Don't Sound Like a Tool: How to Pronounce Pasta Shapes

By Jonathan Kauffman Wed., Jul. 14 2010 at 10:24 AM

Categories: Audio

Don't Sound Like a Tool is SFoodie's series of audio pronunciation guides to sort-of-common-but-not-obvious words we keep encountering on wine lists and menus. No more shame, no more pointing, no more godawful imitations of a language you don't speak.

Given America's long love affair with Italian cuisine ― from the era of baked ziti to the current decade of agnolotti dal plin ― it's surprising so many of us f$#k up the names of our favorite pastas. Here, SFoodie has picked a few of our favorite, less-than-comfortable-to-pronounce pastas to sound out (quite a few of these come from the menu at Quince, always a good place for spotting varieties you have to practice saying in your head before ordering). The goal isn't to sound Italian, just to make sure you know how to order lunch.

eekim/Flickr

When you grab a fistful of tagliatelle, skip the hard g.

Note: If you don't see the audio icon below, wait 30 seconds for it to download.

Acini di pepe
Agnolotti dal plin
Capellacci
Conchiglie
Fagottini
Gnudi (technically, dumplings)
Gnocchi
Maltagliati
Mostaccioli
Occhi di lupo
Pappardelle
Perciatelli
Seme di melone
Spaetzle
Spaghetti alla chitarra
Strozzapreti
Tagliatelle
Taglierini (sometimes tajarin)

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