History Main / YouSayTomato

Not to be confused with PretentiousPronunciation, where somebody pronounces something in an uncommon (or even never-before) way in order to make the word sound fancier. Occasionally overlaps with PronouncingMyNameForYou, if the speaker clarifies that multiple pronunciations is acceptable. May result in GotMeDoingIt.

* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', anyone? Walter constantly mispronouncing "touché" and "capice" was made into a running gag.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* The children of ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus'', most often Jeffy, pronounce some words in a nonstandard way.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': Dogbert quoted this in a 1992 strip...to compare stimulating the economy to giving himself a tax break. [[http://dilbert.com/strip/1992-03-30 Seen here.]]
* In one ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' strip, Andy expresses her annoyance with someone on TV saying "realitor" instead of "realtor", to which Jason replies "Wow, you're really going nucular" to deliberately wind her up.
[[/folder]]

* [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Marge Simpson]] says "foilage" instead of "foliage", as well as "nucular", "excape" and "libary." She also once told Bart to "run like the wine!"
** Homer correcting his superior officer in the Naval Reserve: "It's pronounced 'nucular'."
** Kent Brockman says "tax avoision" rather than "tax evasion".
** Homer also sometimes refers to Lisa's saxophone as "saxomophone".

-->-- '''Ira Gershwin''', "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Notable in "Hello Mr. Chips", where an English headmaster, a QuintessentialBritishGentleman, visits Madison High School. His pronounciation varies greatly from that of the regular characters. So much so, that it's a RunningGag throughout the episode.

* The song "Me the Mouse and I'm the Duck" from ''WesternAnimation/HouseofMouse''.

* WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}} upon being corrected in his pronunciation responds "potato tomato, potato tomato" without changing the pronunciation at all. He tends to do this with a lot of words, like "Ollo" instead of "Hello", "Shool" instead of "School" and "re-VARNGE" instead of "revenge"; presumably because [[FreudianExcuse he learnt from reading more than social interaction]]. His unique pronunciation of "Metro City" (i.e. as if it's all one word that rhymes with "atrocity") becomes important later [[spoiler: Titan discovers the "Metro Man" he fought was actually Megamind in disguise because [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay "There's only one person who says Metrocity"]].]]

--> '''Volerti:''' At 10 o'cluck in the morning…
--> '''Falcon:''' Surely you meant to say 10 o'clock?

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch'': When Lilo and Reuben confront Hämsterviel and say his name, the latter irritably clarifies that his name is not pronounced "''Hamster-veel''" (as Lilo and Reuben have been pronouncing it throughout [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries the series]]), but "''HUM-ster-veel''".

[[folder:Film]]
* The [[TropeNamer trope-naming]] song, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off", was introduced in the 1937 film ''Film/ShallWeDance'', in which Creator/FredAstaire sings it to Creator/GingerRogers.
** Interestingly, the way it tends to be alluded to these days is actually opposite to what it meant in the musical. Today, saying "tomayto, tomahto" basically means "that distinction is meaningless, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other." In the musical, the differences are being mentioned because they're actually important signifiers of the class difference between the two characters; it means "this will never work because we're too different."
* In ''Film/ThePinkPanther2006'', Inspector Jacques Clouseau would like to buy a "damburger" and would also like to rent a "rhume" for the night and pick up a "massage" at the front desk of a hotel. It's worth noting that he didn't do this in the [[Film/ThePinkPanther1963 original film]], as the original Clouseau's pronounciation [[{{Flanderization}} became ever more outrageous over the course of the original film series.]]
* In ''Film/HotRod'', Rod tells his crew that his safety word is "huwisky". His stepbrother wants to know why he's pronouncing "whiskey" so weirdly, which leads to Rod pronouncing a string of words starting with 'wh' (and one that just starts with 'w') in the same way until his stepbrother gives up.
** According to the [[WordOfGod director's commentary]], this was inspired by a skit on Gang Starr's album ''Moment of Truth''.
* ''Film/RainMan'' is, of course, based on a child's pronunciation of "Raymond".
* In ''Film/TheHangover'', the future brother-in-law pronounces "ree-tard" as "re-taard".
* [[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers "PO-TAY-TOES!"]]
** Lampooned in ''Film/TheColourOfMagic'' film, as Twoflower (who is played by Sean Astin, who also played Sam Gamgee in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' film) goes completely overboard with the pronunciation of "potatoes".
* WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}} upon being corrected in his pronunciation responds "potato tomato, potato tomato" without changing the pronunciation at all. He tends to do this with a lot of words, like "Ollo" instead of "Hello", "Shool" instead of "School" and "re-VARNGE" instead of "revenge"; presumably because [[FreudianExcuse he learnt from reading more than social interaction]]. His unique pronunciation of "Metro City" (i.e. as if it's all one word that rhymes with "atrocity") becomes important later [[spoiler: Titan discovers the "Metro Man" he fought was actually Megamind in disguise because [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay "There's only one person who says Metrocity"]].]]
* In ''Film/HighAnxiety'', Dr. Thorndyke's chauffeur Brophy refers to the hotel they're staying in as "modren".

* ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' has a scene where Natasha tries to push for how the Hungarians pronounce their capital (Buda-PESHT) while Mason just goes for the English wayo.
* ''Film/TakeDown'' has a moment of racial tension when white wrestler Kier makes fun of his African-American teammate Macgrudder for how he says "cotton" ("kat'in"), and Macgrudder gets him to back off.

[[folder: Stand-Up Comedy]]

The general consensus is that if you encounter somebody say "tomahto" rather than "tomayto" (or vice versa) it is considered rude to point it out, but in fiction for some reason people tend to like commenting, possibly due to the FunnyForeigner trope.

A variation can occur where the trope name is mentioned to indicate two different things seeming almost the same, though often used for laughs, for instance in BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. Nee'Lix gives the trope straight when introduced to the tomatoes (from his point-of-view an AlienLunch) in Voyager's hydroponics garden.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. Nee'Lix gives the trope straight when introduced to the tomatoes in Voyager's hydroponics garden.

* WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}} upon being corrected in his pronunciation responds "potato tomato, potato tomato" without changing the pronunciation at all.
** Megamind tends to do this with a lot of words, like "Ollo" instead of "Hello", "Shool" instead of "School" and "re-VARNGE" instead of "revenge". His unique pronunciation of "Metro City" (i.e. as if it's all one word that rhymes with "atrocity") becomes important later [[spoiler: Titan discovers the "Metro Man" he fought was actually Megamind in disguise because [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay "There's only one person who says Metrocity"]].]]

--->'''Plankton:''' Tomato.\\
'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Tomahto.\\
'''Plankton:''' Potato.\\
'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Potahto.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOllieAndMoonShow: The episode "Italian Gelato Twist", shows that Ollie pronounces "tomato" as "to-may-to", while Moon prefers to pronounce it as "to-mah-to".

* And while we're on the topic of Creator/HannaBarbera, Touche Turtle always pronounced the "w" in "sword".

-->''Coach Z:''' Oh, now here's something that doesn't appear to be makin' fun of me. It's the Pam Pam b'loon!\\

* This is Coach Z's schtick in ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
-->''"You say tomater, I zader matermorts."''
** [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/cantsayjob.html I Say Job, You Say Jorb.]]