A common conversation I have with well meaning wait staff and bartenders is as follows:
Roger: “I’ll have a Tanqueray martini straight up with an olive.”
Waiter: “Ok, that’s a TanGERay martini straight up with an olive. No problem.”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been “corrected” about its pronunciation. I look at the bottle and it is a Q and not a G, and thought that perhaps the Dutch pronounce their Q’s like G’s.
Resolved to get the question answered once and for all I wrote a customer service person at Tanqueray and got the following reply:
We value consumers such as yourself and we appreciate your enthusiasm. The
correct way to pronounce Tanqueray is Tanker-ray.
I am vindicated.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It strikes me what’s going on here is that people are too lazy to take a good look at the letters on the bottle. If you’re not paying attention, I suppose the “q” can look like a “g”. Shrug.
I was going to make another bitchy comment about how one shouldn’t have to specify the olive when ordering a martini, because that’s part of what makes it a martini, but according to the timeline on Tanqueray’s web site (you’ll be asked to lie about your age), the garnish was originally a cherry. On the other hand, their bold claim that the martini originated in Martinez, California is a matter of dispute, so who knows.
Now, I think I’ll go fix myself a refreshing Tangueray quimlet on the rocks!
Yeah, but after three or four it starts becoming ta.. tager… tan oh JUST GIMME ANOTHER!
Maybe the waiter is just saving time?
What the they really ought to scold you on is the “straight” part. Assuming you are ordering a Martini, and not just cold gin with an olive garnish, than it’s not “straight” at all — it’s a blend of gin and vermouth (ideally somewhere in the 5-to-1 range). For a cocktail, the opposite of “on the rocks” is just “up.” It’s only “straight up” if you’re ordering, for example, a chilled vodka shot. (Not that any civilized person would do that.)
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