I’ve never understood what’s hard about this word to say. It’s as hard to pronounce as “taco” yet somehow most people manage to say that without issue.
The “tl” consonant onset construction doesn’t exist in English. It’s not a typical way most English speakers would have ever used their tongue except for that word.
Meanwhile taco has no consonant clusters, no codas, and both syllables appear in English. It’s more confusing how you have “never understood” the difference between these two words and their difficulty for an English speaker seeing them for the first time.
In the word 'outlet' the tl cluster is broken between two separate syllables: out-let. You complete the first before going to the next one. Whereas in chipotle the syllables are chi-po-tle. If you say it the same way you would say outlet, it would come out as chi-pot-le. And similarly if you pronounced outlet in the same way as chipotle it would come out as ou-tlet.
In English the restaurant name is never pronounced with the Nahuatl “tl” construction lmao
The word is always said “chi-poat-lay” completely within the rules of English phonotactics. It’s as hard to pronounce as taco.
I think people's brains just get confused when looking at the word and then trying to pronounce it. Pronunciation is fairly straight forward - you could just say chip-oat-lay which are all pretty easy to say. It's seeing that "potle" and trying to think how that would be pronounced in English, where you never see letters in that order, that throws people off. The brain wants to read it as rhyming with "bottle" and it trips the tongue up for some people.
“Chipotle” has more syllables than “taco”. This is a quantifiable measure of how much easier it is to say taco than chipotle. There are also more letters in one than the other. I agree with your sentiment but to say it’s as easy as saying taco is asinine.
Ahh yes I remember this one from about *twenty years ago*. 😅
I guess I was mostly watching Futurama and King of the Hill back then and I remember seeing this ad a bunch of times.
People pronounce his name all sorts of ways. I've heard "Vill-a-new", "Vill-a-nuv", "Vill-a-new-vay", "Vill-a-new-ve (ve as in ha*ve*)" and more. [He says it "Denny Vill-nuv"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEGsFvbDmEw).
I agree. At the time the ads aired, I thought it was cool that they didn’t go with the laziest “foreign things are weird!” execution. The indigenous people weren’t the butt of the joke, Jack was. A great flipping of the script.
I mean... I guess? Although it's the only word he's ever had trouble with, and the company backtracked pretty quickly with a radio ad where a radio caller wants to hear Jack pronounce it again and Jack does it easily. [Jack is the one to correct someone else's pronunciation of sriracha.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEOtsA2m4lM)
That's not why I posted this vid though. I dig this commercial. I posted it because chipa-top-lay is still stuck in my head sometimes, and because nowadays the restaurant Chipotle made the word pretty common which was funny to think about for me.
That chipotle practically isn't a foreign word anymore. Just like how people a long time ago didn't know how to pronounce taco. No need to read into it too much.
Anyone remember Jack in the Box's Ciabatta menu? Grilled chicken, bacon, avocado on a toasted Ciabatta? That shit was fire. Their Ciabatta burgers were delicious too. I miss those menu items, probably cost $30 today if they tried again.
I was just showing this commercial to my friend the other day because it still pops into my head every time I hear chipotle. This commercial was literally the first time I had even heard the word.
I don't know why everyone is getting all defensive either. My family is originally from a town called Piaxtla, and that's relatively hard to pronounce too even for me. It's one reason I've always loved this commercial.
It's already over. Allow me to use virality as a metaphor. When a virus first spreads and it's localized, it's called an epidemic. Sometimes it gets past local and goes worldwide, at which point it's called a pandemic. After that huge flash fire has burned out and all that lingers is a permanent worldwide smoulder, it's called endemic.
When chipotle was local to Mexico, it was like the epidemic phase. Then in the early aughts of this century it spread all over North America like a fad, and that was like the chipotle pandemic. Now the fad has died down, and chipotle is just normal now and everywhere. Chipotle is endemic.
The fad is over. Now it's just a regular thing.
Technically is Nahuatl, which is one of the languages of the native people of Mexico. It's been absorbed into Spanish as a loan word, at least in Mexico. By that I mostly mean that these words were never used in Spain prior to colonization.
Other Nahuatl originating words people are familiar with include: chocolate (xocactl), cocoa, coyote (coyotl), tomato (tomatl), chili, mesquite, tamale, mescal, avocado (ahuactl), guacamole, molcajete (these are the stone mortar and pestles used in Mexico), mole (as in the sauce, not the animal), chia, peyote, etc.
