There are so many food words that, no matter how hard we try, we just cannot pronounce correctly. Even after playing their Merriam-Webster sound bites over and over, we still struggle. Perhaps the issue, though, is that up until this point, there hasn’t been a clever way to remember the correct pronunciation of these words. Jimmy Fallon and Luke Bryan totally relate to this issue, so they came up with a very catchy tune that will help.
The video, which premiered on Monday’s episode of the Tonight Show starts with host Jimmy Fallon and country singer Luke Bryan stopping at a food cart for lunch. Jimmy orders the falafel plate with ease, but when it’s Luke’s turn to tell the vendor what he wants, he has a little trouble. He tries different tactics to get around attempting to say the word gyro. He points at a picture, and he says “the brown stuff,” but the vendor isn’t getting the message. Luke quickly gives up and then launches into a country song about the struggle that comes when ordering one of those “lamb Tzatziki wraps.” Jimmy even joins in singing, “I could eat 1,000 ounces, if I just knew how to pronounce it.”
Finally after a few funny verses, the vendor jumps in to save the day by clarifying that this dish is pronounced /year-o/, and we couldn’t be more grateful. For those other hard-to-pronounce words, we’ll just have to keep winging it, but for halal lovers, this song is a lifesaver. Even those who aren’t fans of the country genre, can appreciate these helpful and hilarious lyrics. Check it out.