# How do you pronounce gyro?



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)




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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

LOL. My favorite part is the beginning. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif

In France we say Jiro, as in John. Here I've heard Yiro, that sounds weird to me.


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

According to my friend, whose first language is Greek, it is pronounced "Geeerow" with a hard "G" and it can be pronounced with a silent "G" as in "yeeerow."  The difference is in the dialect of Greek.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

French Fries said:


> LOL. My favorite part is the beginning. :lol:
> 
> In France we say Jiro, as in John. Here I've heard Yiro, that sounds weird to me.


Jiro? Like jeeeeroe? That's the wrongest way ever lol.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

SGSVirgil said:


> According to my friend, whose first language is Greek, it is pronounced "Geeerow" with a hard "G" and it can be pronounced with a silent "G" as in "yeeerow." The difference is in the dialect of Greek.


I'm not familiar with any dialect where a Greek would pronounce it with a hard G. The word begins with a Gamma Γ and there is only one way to pronounce it. It would be pronounced with a hard G if it was followed by a Kappa Κ but in this case it is not. Ask your friend what dialect he's talking about.

Overall I'm ok with most pronounciations of this, we sold these for a long time and heard a lot of interpretations. The spelling alone makes people uncomfortable. Say it how you want, we Greeks know what you mean.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

Koukouvagia said:


> Jiro? Like jeeeeroe? That's the wrongest way ever lol.


Hahaha us French are TERRIBLE with foreign languages. Dare I say... it's all greek to us!!! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif

So then the proper way to say it is Yiro?


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## chef brah (Oct 10, 2016)

according to greek souvlaki food truck guy in nyc : yeeerrrow

u really drag the R and G is silent.

u can pronounce G when talking to preppy white kids or they will never understand what u said..so to them i say 'Geerow'


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

YEEroe with a flipped R


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## scott livesey (Jan 25, 2013)

when I visited Rhodes, the gyro shop owner pronounced it "guy-row".  maybe he was just making it easy for us American boys?  about 20 of us picked his shop for a gyro eating contest.  I stopped after 6.  the winner ate 12.  we ate so many, so fast, that the owner had to close the doors for 30 minutes to get more meat cooked.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

There should be a documentary: Jiro dreams of Yeero.


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

Koukouvagia said:


> I'm not familiar with any dialect where a Greek would pronounce it with a hard G. The word begins with a Gamma Γ and there is only one way to pronounce it. It would be pronounced with a hard G if it was followed by a Kappa Κ but in this case it is not. Ask your friend what dialect he's talking about.
> 
> Overall I'm ok with most pronounciations of this, we sold these for a long time and heard a lot of interpretations. The spelling alone makes people uncomfortable. Say it how you want, we Greeks know what you mean.


He said that is the way the word is pronounced in the village in Greece where he and his family lived. By the way, he's sitting at my counter as type this. He says "I agree with you. The way I say "gyro" is not how most Greeks say "gyro."


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

So what region is that?


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

Going to the Greek restaurant now to get some Gyros. Wonder what influenced me.


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## mikki donaldson (Mar 16, 2017)

"Gi-ros"


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## jlecount (Dec 11, 2012)

It's pronounced "yee row" there was an ad campaign in Manhattan in the 90s with the slogan "it tastes better when you say yee-ro" The only reason i remember!


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

Best I remember from my two trips to Greece, it's pronounced YEH-ross, with a little bit of a roll on the "r."

The meat on the ones at our favorite street stand in Athens did not look anything like the American version sliced from the loaf on the vertical roaster. It looked to me like they had filleted a hamster and grilled it. After our first visit, we referred to it as "the hamster stand."

I Pittsburgh it is GUY-ros. There is a whole section in one museum there devoted to proper pronunciation of the Pittsburgh language, including "PIKS-burg" for the city and "Stillers" for the football team.

We fell completely in love with Greek food; ever since our first trip we have bought our EV olive oil by the gallon jug. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

Oh, and in the Greek language, the words "Greece" and "Greek" do not exist. It's "Hellas" and they are "Hellenes."

Koukou' would probably know if Gyros, like Saganaki (and Chop Suey and Chow Mein)

was actually invented in the United States.

Virtually all the Gyros-meat loaves in the United States are produced in Chicago.

Much of the "Extra Virgin" olive oil sold in the United States is actually adulterated with cheaper oils from Spain and Morocco, according to Consumer Reports. A couple of labels from Trader Joe's passed the test, though. You should research this.

Mike


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Here's a good read on the subject -

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dining/15gyro.html


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## scott livesey (Jan 25, 2013)

MikeLM said:


> Koukou' would probably know if Gyros, like Saganaki (and Chop Suey and Chow Mein)
> 
> was actually invented in the United States. Not sure, but I have eaten almost identical food in Israel and Lebanon
> 
> ...


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

Mike9 and Scott...

Thanks to both of you for your responses. Interesting references, both.

Mike /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

MikeLM said:


> Best I remember from my two trips to Greece, it's pronounced YEH-ross, with a little bit of a roll on the "r."


It's more like a flip of the r, not a long roll.


MikeLM said:


> The meat on the ones at our favorite street stand in Athens did not look anything like the American version sliced from the loaf on the vertical roaster. It looked to me like they had filleted a hamster and grilled it. After our first visit, we referred to it as "the hamster stand."


Haha. There are not loafs of gyro meat in Greece, that is an american invention. The gyro in Greece is made with thin slices of pork shoulder that is marinated and then packed tightly and mounted on a vertical spit. It exists here too but you may have heard it called "donner." 


MikeLM said:


> Koukou' would probably know if Gyros, like Saganaki (and Chop Suey and Chow Mein)
> 
> was actually invented in the United States


As far as I know they're really Greek.


MikeLM said:


> Much of the "Extra Virgin" olive oil sold in the United States is actually adulterated with cheaper oils from Spain and Morocco, according to Consumer Reports. A couple of labels from Trader Joe's passed the test, though. You should research this.
> 
> Mike


I've heard a lot about this. Italians do this as well. As a matter of fact Italians buy a lot of Greek olive oil, mix it with Italian olive oil and sell it as Italian.


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