At first glance, today’s title may seem like a non sequitur.1 What do pierogi2 have to do with the ukulele?3 No, this title isn’t4 written as an intentional non sequitur to spark my creative energies. Rather, I realized that the same thought processes inform my choice of both making pierogi and pronouncing ukulele.
To understand what I mean by that, at the bottom of today’s essay are two pierogi recipes.5 One of them is a recipe I found online,6 and the other is the recipe I used last time I made pierogi.7 As a bonus, I also include the gluten free pierogi dough recipe I used.8
If you’ve read the recipes, you might notice a few differences between the two recipes.9 The biggest difference to me is in the dough.10 They use both sour cream and water in their dough, while I don’t use either. My reason for this comes from my formative years, when I learned to make pasta. According to my teacher,11 Italian pasta dough12 only contains salt, egg, flour, and oil.
Since that dough has worked for everything I ever needed a dough for,13 I never felt the need to use other pasta doughs.14 So, when I made my pierogi, I just made dough the way I always do.15
Now, by this point you might be asking what making dumplings has to do with the pronunciation of ukulele.16 To me, they’re two reflections of the same universal truth: people adapt everything they learn to fit into their prior knowledge and experiences.
In IPA17 notation, the word ukulele is pronounced18 /?uku?ll/, which contrasts to the SAE19 pronunciation of /ju?k?lejli/. This is due to the nature of word movement through languages. When a word is assumed into a new language, it20 change its pronunciation to align to the new tongues phonological rules. In Hawaiian, there is no schwa,21 while SAE uses the schwa almost exclusively in unstressed syllables. Additionally, SAE almost never begins words with vowel /u/22. So, when the Hawaiian word entered the SAE lexicon, the /j/23 was added, to make it align with the rules of the language.
Now, both of these changes to the word are fine and natural, at least to me.24 But, I’ve heard and seen complaints about the both how to pronounce ukulele, and, indirectly about how to make pierogi. To be specific, I’ve been told that the way I pronounce the word “ukulele” is wrong, since the word is pronounced differently in the language of origin. Additionally, there are many people who feel that changing a culture’s recipe25 is wrong.26
To me, both of those erase the idea of positive change, which is makes the world beautiful and exciting. Should I stop calling what I make pierogi because I don’t use an “authentic” recipe?27 Should I try to relearn the phonological system of my native tongue to accommodate a single word?28 I personally don’t think so, and that’s where today’s title comes. Both the way I make pierogi and the way I pronounce ukulele come from the background and mental connections I made before encountering the idea.
At first glance, the title may seem like a non sequitur.29 What do pierogi30 have to do with the ukulele?31 No, this title isn’t32 written as a non sequitur as a way to spark my creative energies. Instead, while reflecting on my recipe for pierogi, especially in context with “authentic” recipes I’ve read, it occured to me that I feel similarly about pierogi and the pronunciation of the word ukulele.
To understand what I mean by that, below are two pierogi recipes. One of them is the recipe I found online,33 and the other is the recipe I used last time I made pierogi.34 As a bonus, I’ll also put in the gluten free pierogi dough recipe I came up with.35
So, you might notice a few differences between the two recipes.36 The biggest difference to me is in the dough. They use both sour cream and water in their dough, while I don’t use either. This mostly comes from when I first learned how to make pasta. According to the person teaching me,37 Italian pasta dough38 only has salt, egg, flour, and oil.
Since that dough has worked for everything I ever needed a dough for,39 I never felt the need to change it. So, when I made my pierogi, I just made dough the way I always do.
Now, by this point you might be asking what that has to do with the pronunciation of ukulele. To me, they’re two reflections of the same universal truth: people adapt everything they learn to fit into their prior knowledge and experiences.
In IPA40 notation, the word ukulele is pronounced41 /?uku?ll/, which contrasts to the SAE42 pronunciation of /ju?k?lejli/. This is due to the nature of word movement through languages. When a word is assumed into a new language, it43 change its pronunciation to align to the new tongues phonological rules. In Hawaiian, there is no schwa,44 while SAE uses the schwa almost exclusively in unstressed syllables. Additionally, SAE almost never begins words with vowel /u/45. So, when the Hawaiian word entered the SAE lexicon, the /j/46 was added, to make it align with the rules of the language.
