How about Top Ten Things Baltimore is Missing from its Dining Scene? (like....seriously good Chinese restaurant....casual restaurant that isn't a chain where you can take the kids for dinner.....a local seafood restaurant with the fresh catch of the day.....)

Lebanese restaurants, juice bars and bakeries. I wouldn't say no to a nice Iraqi kebab joint, either.

That's a very good point, although I pronounce Lebanese Taverna pretty well for a foreigner. :-) But usually those are spelled phonetically, aren't they? I'm thinking more of restaurants that it's easy to mispronounce badly, not just with an American accent. I can't come up with ten, though. A decade ago it would have been any restaurant name containing the word "trattoria." EL

Imagine that the person who answers the phone does not pronounce the name of the establishment correctly, and I'm not saying Kooper's!

Vin Restaurant. Three people I know pronounce them three different ways.

casual restaurant that isn't a chain where you can take the kids for dinner

Golden West always works for us, and they just added a cute kid's entertainment package in a Chinese take-out container.

How about Slainte ("slan-cha") in Fells Point?

You guys are good. Slainte and Vin are excellent examples. Maybe we could have come up with 10 after all. EL

While we're on the subject of pronunciation, what is the true pronunciation of "Aliceanna"?

As for Vin Restaurant. it ought to be pronounced in the French manner, but the owner specifies that it is pronounced "Vine," as I recall. What's the third option, Dan D.?

While we're on the subject of pronunciation, what is the true pronunciation of "Aliceanna"?

In Fells Point it's pronounced "alice-anna". Pronouncing it another way reveals that you're not a local. Another warning signal of non-locals is pronouncing "Thames St." like the English would.

Dahlink said:
As for Vin Restaurant. it ought to be pronounced in the French manner, but the owner specifies that it is pronounced "Vine," as I recall. What's the third option, Dan D.?

I'm not Dan D, but I'm guessing the third option is a short "i", so it would sound like the VIN number of your car.

And for pronounciations--exactly how does one say "Fogo de Chao"? Is it a "ch-" sound or a hard k?

Another GREAT one. I was too pessimistic. They say "shoun" but I can't imagine why the n. EL

Sorry, I was responding to BMoreSweet's suggestion of things Baltimore is missing, not things difficult to pronounce.

I hate it when I forget to signal...

Having been corrected in the past on the pronunciation of Fogo de Chão by a teenage nephew whose mother is Portuguese, I decided to figure out why, and found this Wikipedia explanation. The tilde (~) over the letter "a" on the diphthong "-ão" at the end of a word signifies that the "n" sound should be added. Thus, the "São" in "São Paolo" is pronouned Soun.

(Aren't you sorry you asked, EL?)

No, I'm delighted to know. Thanks. EL

While on a guided walking tour of Fells Point, the guide (who seemed knowledgeable enough) instructed us that Thames St. was to be pronounced with the H, and Aliceanna without the final A. Quick, Batman, to the local history books (or Pratt Library). Of course, those of you who were in the neighborhood on Saturday could have checked ...

Thanks, Piano Rob! But it is "Alice Ann" or "Al-lee-cee-ann"? I'm guessing the former.

I'm happy to give in on the local pronunciation of "Aliceanna" but CANNOT bring myself to pronounce "Thames" phonetically. But then, the way I pronounce my "o"s gives me away as a non-native anyway!

KristinB: Too funny - and true. I used to swear I had no accent until people here laughed at my Midwestern r's. They also snickered when I said the name of my home state of Wisconsin until I would say, "Who's the native?"

My Baltimore accent, which I have tried in vain to rid myself of, was last pointed out to me by a friend from California when I pronounced a day of the week as "Sundee".

Rosebud, I've never been able to give "home" the requisite Baltimore vowel sound--maybe you can demonstrate when we finally meet one of these days!

Dahlink, near as I can approximate it in writing, it's "haome"--"ao" is a dipthong and the "o" is long I'm a native without much of a Bawlmer accent, but my o's give me away every time.

Thanks, Dottie. I can conceptualize it, but I can't wrap my mouth around it.

I am constantly amazed that my husband has quite an ear for regional accents. We once met the new husband of one of my college friends, and without knowing anything about him, my husband asked "Are you from Delaware?" He was. I didn't know there was a Wilmington accent!