haha thanks for the overlooking of my poor spelling.
so based on yall’s (my use of this word may explain my poor spelling and need for pronunciation help) exchange, if I have been saying it “poo-yee fwee-seh” and treating the ll as in Spanish, its close enough that id be able to get the point across at least?
I don’t think it is “seh,” as in “meh.” With the accent, it is more like “say.” So “pwee (or poowee, if you draw it out, which I wouldn’t) fwee-say”
Yes, certainly.
No, this doesn’t sound right. Fuissé most certainly ends with “seh”, not “say”.
Otto has it right. I used to think of that vowel as “say” but it’s a bit flatter than that.
I think poo-wee or pwee are slightly closer to the French pronunciation than poo-yee. Otto can correct me if that’s wrong.
And keep using that “yall/y’all”! It’s a wonderful solution to the ambiguities in English resulting from the fact that our singular and plural of the second person are the same (you and you).
And I like your use of the possessive second person plural (“yall’s”)!
Of course, in New York, the plural second person is “youse” (e.g., “Youse jerks!”) (Think Archie Bunker.) And the second-person plural possessive seems to be “yourses,” based on a conversation I heard on the subway last year between some young Latino guys:
"… at yourses guys’ place.”
I was so fascinated by that construction that I wrote it down at the time.
An "e’ with an accent aigu “e” may be less flat than “say,” but it is neverless a long “a” and nothing like “seh.” I also think pouilly is not “pwee” but “pwee yee.” it is a two syllable word.
Jorge’s is actually correct. It’s Veen-nyo, not vee-no. The nh in Portuguese is pronounced like the n with a tilde in spanish. Like the gna in lasagna but with an o ending.
risqué, déclassé, manqué, fuissé
What a great thread, thanks for all the discussion, info, and general gentleness of the feedback. Pouilly-Fuissé has always been a tough one for me. I’ll still stumble on it, but perhaps with a little more confidence. BTW lately been drinking a lot of it lately, excellent QPR substitute for more fancy white Burgundies. 
I also salute Alan for having the courage for actually asking Charles van Canneyt how to pronounce the name of his winery! I wouldn’t. Now … how do you pronounce his name?
A related experience that I’ve always found fascinating is how the speaking/hearing centers of our brains work together (or fail to). I generally find that I need to hear someone else say a challenging word multiple times – and then say it and listen to myself multiple times – before I really start to get it. So much potential embarrassment … “can you say that again? is this right? again?”.
I think you mean the accent acute. In any event, the French “é” is hard to represent in English without resorting to phonetic notation.
Of course, you’re right. And I have no idea why I was opining on Portuguese!
I mean the accent aigu, yes, and it is, so far as I know universally sounded as an “ay” and not an “eh.” As in attaché, blasé, canapé, cliché, communiqué, café, décor, déjà vu, détente, entrée, exposé, mêlée, fiancé, fiancée, papier-mâché, passé, pâté, piqué, plié, repoussé, résumé, risqué, sauté, roué, séance, naïveté, toupée and touché.
Now Fuissé is a proper noun, and they can be different. I am not French and don’t know the local dialect. But I am pretty confident that it is “ay.”
being from South Carolina, that certainly sounds to me like they are just trying as hard as possible not to say “yall’s” where there really is no more appropriate alternative. haha
I mean sure they could have just said “your” place… but where the fun in that??
Anyone want to tackle this one for me?
Ployez-Jacquemart Champagne Liesse d’Harbonville
But “your” has the same ambiguity as “you” – you don’t know if the speaker is addressing just one person or a group. “Yourses” fulfills exactly the same grammatical function as “y’all’s” (and I have no idea whether that should have one or two apostrophes and, if only one, where it should go). They’re both second-person plural possessive pronouns.
Plway Ay zhock mar sham pinye lee ess dar bon veal. The “i” in pinye is really halfway between a short “a” and a long "I’ if you can manage that. And the “bon” is a nasal “on” that has no English phonetic equivalent but does not really pronounce the b.
Ente. Like arnaud ente.
I’ve always heard it as the ant in Kant (the philosopher) but I was recently told it’s pronounced N-te?
Wouldn’t it be more “Ahn-t”?
That’s the way Americans pronounced the philosopher’s name – like the A in “want.”
Maybe I’m just confused by your choice of words. Certainly it is longer than a short “eh”, but "rendering it as “-ay” doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s only one vowel (“eh” but pronounced longer), not a diphthong like -ay in “say” or “hay”.
I also think pouilly is not “pwee” but “pwee yee.” it is a two syllable word.
It definitely is, but you have to think of that “pwee” as sorta “p’wee”. When the French are speaking, they tend to say the names very briefly, not very articulately, so “Pouilly” usually comes more sorta one-and-a-half-syllable “Puy”.