Table of Contents
Why do British people pronounce tomato?
In Shakespeare’s time it was pronounced with a short a. In modern English it is pronounced with a long a. Chaucer would have belonged to the “tomahto” school–if there had been any tomatoes in England for him to talk about. Shakespeare would have fallen in the middle with “tomaeto” (short a as in cat and half).
Why does potato rhyme with tomato?
We add an e to the plural of potato and tomato because if the last vowel in a word is long, we add another letter to separate the vowel from the ending. The same goes for baby and sky. The y has an long e sound so we add “i” before we add “es”.
Do Brits say Potahto?
Normally, the word “potato” is exclusively pronounced with a long A (/ej/), in both American and British usage. The language used by both the American and English No-one says potahto. It was introduced in the lyrics of a song which attempted to rhyme tomayto/tomahto with potayto/potahto.
Do British say Potahto?
What name rhymes with Spud?
| Word | Rhyme rating | Categories |
|---|---|---|
| duds | 100 | Noun |
| scuds | 100 | Noun |
| buds | 100 | Noun |
| studs | 100 | Noun |
What name rhymes with potato?
| Word | Rhyme rating | Categories |
|---|---|---|
| Plato | 100 | Name |
| potatoe | 100 | Noun, Adjective |
| tomato | 100 | Noun |
| Abeto | 100 | Name |
How do you pronounce tomato in the UK?
Tomato pronunciation US/UK. But before that…the word “tomato” comes from the Nahuatl word “tomatl” and is pronounced ‘toh-mah-tuhl’ which is closer to the British way than American.
Are tomahto Tomatoes acceptable in English?
Not everyone found them acceptable. Writing as late as 1921, H. L. Mencken mentions an English contemporary who felt that the “tomahto” pronunciation was “pedantic” and not to be preferred to “the good English tomato, rhyming with potato.”
What is the origin of the English word ‘tomato’?
British “Tom-ar-toe” and “Pot-ay-toe” doesn’t make sense. Presumably the word “tomato” entered the British lexicon in the 1590s when tomatoes were first introduced to Britain, so this was the first utterance of the word in English.
What does tomahto mean in English?
Because of the song, tomayto, tomahto has come to be used as an expression meaning “unimportant difference.”. The tomato originated in South America. The Spaniards first brought tomato seeds to Europe in the 1540s. The seeds produced a yellow tomato.