation for how it was pronounced in the ad, which was parmajan, as in Husky's original question. That's how I learned how the word was to be pronounced.

 

[warpus]

Weird, I tried to find a youtube video of an American pronouncing parmesan and the first one that came up was "parme-jan" which.. I've never heard before. I could swear everybody says "parme-zhan". Maybe I'm not paying enough attention or this is another one of those parallel universe Barenstein bear things

 

[Arakhor]

I say parmezan, because that's the way that English people say it. I didn't even realise it was Italian for long enough. That said, in Italian, gia- is ja, not jia, thus parma-jar-no.

 

[Snerk]

Did somebody say Gene Parmesan?
/gif

 

[Takhisis]

Stop busting our balls, Snerk.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Popular Mechanics, 22 January 2017: The Sig P320 is the U.S. Army's new sidearm

Any current or former soldiers here? Is this a good upgrade? And how important is a handgun for a modern soldier?

I'm not a gun guy, but it sounds like the insane process of selecting the new gun (criticized by just about everyone, including the former Secretary of Defense and the Army Chief of Staff) may have resulted in something positive.

According to the article, the Beretta M9, used by the US military for many years, is less than beloved.

In a 2006 report on U.S. infantry weapons, troops who had used the M9 in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan ranked it dead last compared to the M4 carbine, M16 rifle, and M249 squad automatic weapon. Only fifty eight percent of soldiers who had used it in combat reported satisfaction with the weapon. Of the four firearms, soldiers characterized it as the least accurate and worst handling. Even worse, twenty six percent of those who had actually used it in combat reported the Beretta had jammed.

The Army will buy both full-size and compact versions of the P320. The weapon is fully ambidextrous, with safety and slide catch levers on both sides, and has a bright orange loaded chamber indicator. It features a flap in the trigger well to prevent dirt and debris from entering the pistol. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the P320 doesn't require the trigger to be pulled in order to disassemble it.

The gun was required to feature a MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail under the barrel for attaching lasers and lights. It would have a threaded barrel for a suppressor, ambidextrous controls for lefties, and a loaded chamber indicator. The modularity was in a requirement for swappable grip panels of different sizes, to accommodate hands of different sizes.

The Sig Sauer P320 beat out the Beretta APX, the CZ P-09, the FN Herstal Five-Seven Mk.2, the General Dynamics/Smith & Wesson M&P, and the Glock 17. I don't know anything about any of them, although the article notes the Glock 17 is used by the UK armed forces. Also, this article doesn't mention it, but I read somewhere else that the P320 can be changed from 9mm to .45 fairly easily. I don't know if that has any utility to US soldiers, though.

 

[Takhisis]

ambidextrous controls for lefties,

How the hell does the US manage to have so many left-handed people that this is a necessity?

 

[warpus]

350 million people, let's say 10% or 35 million of them are left-handed. That's a market bigger than Canada.

 

[EgonSpengler]

How the hell does the US manage to have so many left-handed people that this is a necessity?

Well, as Warpus indicated, estimates are that ~10% of the population is left-handed. Assuming for a moment that nothing about lefties makes them more or less likely to join the army, I think it would be awfully stupid to make 10% of our soldiers slightly worse at their jobs.

 

[Takhisis]

Oh, I know the practical reason for not making things hard(er) for left-handed soldiers, my question was a separate one: why are there so many left-handed people in the US?