The Green Stuff

I love guacamole. Love it. Like, probably more than a person should love a food. Especially a green and mushy food. But I just do.

Really, this love affair has been going on for some time. At some point in high school I perfected a guacamole recipe that led me to becoming the chief maker of the tasty dip in my house. And so, on special occasions (beach trips, visitors in town, taco nights) I would make my dip. And then, promptly eat the majority of it. I’m not that great at sharing when it comes to guacamole. Or food in general for that matter.

I also have a tendency to judge Mexican restaurants based entirely on their guac. Lauriol Plaza in DC will forever remain one of my favorite places to eat in the world because of its dip. (And it’s swirl margaritas, but that’s a story for another time.) El Fenix in Dallas comes a close second. And, most recently, in Atlanta, I have developed a true adoration for the green stuff at Taqueria del Sol.

But there is one problem with guacamole—beyond the obvious not sharing/biting other people’s hands when they come close to my avocado stash issue. It is one of many words I find difficult to pronounce.

That’s right. I’m an editor. I was an English major in college. I read a lot of books. But pronunciation gets me every time. Ask me to read out loud and there’s a good chance before a paragraph is up I will have stumbled over a word. Words that I know what they mean, but I struggle with saying them.

Guacamole is one of many words that I know how to say, but I have to think twice about before I do it. My temptation is to pronounce it Wok-oh-moly. I don’t know why. Other commonly paused over words for me include Caterpillar (I want to say Calla-piller), Croissant (Quoi – sont) and Metropolis (Metro- Pollis).

So yeah, I struggle with this. Yet another reason I chose to pursue print rather than broadcast journalism. That first time I pronounced Metropolis wrong on television would have been really awkward. Luckily for me, at places where one can get truly good guacamole, English is a second language for most of the employees. So my pronunciation of just about anything on the menu sounds terrible to them—which means that I can almost always enjoy my guac free from ridicule.