Balls

[poliphilo]

My mother- picking her way line by line through the Telegraph-  came, as she sometimes does, across a word she didn't understand.

"What are cojones?" she asked.

I took a deep breath, couldn't locate an escape route, and told her.

"Oh," she said, vaguely. Her eyes wandered sideways. It took her a few seconds to recoup her forces.

"So how do you pronounce it?"

Which stumped me. Because I don't think its a word I've ever had occasion to speak out loud. Does one go for the full Spanish, or sound the last syllable like a Welsh surname or opt for something in between?

Comments

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

California pronunciation: like pondhopper says. It is a very common word here. We have a lot of Spanish speaking residents.