I’ll Have Some of Your Buffola Wings

January 11, 2008 – 11:08 am

It may seem silly, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when people mispronounce a very simple word: Chipotle.

In the past few years, with the increasingly mainstream use of the pepper and the massive expansion of the burrito chain of the same name, the word Chipotle has become a relatively common word in the American vernacular.

It’s very simple to pronounce, people: chi-POAT-lay. Yet at least once a week, I hear someone around the office refer to the burrito chain as chi-POLE-tay. How do you screw that up? Look at the fucking word, people. The T is before the L. It’s printed right there in black and white…

… except when it’s printed in black and white on a receipt at Kevin St. James in Hell’s Kitchen:

chipolte.JPG



  1. 10 Responses

  2. That mispronunciation drives me insane.

    By Todd on Jan 11, 2008

  3. try not to trash these guys. they may be retarded, but they are closing (as well as nearby scruffy duffy’s) so that condos can come in.

    By Tyler on Jan 11, 2008

  4. Do they use Nucular weapons at Chipolte?

    By Benjamin Kabak on Jan 11, 2008

  5. Whoa, Mr. Detox, is that a drink on your receipt?

    By Alice on Jan 11, 2008

  6. Flagrant disregard for spelling in pronunciation makes me want to hurt a great many people. When the restaurant first came to the area I grew up in, some people in my family even pronounced it “chippetoli.”

    By Ri L. on Jan 11, 2008

  7. Alice: Simmer down. It wasn’t my drink. My soda ($2.75, by the way. Talk about a ripoff) is obscured by the blowup of the misspelling.

    By Chris on Jan 11, 2008

  8. I’ve never heard anyone use the dyslexic “chipoltay” pronunciation, but I ALWAYS here some idiot calling it “chipotel”, as in saying it exactly how it’s spelled. Drives me up the wall.

    By Casey on Jan 12, 2008

  9. I hate the unintentional mispronunciations, but I’m a big fan of the intentional ones.

    I do occasionally say “Chipotel” every now and then. Also “Tar-jzay” (French pronunciation of Target… no clue if that’s the right way to spell it.)

    By amish on Jan 14, 2008

  10. Who ate Penne Vodka at Kevin St. James? Gross.

    By mjones on Jan 14, 2008

  11. During food photo shoots our fer-tah-griffer (like that one?) says “CHI-POLE-TAY” to the food stylist, client, etc. over and over again and NO ONE corrects him. Its one thing to be the most unworldly person ever, but when you advertise it, it really is for shame, for shame indeed. How can he live with himself…

    By franziskaner on Jan 21, 2008

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