I heard that Seattle restaurant 'êeye-VAR'ês'ê was serving buy-one-get-one-free bowls of their famous mollusk-based soup on Thursday to celebrate National Clam Chowder Day. Then, I heard that the same deal had been offered by 'êEYE-ver'ês.'ê
The real name of the restaurant is, of course, Ivar'ês, and the correct pronunciation (used by the eponymous man himself) is 'êEYE-verz.'ê It'ês Seattle'ês closest thing to a shibboleth, or a word whose pronunciation provides clues about the origins of the person pronouncing it.
My amateur linguistic analysis of the Ivar'ês Shibboleth is this: If you pronounce it correctly (EYE-verz), then you'êve probably lived here more than 25 years and were likely born here. If you'êre in the eye-VARZ camp, you probably moved here as an adult sometime in the late 1980s or after. More importantly, you'êve probably been too busy amassing a fortune in the tech industry to pay too much attention to matters such as how to pronounce the name of a local fish and chip shop.
