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You might be surprised to hear how the word pecan is supposed to be pronounced

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Tomorrow, if you're lucky, you'll find yourself in front of a large slice of Thanksgiving puh-cahn (ph) pie. Or as some people like to say it, pee-can (ph) pie. The hosts of NPR's podcast, How To Do Everything - Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag - recently dove into the puh-cahn versus pee-can debate. Mike and Ian join us now and hopefully they're going to tell us how to finally settle this, right, Mike?

MIKE DANFORTH, BYLINE: Yeah. We'll do it.

IAN CHILLAG, BYLINE: Yeah. Hey, before we get into, what do you say? Do you say pee-can or puh-cahn?

MARTÍNEZ: OK. So I used to say it one way, only because of this movie clip.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WHEN HARRY MET SALLY")

BILLY CRYSTAL: (As Harry Burns) I have decided that for the rest of the day, we are going to talk like this.

MEG RYAN: (As Sally Albright) Like this?

CRYSTAL: (As Harry Burns) No. Please, to repeat after me. I'd be proud to partake of your pee-can pie.

RYAN: (As Sally Albright) Pee-can pie.

CRYSTAL: (As Harry Burns) Pee-can pie.

RYAN: (As Sally Albright) Pee-can pie.

CRYSTAL: (As Harry Burns) Pee-can pie.

RYAN: (As Sally Albright) Pee-can pie (laughter).

MARTÍNEZ: So, that's Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan in the great film, "When Harry Met Sally." So I used to say pee-can because that's how Billy Crystal used to say it. Then, guys, I met my wife from West Texas, who said puh-cahn, and she's, like, what are you saying? Like, you sound dumb. So, I really don't know what to say.

DANFORTH: OK. Well, so each week on our show, listeners submit questions to us and we find overqualified guests to answer them.

CHILLAG: We are going to help you decide between Billy Crystal and your wife.

DANFORTH: So we went to the perfect ultimate authority on pee-cahn (ph) pie and all things proper and good, Martha Stewart.

MARTHA STEWART: Puh-cahn.

DANFORTH: Puh-cahn.

STEWART: Puh-cahn. It's not pee-can. I don't say pee-can.

CHILLAG: If someone does say pee-can, do you correct them, or do you just accept?

STEWART: Absolutely not. But my granddaughter does.

DANFORTH: Oh. (Laughter) How does she - how does she correct them?

STEWART: (Laughter) Puh-cahn.

DANFORTH: Puh-cahn.

STEWART: And she's 13. Then you have to look it up with her and, oh, God, it's so annoying.

MARTÍNEZ: It turns out there was even a higher authority on the pronunciation of this word than Martha Stewart. So what did you guys do next?

CHILLAG: We did some digging and the word puh-cahn has its origins, we learned, in the Algonkian linguistic family. Ojibwe is an Algonkian language.

DANFORTH: We enlisted the help of an Ojibwe linguist and professor, Dr. Michael Migizi Sullivan. This is, we would say, the final verdict - Dr. Sullivan pronouncing the word.

MICHAEL MIGIZI SULLIVAN: We say buh-gahn (ph).

DANFORTH: Buh-gahn.

SULLIVAN: In Ojibwe, we spell it with a B. Now, being that the Europeans call it a puh-cahn, I'd say, would be the closest in the colloquial English that matches an Indigenous pronunciation, buh-gahn - puh-cahn (laughter).

DANFORTH: So the - if you were forced to accept an anglicized version of the word, puh-cahn would be better than pee-can?

SULLIVAN: Yes. Very much so (laughter). Pee-can sounds really American to me.

CHILLAG: Yeah.

SULLIVAN: (Laughter) Buh-gahn is where we're going for.

DANFORTH: So there you have it, A. It's puh-cahn, or if you want to show off, you can say buh-gahn.

CHILLAG: You know, if this fight breaks out among the other many fights at a Thanksgiving table, this one, you can be the final authority. It is puh-cahn.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's the hosts of NPR's podcast, How To Do Everything. Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag, thank you, you two, for settling this long-simmering debate.

CHILLAG: Thanks.

DANFORTH: Happy Thanksgiving.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

A Martínez
A Martínez is one of the hosts of Morning Edition and Up First. He came to NPR in 2021 and is based out of NPR West.