Calvados

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:47 PM +0100 12/5/00, Jan Ivarsson wrote:
>  >
>>  In France, calvados is pronounced [kalvados], but it's often called
>>  "calva" for short (not, I don't think, "calvad").  In English
>>  speaking countries it's basically pronounced in the same way, mutatis
>>  mutandis (aspirated [k], digraph for first /a/, schwa for second /a/,
>>  first syllable stress, dark [l], etc.).
>>
>>  Larry
>
>Perfectly right, but be prepared:
>If in France you order "un Calvados", the waiter will without fail
>answer "Un Calva". If instead you order "un Calva", he will of
>course confirm by answering "Un Calvados". Just to let you feel how
>superior spoken French is to your poor foreigner's language.
>
>Jan Ivarsson, Sweden (who has lived for 15 years in Paris).

Well, there's always Armagnac...

L