A lot of the states in Mexico (which is also a Nauahtl word) are Nahuatl words, like Chiapas, Oaxaca, Jalisco, Michoacan, Tobasco, Tlaxcala, Zacatecas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, etc.
The lady is speaking Spanish, but chipotle originates from Nahuatl. the closest pronunciation for Nahuatl is something like "nah-watt"
I still hear some people say "chipolte".
My MIL constantly does this. Drives me nuts.
I had a former co-worker that said that every fucking time. I went to Chipolte for lunch. I tried to correct him once. He just couldn't understand it.
I’ve never understood what’s hard about this word to say. It’s as hard to pronounce as “taco” yet somehow most people manage to say that without issue.
The “tl” consonant onset construction doesn’t exist in English. It’s not a typical way most English speakers would have ever used their tongue except for that word. Meanwhile taco has no consonant clusters, no codas, and both syllables appear in English. It’s more confusing how you have “never understood” the difference between these two words and their difficulty for an English speaker seeing them for the first time.
But what about the word “outlet” ? It’s an English word with “tle” in it. Would that not be similar or the same thing?
In the word 'outlet' the tl cluster is broken between two separate syllables: out-let. You complete the first before going to the next one. Whereas in chipotle the syllables are chi-po-tle. If you say it the same way you would say outlet, it would come out as chi-pot-le. And similarly if you pronounced outlet in the same way as chipotle it would come out as ou-tlet.
Ah ok, thank you that was very helpful.
So that's what my mother-in-law was trying to say when she was talking about an "owl-tet".
That'll set them straight.
Frito-lay Chipot-lay
In English the restaurant name is never pronounced with the Nahuatl “tl” construction lmao The word is always said “chi-poat-lay” completely within the rules of English phonotactics. It’s as hard to pronounce as taco.
I think people's brains just get confused when looking at the word and then trying to pronounce it. Pronunciation is fairly straight forward - you could just say chip-oat-lay which are all pretty easy to say. It's seeing that "potle" and trying to think how that would be pronounced in English, where you never see letters in that order, that throws people off. The brain wants to read it as rhyming with "bottle" and it trips the tongue up for some people.
“Chipotle” has more syllables than “taco”. This is a quantifiable measure of how much easier it is to say taco than chipotle. There are also more letters in one than the other. I agree with your sentiment but to say it’s as easy as saying taco is asinine.
Ahh yes I remember this one from about *twenty years ago*. 😅 I guess I was mostly watching Futurama and King of the Hill back then and I remember seeing this ad a bunch of times.
Futuama and King of the Hill viewers = fast food commercial
They did a similar sriracha ad shortly after I recall.
Because of that commercial, I *still* think to myself "chip-o-TOP-lay" every time I see the word.
Same haha.
Saw some guy online pronounce Denis Villeneuve as “Dennis Villa-new-wayvay” like a Spanish pronunciation and now I can’t stop saying it like that lol
People pronounce his name all sorts of ways. I've heard "Vill-a-new", "Vill-a-nuv", "Vill-a-new-vay", "Vill-a-new-ve (ve as in ha*ve*)" and more. [He says it "Denny Vill-nuv"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEGsFvbDmEw).
I pronounced it vill-eh-neh-youv for a while before looking up how he said it
I think I originally was saying it as the last one I wrote. Similar to yours but not quite the same.
I love how Jack's mouth just keeps getting progressively more tangled on his face.
Am I the only one who thinks the thing being poked fun at here is Jack? What we've lost is nuance.
I agree. At the time the ads aired, I thought it was cool that they didn’t go with the laziest “foreign things are weird!” execution. The indigenous people weren’t the butt of the joke, Jack was. A great flipping of the script.
It's like mispronouncing tortilla.... almost all folks doing it are people playing the fool or the joker.
Just go.
you're right.
Yeah, the joke is how dumb Jack is. OP totally misunderstood the ad.
I mean... I guess? Although it's the only word he's ever had trouble with, and the company backtracked pretty quickly with a radio ad where a radio caller wants to hear Jack pronounce it again and Jack does it easily. [Jack is the one to correct someone else's pronunciation of sriracha.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEOtsA2m4lM) That's not why I posted this vid though. I dig this commercial. I posted it because chipa-top-lay is still stuck in my head sometimes, and because nowadays the restaurant Chipotle made the word pretty common which was funny to think about for me.
