Why are the "L"s silent in tortilla? Or do some people actually say tor-til-la?

I make kaysa-dillas with tor-tillas.

Also, can't you just, like, convert to Judaism if you so fancy, or does it always have to be a hereditary thing?

Matzoh is only good in balls, in soup. Otherwise, tortillas forever. And tortilla soup is superior to matzoh-ball soup anyway so upon further consideration, sorry Jews. Except Mexican Jews, which are a real thing and presumably have the best food.

@1, in Spanish pronunciation the double l has a long "e" sound. Cebolla, desarrollo, etc.

@4, sort of. It's more of a consonantal "y" sound; not so much "tor-TEE-ah" as "tor-TEE-yah". In most parts of Latin America, in many or most words that "y" gets squeezed down into a sound that's closer to "sh" or even "j". "Me llamo Fnarf" is "meh JAMM-o Fnarf" in Mexico. Well, not literally; I don't know how to do IPA, but the akin to making your tongue and mouth into the shape for "yee" and trying to say "SHHH" or "DZH" instead. In Argentina, it might be a full-on "sh" sound. But not in every word; no one in any country would say "tor-TEE-shah", I don't think.

@2, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Menachem Schneerson would have given you rather different answers to that question.

You do not have to choose. the categories are not mutually exclusive. Any combination of flour and water can be deemed matza if the entire process from the mixing of the flour and water until it is placed in the oven is no more than 18 minutes. Call it matza, tortillas, or bagels --- it's matza. Furthermore, Menachem Schneerson made a life out of converting people, so how would his answer differ from Sammy's?

@5, nicely done.

@7, tortillas are not made from any kind of flour; they're made from masa -- nixtimalized corn. If you're using masa harina (flour), you're using a wholly unnecessary and unwelcome convenience ingredient made by drying out masa, but real tortillas, GOOD tortillas, never saw any kind of harina.

I don't actually know anything about Menachem Schneerson except that he was the top rabbi of the ultra-Orthodox Luvavitchers. I thought that Orthodox Jews didn't accept converts; I thought they thought that most Jews less conservative than they (i.e., any Jews who acknowledge the existence of the past 2000 years) weren't even Jews at all. Mebbe I was wrong.

Gonzalez gave the commencement address at my school last weekend and it was the most uninspired, unengaging drivel you could ever imagine. How is it possible someone who speaks three languages could be so dull in one?

Also, Fnarf, I say "tortijah." My Spanish is pretty Nicaraguan, though.

@10, well there you go. Someday I'll know everything, I swear it!

I think there are even some places that pronounce "ll" as we do in the word "million", which is just weird. Canary Islands?

It may or may not be true of Justice Gonzalez, but many people with Spanish or Portuguese surnames (especially in the southwestern U.S.) have "crypto-Judaic" heritage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto-Juda…

Officially, Jews who converted in Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries were known as Cristianos Nuevos (New Christians), but were commonly called conversos. Spain and Portugal passed legislation restricting their rights in the mother countries and colonies. Despite the dangers of the Inquisition, many conversos continued to secretly and discreetly practice Jewish rituals.

If you're not familiar with this, you should read the whole article—it's fascinating. NPR did a great story some years ago on the influences of crypto-Judaism in New Mexico; I'll try to find a link if I have time later.

@10 Much congrats on the whole commencing thing. Do something about Hillyard, willya?

@#3
I make pretty kickass matzoh-ball soup, have rarely had particularly bad matzoh-balls (even in really poor soup that tastes like it came straight out of a foil envelope of Lipton's, the matzoh balls are usually OK), and I've never had tortilla soup I liked. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying there are different qualities of matzoh-ball soup and tortilla soup around, and that people have different tastes.

Also, you're wrong to say matzoh ball soup is the only acceptable use of matzoh: there's also Matzoh Brei, and tunafish sandwiches. Matzoh sandwiches with sliced roast turkey, tomato, and garlic sauce are also pretty good.

Try a dry cold tortilla, then try a matzo. The matzo's palatable; the tortilla isn't.

Matzah are best with charoset (chopped nuts and fruit and a dash of wine) with a little horseradish.

Orthodox Jews accept converts if they do the converting. Reform Jews accept anyone's conversion. It's kind of like "If you really want to join a people who have been kicked around for millenia, then who are we to tell you to go away?"

Re: 12, the NPR piece I referred to was actually three 30-minute segments first broadcast in 1988, 1992, and 1995. I could not find links on the NPR Web site itself, probably because the programs long predate the site, but:

One of the creators, Nan Rubin (the other being producer Benjamin Shapiro), has full transcripts and other info available on her own site:

http://www.nanrubin.com/hiddenjewsnewmex…

A number of other interesting links I found on this topic:

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/iss…

http://www.nyu.edu/tisch/preservation/pr…

http://www.cryptojews.com/montoya.htm

http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCA…

http://hearingvoices.com/transcript.php?…

http://borderbeat.net/culture/2029-dolor…

http://www.aish.com/sp/so/48907402.html

@ Fnarf,

"I think there are even some places that pronounce "ll" as we do in the word "million", which is just weird. Canary Islands?"

That sounds like Portuguese - in Portuguese, 'tortilla' can be spelled 'tortilha' which is pronounced 'tortilya' or 'torchilya' depending on your accent. I don't know if Spanish of the Canaries sounds a bit like Portuguese (which I've hear is a lot like old Spanish), but it would kind of make sense...

The actual best unleavened bread? Naan. Though tortillas are a close second.