In choosing to use the English language. We pick up it's grammar. Proper punctuation. And spelling. But most importantly: the proper phonemes used and organization and verbalization and tone of the word being said.

SOME of the people, in this world, commit an unspeakable crime. They pronounce a specific set of words very incorrectly.

In the English language. There is a word. A much disputed and debated word. The word... is caramel.

Now; let's look at this word.

Cara-Pronounced like the name Kara.
C is said like 'K' (A hard C).
Then an 'ar' pronounced like 'air"
And then an 'a' at the end.
And then of course, the 'mel'. Pronounced m-eh-l.

Care-uh-mell.

Simple? Right?
No!
Because some people have this view; that is is pronounced carmel.
They pronounce it, carmel. How silly!

What do you think it is pronounced like?

Care-ah-mell.

Care-uh-mell.

CAR-mul. Yup.

Car-mul. Get it right, people.

Hrm... I'm in the middle. I pronounce it as care-mel. I think it really depends...

Is it OK if I add an additional word?

I've been living in the wrong all my life! *le gasp* Nah, I think it really depends on where you're from. Most northerners, I've found, call it car-mull or car-mle.

~Calen

Haha, I will
Now, that; is mostly proper. As long as it isn't carmel.



See! The UK-inites know what they are doing

Nah, us peoples from the north know how to really pronounce it.

That's how I pronounce it too.

Here's the thing, though. The correct way to pronounce it is the way that the creators of caramel pronounced it. Anyone care to take a guess who invented caramel? *makes her history buff self be quiet and wait *

I have no idea! *Waits for Airi to explain*

*Waits for history buff to stop being quiet*

*tries to refrain, but can’t * Okay, ya’ll twisted my arm. I’ll tell you.

Caramel is an American confection, one of the few we can truly claim. Some say that Caramel actually originated in Turin Italy at the beginning of the 1800s, but that is under dispute and has not been proven.

The word caramel was first recorded in the English language in 1725, and came from the Spanish word caramelo , which means caramelized sugar. Trace it back further, and you get the Latin word cannamellis (sugar cane) or callamellus (little reed, referring to sugar cane).

By the 1650s, we have American women recorded as using caramelized sugar and water to make candies. The candy made from caramelized sugar and water was, of course, hard. But the hardness was considered a good thing. It was very inexpensive to produce. It was easily transported, and it wasn't necessary to handle it with care. Best of all, it had a very long shelf life.


Somewhere around 1850, it was discovered that by adding milk and fat products to this cooked sugar mixture, a sweet chewy confection was produced, and it was quickly named "caramel." Caramel was an instant hit, and it got more and more popular.

Milton Hershey, the famous chocolate manufacturer, first entered the candymaking business at the Lancaster Caramel Company, which had been started in the late 1800s. It was because of his desire to improve on the caramel candies that he found the German-built machinery to manufacture chocolate (thank goodness!!!).

Hershey's first intention was to cover his caramel candy in chocolate. He did succeed at that, but then he became so fascinated with chocolate that he sold his caramel company for an unheard-of sum of $1 million and used the money to found his chocolate company.

This, sadly, was one of the first steps towards the downgrade in caramel. The desire for more and more profits caused manufacturers to decrease the quality of the ingredients they were using to make the caramel. Quality dropped at about the same rate as price. It wasn't long before caramel was considered by confectioners as a "cheap" ingredient.

Thankfully, though, caramel made a comeback. Small manufacturers returned to basics and started using high-quality ingredients in caramel, returning it to its status as a favorite of confectioners.

And now all Fantasy people know why I like the Historical Fiction forum.

In that case, we Americans should switch to saying "aluminium."

I wouldn't argue with that.

Fascinating, Airianna.

So how is it pronounced? XD

I tend to think that Care-uh-mell, or Kara=Mehl is closer to the origional way it was said, based off of caramelo. However, I also think that accent has a lot to do with how you say it.

Ahh, pity. I'll just have to be wrong, then.

I have, and always will pronounce it carmel.

And I'm as southern as they get...

Good boy, Eli. XD

There is an easy solution to all this. Never, EVER say the word caramel! BINGO! All your problems solved!

If I have to talk about it, I'll say, "May I have some of that candy?" or "May I have some of that delicious, brown, sticky stuff?"

And then the person can say, "You mean the caramel?"

And I'll just say, "Yes."

I'm a genius!

...I may shudder if they said "care-uh-mel" though.

But if you always say Carmel, you won't know whether you are talking about the mountain or the 'absolatootely' delicious candy!

Nah, we Kansans always know what we mean.

This is a bit off topic, but I recently saw a picture of a cat whose name was "Caramellow". My brain pronounced it cara-mellow, even though I usually pronounce caramel as "car-mul".

Aha! So your temporal lobe autonomically transmitted the proper neurotransmitters due to the unidentified stimuli; that was unconditioned to your usual behavior.
In other words; you said the right thing, because you didn't think about it

OK, I think that I've figured out that I say it: Care-eh-mel (when I draw it out). Quickly it might sound like care-mel. So I think I'm still stuck in the middle. It could go either way for me.



Um... that's why they always say "Mount Carmel" whenever they talk about the mountain. Then they don't get confused...

Come to think of it... saying Car-mole sounds kind of weird... But I'll stay with my middle position so no one will be mad at me.



Um... then why do they always say it "car-mel" even when they don't think about it? Wouldn't it mean, through your logic, that they were pronouncing it the right way because they don't think about it?

CAR MOLE?!??!? HAHA!

*pictures dorky little moles with huge glasses driving cars around town*

Haha. That was the best way I could describe how to pronounce it.

Oh my...