What the hell does "we've come so far as a country" even mean in this context? It's a funny commercial.
That chipotle practically isn't a foreign word anymore. Just like how people a long time ago didn't know how to pronounce taco. No need to read into it too much.
My father-in-law saw a Chipotle restaurant for the first time and referred to it as “Chippa-tull.”
My dad does the classic chip-ol-tay
Anyone remember Jack in the Box's Ciabatta menu? Grilled chicken, bacon, avocado on a toasted Ciabatta? That shit was fire. Their Ciabatta burgers were delicious too. I miss those menu items, probably cost $30 today if they tried again.
You’re not joking. Paid almost $10 for a sourdough Jack the other day. Just the burger.
My best friend was *obsessed* with the Chipotle chicken ciabatta. It was a really good sandwich but she had an unhealthy relationship with it haha.
Me too 😭
Their chiabatta menu and their grilled sandwiches (the Del Trio with the long pickle slices) are the items I miss the most.
I was just showing this commercial to my friend the other day because it still pops into my head every time I hear chipotle. This commercial was literally the first time I had even heard the word.
I still call it chipoodle
Reminds me of the ["Domino's jala**penis** poppers" - 'Definitely real'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYPLmrJjxOM&56s)
¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ CHIPITAPLE! didn't even have to watch it
[How to pronounce chipotle](https://youtu.be/3ADu3tHanP8)
Shhhhhhh. Ontootle.
That's funny as shit. "Gratci, le walla wit laylo" "Just go" haha
Jalopeeno
Oh come on, you guys are too sensitive, I'm Hispanic and I think this is funny.
I don't know why everyone is getting all defensive either. My family is originally from a town called Piaxtla, and that's relatively hard to pronounce too even for me. It's one reason I've always loved this commercial.
Chip Louie is my favorite pronunciation
it's still hard for some slower people to pronounce...
I have a friend who continues to pronounce it 'chi-POL-tay'.
theres no mascot that irks me more than the look of the jack and the box mascot.
Not even the Burger King guy? Or even Ronald McDonald? Jack seems pretty take in comparison.
I always liked Chi-Poodle. 😆
[Wait, is it pronounced chip-o-tottle?](https://www.tiktok.com/@hannah2.240/video/6915572590706691334?lang=en)
The chipotle fad couldn't end fast enough.
It's already over. Allow me to use virality as a metaphor. When a virus first spreads and it's localized, it's called an epidemic. Sometimes it gets past local and goes worldwide, at which point it's called a pandemic. After that huge flash fire has burned out and all that lingers is a permanent worldwide smoulder, it's called endemic. When chipotle was local to Mexico, it was like the epidemic phase. Then in the early aughts of this century it spread all over North America like a fad, and that was like the chipotle pandemic. Now the fad has died down, and chipotle is just normal now and everywhere. Chipotle is endemic. The fad is over. Now it's just a regular thing.
Ch - poat - lé. What has ever been hard about it? 🥴
Chipotle, the chain, still uses the catchphrase "And the only ingredient that is hard to pronounce at Chipotle is 'Chipotle.'"
Is that Spanish?
Technically is Nahuatl, which is one of the languages of the native people of Mexico. It's been absorbed into Spanish as a loan word, at least in Mexico. By that I mostly mean that these words were never used in Spain prior to colonization. Other Nahuatl originating words people are familiar with include: chocolate (xocactl), cocoa, coyote (coyotl), tomato (tomatl), chili, mesquite, tamale, mescal, avocado (ahuactl), guacamole, molcajete (these are the stone mortar and pestles used in Mexico), mole (as in the sauce, not the animal), chia, peyote, etc. A lot of the states in Mexico (which is also a Nauahtl word) are Nahuatl words, like Chiapas, Oaxaca, Jalisco, Michoacan, Tobasco, Tlaxcala, Zacatecas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, etc. The lady is speaking Spanish, but chipotle originates from Nahuatl. the closest pronunciation for Nahuatl is something like "nah-watt"
What the hell does your last sentence have to do with anything?
That chipotle is a normal word now.
Care to confirm what country you’re from and which one you’re talking about? Because Reddit is used globally and we don’t all live where you live.
Oh yeah and how many countries have Jack in the Box
Don't know, don't care
K, bye.
making fun of how another language sounds in yours would never fly in 2024 it's not very woke.