"wort" or "wert"

[JAStout]

Turb

Nice, I thought so.

 

[TheDom]

Wait, its pronounced wert? Ohnoes! I've been pronouncing it wrong! Do you think it'll lead to off-flavors?

 

[kanzimonson]

Basically, when I hear somebody say "wart," I think they're stupid... every brewing text out there specifically tells you how to pronounce it correctly.

These are the same people who say "nookular."

 

[tomsan]

I've always pronounced it 'wort' but I was in Dublin last week and the guides at both the Guinness brewery and the Jamesons distillery pronounced it 'wert'.

Now I don't know what to do...

 

[VT-NAV]

Basically, when I hear somebody say "wart," I think they're stupid... every brewing text out there specifically tells you how to pronounce it correctly.

These are the same people who say "nookular."

Most dictionaries say either pronunciation is acceptable.

The word is based off the old English word "wyrt". Which suggests that pronouncing the modern version as "wert" is proper.

However, if you expand your view to look at how pronunciation for similar old or middle English words evolved, then "wort" is also proper. For instance, passing gas is not called a "fert," which is how we would pronounce the word today if not for the evolution of the language.

 

[sboyajian]

Relevant
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWN9rTc08GU[/ame]

 

[burninator]

When you leave your house in the morning, are you going to "work" or "werk"?

 

[Gavin C]

DEleted

 

[kh54s10]

Link to a rant I had last year: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=453708

Some more are: their, there, they're.... Then, than..... Were, we're

Some are just typo's and others are just used improperly.

 

[Pilgarlic]

"Wert". But I respect your right to be wrong.

 

[PlexVector]

When you leave your house in the morning, are you going to "work" or "werk"?

Werk of course.

 

[MattyIce]

Headin to werk to twerk.

 

[PlexVector]

Maybe my werk is twerk! Seems like it some days...

 

[GuldTuborg]

Link to a rant I had last year: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=453708

Some more are: their, there, they're.... Then, than..... Were, we're

Some are just typo's and others are just used improperly.

Haha. I love the irony. Misuse of apostrophes doesn't seem to bug you, it seems.

Anyway, I've always heard the word pronounced as rhyming with "curt," so I follow suit.

 

[botman]

There's a simple explanation for the term "wort". Wort is just the Latin term for "plant", pronounced as if it were spelled "wert". We botanists learn this early in our careers, it's just old hat. My wife (and all of my previous girlfriends) always loved it when I spoke Latin!

Botman

 

[MrBJones]

When speaking with my non-brewing friends, I refer to it as "beer-to-be".

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I never youz the wurd

 

[alexnova]

I kinda like wyrt

 

[masonsjax]

The correct pronunciation is "who cares".

 

[skou]

Somewhere, I saw that was pronounced
"vert." (I think it was from one of
Charlie P's books.)

steve

 

[Jayjay1976]

I call it "the batter" since it amounts to the fixins that jest ain't been made into beer yet. And to me, it becomes beer once the kraeusen falls, signaling that fermentation is largely complete or is at least past the halfway mark.

Or call it latent beer, but that has some overtones.