For anyone who isn't familiar with vetiver outside of the world of perfume, here is a video (rather long, nearly 8 minutes) on the use of vetiver in erosion control in Hawaii.
And here's another, from Ethiopia.
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I have to try watching this again later… too much for infosnacking at the office. LOL.
Also, I feel like a philistine because I’ve been forever pronouncing the last syllable with the ubiquitous american “schwa” vowel, not a long eeeee sound…. ‘vet-uh-veer,’ huh? You say potatoe.
Oh, and I wonder if I can grow this at home. Hmmm… need to look into this.
My understanding was that “vet-uh-veer” was the French pronunciation, and “vet-eh-ver” was the Anglocized way.
Full disclosure: I pronounced it “vet-ee-ver” for the longest time. Embarrassing!
My full disclosure: I pronounce most everything perfume-related wrong, and I don’t much care 😉
I used to pronounce macabre – mak-ah-ber. This is apropos of nothing, but I just thought I’d share that with y’all.
I pronounce “chasm” with a “ch”. Always have, always will 🙂
So did I! I think these sorts of things are very common for people who were avid readers as children…you “learn” words from reading rather than hearing, and then they stick in your mind a certain way. That’s my (lame) excuse, anyway…
That’s always my excuse too [since I mispronounce often]. It’s not necessary to look up an unfamiliar word every time, when one can often figure out the meaning due to the context.
LOL it’s my lame excuse too…see below. 😀
I just tell people, “Oh, that’s how we pronounce it back in England…”!!!!!!!!!! (works as long as I’m not IN England at the time…!)
well, since we’re baring our mispronouncing souls today….every time I READ the word “epitome” in my head I hear: ep-eh-tome emphasis on the TOME….one of these days I just know it’s going to come out of my mouth that way…and in front of somebody really intimidating too…
Oh God, many years ago I did say “epitome” that way, and the laughter that ensued still rings in my ears. To say nothing of “sheem” for “scheme”… And I, too, justify myself by pointing to my voracious book reading.
As for vetiver, I’ve always said it “vet-ee-vay,” and now I feel like a pretentious git.
Hey, I just discovered “French Julie”… I’m excited, even though my pronun is usually pretty good.
http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html#
If you watch the whole thing though, the different people in the video don’t all pronounce it the same!
See, and I tend to take in 90% of my information through written sources, so how the heck I’m supposed to get the pronunciation correct when it’s not following “usual” rules is beyond me. (For the word in question, I used the phonetic “VET-ih-vur”.) In fact… in high school, I was a fashion mag addict, so when we got an adorable new cat, we named her Givenchy. Then, we decided that French class notwithstanding, it was just too difficult to pronounce. My dad re-dubbed her “Philomena” to go along with her father, my stray, whom he had named “Filibuster” because of his endless yowling.
And oops, that was meant to be in response to comments above… tired today!
What cute names for kitty cats.
I can’t go through it either, but the forst shots are so wonderful…
Hawaii, waterfalls and lush green… Is that paradise?
Well add vetiver fields to it and it certainly smells like heaven!
(yes, I know, it’s the root oil which is so delicious perfume-wise, but anyway…)
I find that vetiver, with tuberose and sandalwood, are among the most beautiful raw materials for fragrances…
I wonder if the fresh grass smells at all?? I really don’t know.
Wouldn’t that be awesome?!? I chuckled watching this when he was explaining how to root a division before planting and he said he had to change the water every day otherwise the oil would collect and kill the plant! That’s the stuff we want!!
Aside from this making me homesick (OK, OK, I only lived there 4 years…but it FELT like HOME to me), I wanted to share something with everyone…
I suck at spelling and vocab–one day in AP English, the teacher explained to us that Einstein was terrible at spelling and vocab–I remind myself of that on a regular basis to comfort myself :-).
Works for me!
Oh yea! May I put on my aromatherapist’s hat for a moment? Vetiver is invaluable for stress, anxiety, insomnia or depression. A few drops of vetiver, chamomile and lavender in a bath is possibly the most relaxing thing I’ve ever done. Vetiver is an immuno-stimulant as well so it is great this time of the year as a help in warding off colds and flu.
And btw, the aromatherapy books always spell it vetivert.
Mmmm – sounds divine.
Thanks!
Go Vetiver!
It really is great stuff … and now I’m wanting to plant some! I wonder if it would grow in Colorado, or in South-West England?
As for pronunciation confessions, I thought “chagrin” was pronounced “chargin” … like “that Roman Gladiator just went chargin’ off to battle”.
LOL…that’s a good one!
Do check out vetiver.org, they have lots of information on planting vetiver.