Las Vegas 1/2-1/5/2019. Happy Birthday to me!!

As I am not in Las Vegas, it wold be just a velleity to have a meal at Mr. Chow at the present time, but it is informative to know no lunch there.

 

But did you ask Angela why is there a "right way" of pronouncing Rao's? When a person opens a restaurant, is there a way of registering the pronunciation of its name? Rao's was opened in 1896 in 114th Street in East Harlem in New York City (a large Italian neighborhood at the time) by a gentleman who came from Italy and whose last name was Rao. The Italian language is phonetic (a one to one correspondence between the spelling and the pronunciation of words), and there is no question in Italy how to pronounce the name Rao, only one way, as you spell it, you pronounce it. English is not phonetic. Thus over time the name in the US became to be pronounced differently from its pronunciation in Italy.

This leads us to, for example, the question of the right way of pronouncing the word tomato. Ella Fitzgerald does not give us the solution, she gives up in the Gershwin way. There is the American way, and there is the British way. Suppose a person was a perfectionist and wanted to really pronounce tomato the right way, how would he? Ask the waiter? That is fine, but will the waiter have the reason of why a pronunciation is right? Maybe, but I haven't asked. What is the origin of the word tomato? It comes from the Spanish word "tomate", and that in turn comes from the Aztec language, Nahuatl, word "tomatl", and the way that is pronounced is closer to the British way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tomatl.ogg

Anyway, my view is there is no "right" way of pronouncing tomato, only a way closer to the original word of the item. And the original tomato was in Mexico before Columbus came, as sad as it is to think Italians and the old world had no tomato before then. As to the "right" way of pronouncing Rao's, is there one? I don't know if there is a way of registering the pronunciation of the name of a restaurant. Maybe there is not.

 

No I didn't, but if someone from an organization tells me that's how they pronounce it, I accept it and move on. I'm not that much of a fan that I "need" to know why.

But, thank you for the explanation.

 

Most of the names are pronounced wrong, in many cases terribly wrong, in English world.
Who cares the "right way"?

 

Well, names and their pronunciation are important to me. My last name is only 5 characters long, and one syllable, but for some reason, non-Asian people have a difficult time pronouncing it.

After living through 40+ years of having to talk almost anyone using a telephone through how to pronounce my last name, I try to make sure that no one needs to listen to their name being mispronounced.

 

We were taught Phonics in grade school but I think this was dropped in the 70’s. I was taught when two of the same consonants are next to each other, that’s where the syllable is split. My surname has two consonants, but some folks like to just run them together.

.

Learned a new word today.

 

I am no Henry Higgins by any stretch of the imagination, and I won't push any pronunciation on anybody, but if I were in NY with a hypothetical Mr. Rao from Italy and he pronounces the name of the restaurant as he would in Naples, I would be the last person to correct him. I am happy with anyone pronouncing anything the way they want, as long as they don't call me late for dinner. After all, what is the origin of some of the major languages of the world? Italian, Spanish, French? The origin of those languages is people misspelling and mispronouncing the correct Latin language of Horace and Virgil and Cicero and Seneca and Ovid. If there are alternate pronunciations of words that some people use, I hear them, register them, try to understand them, and move on. I have no business correcting them. If what I consider an alternate pronunciation is fun, I might adopt it myself. Of course, if I go for a job interview at Rao's, I would try to find out how they like to pronounce that name there and be sure to use it.

 

This is the last thing that I have to write on the on the subject of the pronunciation of "Rao's" the restaurant. (Especially because it's diverting attention from my Trip retort) If you do a google search on "rao's pronunciation", you will get several hits and several topics of discussion, but in the limited amount of time that I took to spend on it (because I don't really care about "the why", just "the how") I couldn't find a definitive explanation of "the why".

 

I'll be in town for this january distribution... never been to one. I already have my 30 strikes but I take it I have little to no chance to get one of these 148 without joining the tournament? can anyone join or have to me a club member?

 

There is a chance, but it would be slim. However, there is still time to enter the tournament. A "no room" needed entry is $220 (PRICE FOR ROYAL PLAYERS CLUB MEMBERS) and includes:

Welcome Cocktail Reception-Open Bar 
Awards Ceremony with Cake and Champagne 
Limited Edition Silver Strike Token  (3 oz. themed Marilyn Monroe strike)
Entry into the *$10,000 Slot Tournament. It is open to anyone.

Tournament entrants get a "pink slip", which allows them to get a $300 strike first. There are 148 available to the public. The distribution is at 5PM Saturday, January 26th.

https://www.silverstrikers.com/Doc/Archives/Events/Year2019/TournamentWinter2019/Tournament-Winter-Four-Queens-Flyer-2019.pdf

 

We had the Cuban on one of our walk abouts with the twins about the same day. It was tasty as I was really hungry

 

I was at 3400 TCs and too tired to continue. It was 12/31 and I didn’t need the TCs so I stopped

 

And that is one of the few circumstances that I can see stopping at 3400. That, and running out of money . . . .

 

I was low and figured I would need it the next few days. Tapped the markers more than once

 

I’m not even sure of how to pronounce MY OWN name so I’m very confused by this thread....

 

Well thank you for the many details, and I am still smiling about the comments re: your son. I remember coming home from some trip and being told, "I took out all the trash and recycling, Mom". Yeah.....because there were cans and bottles in it! Smart call on your part to leave him with his Mom.
Hope your plumbing is all good now....

 

Is the food here made fresh or pre-made?

 

It was fun following along on this trip report, from the pre-trip issues all the way through Mr. Chow's. The food photos and descriptions were wonderful, although I had to laugh at your trying to rein in A's wanting to order everything on the menu. Thank you also for the pictures of the Cromwell room -- not only is the decor on the dark side, but there would be NO space around the bathroom sink area for all my toiletries/makeup. I'd have to set up the ironing board to use as extra vanity space!

 

Fresh. Made to order. The Cuban sandwich was very good, just like I used to get on South Florida.

 

Well, they did send a survey, and I basically shared with them that the rooms were too dark, and the slot machine selection was poor. They asked me to compare their hotel to the Aria. WTF? I suggested to them that their hotel was perfect and catered to a certain clientele, just not me.

Don't know if they will listen or make any changes.