Are You “Hyperforeign”? Stop It. Seriously.

© MSanghera

Via Kottke, a description of one of the more annoying sub-species of the recreational vagabonder. This is the one who comes back from a trip overseas and tries way, way too hard to seem like they went native:

Hyperforeignism is the mispronunciation of words borrowed from foreign languages… but it’s actually a sort of an over-pronunciation, so correct that it’s circled back around to incorrect again… An eas[y] example of this is prix fixe. The common mispronunciation is something like “pricks ficks” but the hyperforeign version is “pree fee”, which is how one might presume the French would pronounce it. The correct pronunciation is actually “pree ficks”. See also gyros.

Don’t be that guy. Seriously. There’s only one thing more obnoxious than listening to someone talk about how a few weeks in Barcelona made them “acutely aware” of the “contrast between bland American culture and Mediterranean passion.” And that’s having to listen to them do it while they sound like the exact opposite of an actual European. Tres declasse.

We don’t mean to be so blunt about this. But it has to be done. Your Venice semester abroad didn’t make you an expert on “the common misconceptions regarding the European Late Renaissance.” Your 10 day post-graduation Amsterdam hostel stay didn’t open your eyes to “how much more laid back Europeans are about sex.” And the discounted USAir roundtrip you took to France last February certainly doesn’t put you in a position to expound upon how precise wine rankings are distorting the political microeconomy of Burgundy. Stop it. Stop it.

PS – There’s a related rant about milquetoast San Francisco yuppies who put on recherche European airs but then purse their lips judgmentally about boisterous drinking, social smoking, and salt. But we don’t have that kind of time.