Vegan pronunciation

[Christa]

I have to ask you all how you pronounce vegan. I was speaking to someone the other day who at least knew what I was talking about when I told him that I was vegan, but told me that I was mispronouncing it. Maybe I have been wrong for 14 yrs!

Anyway, I have always said v-ee-gan with 'hard' e. I have ocassionally heard someone say v-ay-gan with the e pronounced and a 'hard' a, but always thought that they were both acceptable. No one ever told me that I was wrong in Berkeley when I lived there.

So, what do you all call yourselves & is one pronunciation more right than the other?

[frenchie]

I have always pronounced it v-ee-gan. I know v-ee-gan or vay-gan are acceptable, but I've even heard people vall it vejan with the "j" pronounced with a hard "g" sound. That I know is incorrect, by Webster's dictionary. That's my 2 cents!

[Erin Pavlina]

When people say vay-gun I say, "No, we're not from Vegas."

I pronounce it Vee-Gun, and I believe that is the correct way. I would check the Vegan Society website. They'll know.

[Fiona]

People in the UK tend to pronounce it VEE-GAN (although you can hardly hear the 'A' between the 'G' and the 'N'). I have heard Americans pronounce it differently though.


Fiona

[Christa]

Well, I am glad to hear that I am not a complete dunce :)! I was feeling a bit stupid & was wondering how I was going to explain my new pronunciation to my family after I had been telling them that I was was v-ee-gan for so long.

[molly]

You have my vote for v-ee-gan with a barely noticeable "a" in the second syllable (I believe they call that sound the "schwa" or something if I recall first grade grammar!?? maybe?). My parents keep calling me vaygan & it just sounds wrong. Besides, they pronounced it v-ee-gan on the Simpsons, so it must be right, right? :)

[vegma]

I'm on board with veegan too! But I started out mis-pronouncing both tempeh and quinoa and my husband still grumbles when I say them correctly!!

[Orcadia]

So how do you pronounce tempeh and quinoa then?
And what about tofu - I've heard it pronounced as toh-foo and toe-foo, which is correct?

[duckie1978]

This is how I pronounce things

Vegan-veegan (I think the vay-gan comes from vegetarian, where vegan comes from)
Quinoa-keen-wah (that pronunciation is from a magazine)
Tempeh-tem-pay

But I could be wrong.

[Erin Pavlina]

Duckie is right as far as I'm concerned.

[Orcadia]

Thanks for the pornounciations, I didn't have a clue how quinoa was pronounced before!

How is tofu pronounced?

[Erin Pavlina]

Tofu is pronounced "toe-foo"

[veganerd]

i think that is a better way to spell the pronunciation. just my idea.

[lunamama3]

how bout seitan then? (that sweet wheat meat...)

i prefer to say it like satan...freaks people out. :) but i think it's correctly say-TAN or some such thing. anyone gonna begrudge me my fun? ;)

lisa

[capersmama]

Hey!!! I'm from way down south..lol..you know..that southern drawl and all..lol I pronounce it v-A-gun ;) remember..I'm from the south! <grin>

[alexis]

i pronouce Vegan as vee-gun.....


Just to mess things up a little...sometimes i hear people pronounce tofu as ta-ow-fu...that's the chinese dialect pronounciation of it... ;)

[Sheree]

I've heard seitan pronouned "say-ton" mostly.

My friend saw a T-shirt she said she wants to get me:

"I worship seitan"

I think I'd be too embarrassed to weat it ...love seitan though.:p