Bearing in mind bruschetta comes from Italy, it can only be pronounced "BRUSK-etta". In Italian, the consonant cluster "sch" (which only appears before "e" and "i" in that language) is always pronounced as in "school"; never as in "Schweppes".
Yes - this is true and correct. Moschino is the same.
In Italian I believe that "ch" is always a hard "k" sound.
bruh-SKEH-tah
Edited at 2007-12-07 05:34 pm (UTC)
Ah, yes. In terms of emphasis, all the poll options were wrong...
You're both wrong: the stress is on the second syllable—broo-SKET-ta.
Of course, that's how they'd say it in Italy. And really, what the fuck do they know? They only invented the stuff, and then had the gall to stick it with a stupid mumbo-jumbo name, instead of calling it "toast," as is only correct.
In my experience (which admittedly is not broad) a proper Englishman, when forced as a practical matter to truck in Johnny Foreigner-type words at all, always stresses the first syllable of and swallows any syllables past the second; and so a proper Englishman would pronounce it more or less as "brisket."
There is a simple rule, which applies in both Italian and French, which is that the letters C and G are, by default, hard before the letters A, O and U and soft before the letters I and E. To get a soft C or G before an A, O or U you add an I in Italian or an E in French (though in the case of C this may shrink away to a a cedilla). To get a hard C or G before an I or an E you add an H in Italian or... well, you don’t tend to get hard C’s before those vowels in French, but you put a U after the G.
It also sort of works in Spanish, though it takes a bit more faith to really see it.
I vote for this one, or bruss-chetta.
Brush-etta. Language is fluid. I think it's fairly common to find words adopted from other languages and then anglicised when used in an English context. I don't hear many people saying 'Jorjo' Armani...
I suppose you've got a valid point there, Mr Bain-ur-Jay :P
In practice I say 'sh' because everyone else does, but clearly it ought to be 'sk' because it's Italian.
I certainly don't think it's right for Canadian waitstaff to look blank when I ask for "bruce-KET-ta", only to say "ah, broo-SHET-ta!" when my dinner tea companion quickly miscorrects me! Grr...
bru-ZHET'. Have you never watched the Sopranos?
You forgot to include "moose" as an option. After all, you're in Canadia.
This relates closely to the reason why I can't buy croissants anymore.
Not that it's the end all be all, they do discuss the pronuciation in the wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrushettaI used to pronounce it like Brush but was beat down by an Itallian chef for mangling his glorious language. Hence I now toss the K in there.
brushetta not brusketta, erb not herb, math not maths.
Woe, woe, BRUSHetta is winning, the vandals are at the gates of Rome and civilisation as we know it must surely come to a crashing end. Doom! Doom!
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/49751414/1149171) | From: ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jvvw
2007-12-07 11:48 pm (UTC)
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I always feel a bit pretentious when I pronounce it with a hard 'ch' because most people don't, but that's obviously the correct Italian pronunciation.
Maybe you should take this thread to the next logical step and debate the merits of schedule and schedule.
However you like, and anyone who claims any of the options are wrong is, well, wrong. I will grant you that pronouncing it "throatwarbler mangrove" or the like would not be conventionally regarded as contributing towards clear communication, but strict determinism in these matters doesn't make the world any happier a place. | 
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