Hatrack River Forum: lasagna or lasagne?

This is topic lasagna or lasagne? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :

Lasagna wins on Googlefight.

How do you spell it? Why?

Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :

I spell it lasagna. Prior to this thread, I had never seen it with an e on the end. I learn something new everyday.

Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :

In Italian, lasagne is plural, lasagna is singular.

Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :

kojabu, does the plural refer to more than one lasagna noodle, or more than one pan of lasagna?

Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :

I'm not entirely sure about that one. The noodles themselves are called lasagna, so it would make sense that lasagne would be multiple noodles, similar to spaghetti. But because lasagna is a dish I'd say that in English it would be more than one pan of lasagna. Though I doubt anyone calls two dishes of lasagna lasagne.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

In (American) English, either is acceptable, but with the "a" is more common. And no distinction is made between plural and singular.

Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :

Thanks. I've always written it "lasagna" but have been seeing "lasagne" a lot more recently, especially in sort of upscale restaurants, cookbooks, or websites. I wondered whether lasagne was the more correct Italian term for the dish.

But any way you spell it, I'll eat it!

Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :

Well if you think about it this way, Italians don't call a dish of spaghetti spaghetto.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Neither do Americans. [Wink]

Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :

Americans can't pronounce bruschetta.

Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :

bruh-SHEH-tuh. No?

Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :

bruh-SKEH-tuh. A ch in Italian is hard.

Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :

I always kind of did both ... bru-SHKEH-tuh.

Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :

There's some movie in which a very young Sophia Loren brings a mortadella on a flight from Italy into the U.S., and has a long, drawn-out conflict with the customs officer over her refusal to leave it behind. (If I remember correctly, that's basically the plot of the entire movie.) Anyway, any time I see the word "mortadella" I will always hear her pronunciation!

Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :

quote:
Originally posted by kojabu:
bruh-SKEH-tuh. A ch in Italian is hard.

You forgot to add "...if it is followed by an i or e" Cha, cho, chu would be the english "ch" sound. Same rules apply for the letter g.

Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :

I blame all the various TV chefs for my inability to pronounce Italian food words. What's the deal there? Everybody agrees on how to pronounce "burrito", how come they all pronounce "spaghetti" differently?

Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :

I'm glad I haven't watched enough cooking shows to wonder how to pronounce spaghetti. It's "pisketty" of course! [Razz]

In Portugal (don't know if this is true of Brazilian Portuguese or not) spaghetti is "esparguete." For some reason, that always bugged me. What's the "r" doing in there? Sounds like asparagus. Spaghetti just should not have an r in it. That's just wrong. [Wink]

Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :

Just for the heck of it I entered 'Enders Game' and 'Enders Shadow' into GoogleFight, and the results were ...

Enders Game = 1,420,000

Enders Shadow = 662,000

Well, I gues that settles that... whatever 'that' might be.

Steve/BlueWizard

Posted by sweetbaboo (Member # 8845) on :

I spelled it with an e until my spell check corrected me. I feel a bit of happiness right now to find out that there is a possibility that I haven't been spelling lasagne incorrectly all these years.

Posted by Dead_Horse (Member # 3027) on :

In reading the school lunch menu, my German teacher asked, "What's a Tay-co?" I guess that's why she wasn't the Spanish teacher.

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :

Bruschetta== Hard ch if you're speaking proper Italian. However, in the south, it is acceptable to soften it to a mixture of sh and hard ch.

It's lasagna. You'd only say 'le lasagne' if there were multiple dishes.

Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :

quote:
Originally posted by rivka:
In (American) English, either is acceptable, but with the "a" is more common.

Nonsense; the 'e' spelling is totally unacceptable, and anyone using it should be shot. :nods:

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

You've been far more blood-thirsty than usual the past week or so. Something unpleasant happen in your personal life, or are you just working through some childhood issues?