Now, both of these changes are fine and natural, at least to me. But, I’ve heard and seen complaints about the second,47 and indirectly about the first.48 To be specific, I’ve been told that the way I pronounce the word “ukulele” is wrong. Indirectly, there are many people who feel that changing a culture’s recipe49 is wrong.50 To me, both of those erase the idea of change, which is at the heart of what makes the world beautiful and exciting. Should I stop calling what I make pierogi because I don’t use an “authentic”51 recipe? Should I try to relearn the phonological system of my native tongue to accommodate a single word? I personally don’t think so, and that’s where today’s title comes.
For the dough:
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons sour cream
3/4 cup water
Filling:
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Since pierogi making instructions, like most dumplings, are effectively just “make dough,” “make filling,” “put filling in dough,” I elide them here.
For the dough:
1 egg
olive oil in equal amount to the volume of egg
sprinkle salt
sprinkle black pepper
flour to correct consistency
For the Gluten Free Dough:52
1 egg
olive oil in just under amount of egg volume
sprinkle salt
sprinkle black pepper
white rice flour to correct consistency
Filling:
5 pounds potato, peeled53
1 lb cream cheese
1/2 pound butter
2 red onions
5 cloves garlic
olive oil as needed
sharp cheddar to taste
salt and pepper to taste
To make the filling, boil the potatoes, mince garlic and fry with onion in olive oil until caramalized. Drain potatoes when soft, then add everything together, mixing well.
To make the dough, all ingredients but flour in a bowl, then slowly add flour until solid enough to handle. Move onto a floured workspace and add more flour until the correct consistency.
Lat. “it does not follow”↩︎
Eastern European potato dumplings↩︎
and wasn’t↩︎
also, for those of you who have asked for my recipe↩︎
as best as I can recall/with mistakes I realized at the time fixed↩︎
for those of you who may want that for whatever reason↩︎
no, the fact that my filling has far more fat isn’t the relevant portion here, despite the fact that it absolutely makes it taste better↩︎
it helps that every recipe for pierogi acknowledges that you should substitute the filling for your own favorite↩︎
I don’t remember who, but I assume one of my parents↩︎
read: good pasta dough↩︎
especially as a base for other additions to the dough when I feel creative↩︎
with the exception of adding pepper, because I always put pepper in savory things with salt, which comes from an earlier formative experience↩︎
which really means just eyeballing everything and assuming it will work↩︎
you also might be wondering if I’m getting hungry writing about this, and the answer is absolutely↩︎
international phonetic alphabet↩︎
in Hawaiian↩︎
Standard American English↩︎
tends to↩︎
upside-down e↩︎
the ou in you↩︎
like the y in you↩︎
and descriptivist users of language (read: most linguists)↩︎
especially when you don’t belong to that culture (and no, I don’t identify as Eastern European)↩︎
for reference: this site is one example, and this site offer some perspectives↩︎
side note: what defines authentic?↩︎
or pronounce everything as if it belongs to its original language↩︎
Lat. “it does not follow”↩︎
Eastern European potato dumplings↩︎
and wasn’t↩︎
the recipe came from my spur of the moment actions↩︎
for those of you who may want that for whatever reason↩︎
no, the fact that my filling has far more fat isn’t the relevant portion here↩︎
I honestly don’t remember who, but I assume one of my parents↩︎
read: correct pasta dough↩︎
especially as a base for other additions to the dough↩︎
international phonetic alphabet↩︎
in Hawaiian↩︎
Standard American English↩︎
tends to↩︎
the ou in you↩︎
like the y in you↩︎
how to pronounce ukulele↩︎
making pierogi↩︎
especially when you don’t belong to that culture↩︎
for reference: this site is one example, and this site offer some perspectives↩︎
side note: what defines authentic?↩︎
as an aside, I find it odd that people say gluten free doughs require tons of extra effort. Yes, with bread or things that need to trap gasses in them to rise, it’s difficult to get the correct blend of protiens, but for something like a dumpling shell, as long as it’s not water soluble and is neutrally flavored, it probably will work↩︎
that means 5 pounds before you peel them↩︎