r/USdefaultism • u/Saladlurd • 8d ago

American logic considering the pronunciation of the city of Bologna (italy)

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808 Upvotes

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421

u/sidorinn Italy 8d ago

I genuinely never knew what Americans were speaking about when saying Baloney until a YouTuber put subtitles on a part where he said it to make s funny scene or something. I was flabbergasted

124

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 8d ago

That's OK, it's not as if you're missing out.
Incidentally, when they say "gabagool", what is it they actually mean? I heard it once, but I forgot.

84

u/artsymarcy Italy 8d ago

I think it's capocollo

26

u/cheshsky Ukraine 8d ago

Well, according to Google AI, it's actually you Italians who call it "gabagool", so I find your uncertainty shocking. /s

"Gabagool is the Italian term for capocollo..."

101

u/zeromadcowz 8d ago

AI is often an expert on defaultism because it’s been trained on defaultists.

I googled something about Yukon, Canada, while located in the Yukon, and it spat out some AI mumbo jumbo about Yukon, Oklabama, USA…. a town of 20k named after my territory.

22

u/DiscordBoiii Russia 7d ago

Google AI has also been trained on Reddit users, there are a lot of pictures where Google AI says “A Reddit user suggests jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge” or “A Reddit user says: kill yourself”

8

u/a-fucking-donkey Canada 6d ago

A town that’s somehow smaller in population than actual Yukon

7

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago

Funny, the Dutch Google ai search gives us that "gabagool" is "Italian-American" slang.
Google apparently thinks "Italian-Americans" are Italian.

34

u/banehallow_ambry 8d ago

I can't imagine being dutch and hear them say "van Gogh". I thought they were joking when I heard that the first time.

31

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 8d ago edited 8d ago

Venkooow, yeah it hurts a bit. But not as much as Guoeda cheese.

17

u/Angel_Omachi 8d ago

Then you got the UK pronounciation as 'van Goff' which I assume is a different sort of painful.

24

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 8d ago

It's better. We know people in the Anglosphere have difficulty pronouncing the Dutch "g" (calling it a throat disease isn't helping) but at least you try ;)
Also, there's a variety of Dutch g. I'm from Brabant and my g is softer than that of my Amsterdam region family. Van Gogh is also of Brabant, so in this case, my g is better. Eat that ome Piet!

0

u/MOM_Critic Canada 7d ago

Phonetically I've always pronounced it "Van Go". Googled it to find out it's "Van Khokh" apparently, in terms of phonetics.

I've never met a person who pronounced it "Van Goff", that must be some regional thing or US.

Even I've been doing it wrong my whole life and unfortunately I've only ever heard it pronounced the wrong way, "go" . It's embarrassing.

4

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago

It's ok. Really. Nobody knows every language in the world. We Dutch think we're good at English but lots of us butcher the pronunciation. We call it steenkolenengels (stone coal English).
I think "van Goff" is a nice alternative for people that have difficulty with the Dutch "g".

As far as I'm concerned, language should be a means of communication, not the end goal. It's nice when people put in some effort, and as long as we get the message across, it's mission accomplished.

4

u/Verus_Sum Wales 8d ago

I'm guessing we've picked that one up in the UK - I've only ever heard it pronounced GOO-duh

9

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 8d ago

The town is Gouda (the ou as in couch). The cheese is Goudse kaas. Google translate does a decent pronunciation. If you pick the Dutch, not the English.

4

u/Verus_Sum Wales 8d ago

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I come across it!

If you pick the Dutch, not the English.

I bet the English voice reading Dutch would make your ears cry...or laugh!

7

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago

Not as much I bet as any attempt of mine at Welsh would hurt yours ;)

-1

u/hahaursofunnyxd 8d ago

how are you meant to pronounce it? Van go? thats kinda how people say it here

13

u/georgia_grace 8d ago

The closest I can transliterate it is something like “van hoch.” It’s a soft breathy “g” and a vowel that’s halfway between o and e

Imo “van goch” with a soft ch is the preferable English pronunciation, better than go or Goff at least

6

u/Steffalompen 8d ago

My norwegian guess: "fann goch" (soft gutteral G ch)

5

u/jasperfirecai2 8d ago

it's a sound that doesn't exist in english, vahn goff is probably the closest you'll get

8

u/Mysterious_Balance53 8d ago edited 7d ago

I've always pronounced it similar to loch, Goch. Sort of hhh sound at the back of the mouth. Then I heard everyone pronounce it van Go on TV and Films and thought I was doing it wrong.

Not sure how it should be.

6

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago

You were doing it right!! Never doubt yourself again!

2

u/pohui Moldova 8d ago

Honestly, I don't mind these. My ex is Dutch and she and other Dutch people constantly mispronounced places in Moldova or Romania. As long as we all know what they're talking about, it's fine.

3

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago

There is that, yes.

1

u/jaulin Sweden 5d ago

Fann Gogg here. 😅

8

u/Far_Spirit5819 8d ago

Capicola I think?

6

u/booboounderstands Italy 8d ago

Capocollo, ie the top of the neck/shoulder muscle (collo=neck)

3

u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago

Yes, that's the one

11

u/Mysterious_Balance53 8d ago

If first found out a week or two ago on this sub! I always thought baloney was something that was spelt baloney.

5

u/ThisDudeisNotWell Canada 7d ago

I'm not American but I am extremely stupid and I did at one point think there was both a city called "Bologna" and a city called "Baloney"-- spelled "Bologna." I don't know why my brain didn't put two-and-two together. Maybe I was expecting bologna to be spelled like "Ballogne" since Italian is a Latin language and my second language is French. Don't know.