SAH-kee or sah-KEH, it works fine on American tongues.

Byline: Emily Nunn

On the topic of the ancient Japanese libation sake, all that most Americans know is that they know nothing, including, perhaps, how to pronounce it.

Americans say SAH-kee; the Japanese, according to the Web site of Japanese sake brewer Umenishiki (www.umenishiki.com/usa/home/sayume.html), say sah-KEH.

And a lot of us seem inclined to leave it that way.

Surprising in a country where sushi consumption has skyrocketed in the last decade, 6-year-olds know the difference between ngiri and maki, and in California you can now even buy the popular fish-and-rice canapes at your local 7-Eleven (although that does not mean that you actually should).

It could be that we're afraid of sake. For anyone who can recall his first sip 10 or more years ago, when Japanese food was really on the rise here, it's probably not a fond memory _ the pleasantly loopy buzz notwithstanding.

There was no question about which kind of sake you wanted; it all came from the same box (or "cubie," as restaurateurs call them) with a spigot. It was heated and served in a little ceramic cup, and it was most likely rot-gut stuff, even if the food was fine. In other words, it was indeed something to avoid.