|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The most mispronounced words of 2021 include cheugy, omicron and Billie Eilish’s last name
FYI folks, there’s no “N” in “omicron.”
To be fair, some people probably tried too hard to make “cheugy” happen. But in a year that saw all kinds of Gen Z vernacular take over social media, as well as the usual spate of newscasters tripping up over celebrity names, there were plenty of words to choose from when it came to the most mispronounced words of 2021.
Athletes, social media trends, Squid Game, and cryptocurrency were all implicated in the most phonetically challenging words of 2021, according to the U.S. Captioning Company and the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters. For the sixth year in a row, these organizations compiled lists of words that newscasters and people on TV struggled with the most this past year, both in the United Kingdom and the United States. Perhaps you’ve been pronouncing some of these wrong this whole time?
The Most Mispronounced Words Of 2021 (United States)
“Cheugy” is apparently a lot to chew on. Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce have something in common — broadcasters butcher their names.
And virtually everyone is having trouble with “omicron.”
All four made it onto this year’s list of most mispronounced words as compiled by the U.S. Captioning Company, which captions and subtitles real-time events on TV and in courtrooms.
The list released Tuesday identifies the words that proved most challenging for newsreaders and people on television to pronounce this year.
The caption company said it surveyed its members to generate the list, which is now in its sixth year and was commissioned by Babbel, a language-learning platform with headquarters in Berlin and New York.
“Newscasters in the U.S. have struggled with 2021′s new words and names while reporting on key sporting events, viral internet trends and emerging celebrities,” said Esteban Touma, a standup comedian and teacher for Babbel Live.
“As a language teacher, it’s always interesting to see that some of these terms are usually new colloquialisms, or are rooted or borrowed from another language,” he said. “As a non-native speaker, I must confess it’s fun to see English speakers stumbling a bit for a change.”
Here’s how Touma breaks down the proper pronunciations for the most commonly misspoken words:
- Cheugy (CHOO-gee): A trendy term popularized by Gen Z and used to mock an outdated and unfashionable aesthetic typically associated with millennials, such as “Live, Laugh, Love” signs.
- Chipotle (chih-POHT-lay): The American fast-food chain became the center of a viral trend this year challenging Baby Boomers to pronounce the name.
- Dalgona (tal-goh-NAH): A Korean treat made with melted sugar and baking soda, popularized in Netflix’s “Squid Game.” (Touma notes that some speakers seem to produce a ”K” instead of the ”G” in the middle syllable.)
- Dogecoin (DOHJ-coin): A divisive cryptocurrency that began somewhat ironically before being popularized by Elon Musk, causing its value to dramatically increase.
- Eilish (EYE-lish): The singer Billie Eilish, whose album “Happier Than Ever” was released this year to critical acclaim and nominated for the Grammy Awards’ Album of the Year.
- Ethereum (ih-THEE-ree-um): Another cryptocurrency that skyrocketed in value this year amid the decentralized-currency boom.
- Ever Given (EV-er GIV-en): The name of the ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March, costing billions of dollars in lost trade. Many newscasters mistook the name of the ship as “Evergreen,” the name of the company that owns the vessel, which was printed on its hull.
- Glasgow (GLAHZ-go): The host city of November’s United Nations Climate Conference was mispronounced by both President Joe Biden and former president Barack Obama.
- Kelce (KELs): The Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce revealed on radio this year that his teammates and the media had been mispronouncing his name for years.
- Omicron (AH-muh-kraan / OH-mee-kraan): A new variant of Covid-19 first identified in November, named in keeping with the World Health Organization’s system of identifying variants with Greek letters. (Touma notes it’s pronounced differently in the U.S. and the U.K.)
- Shein (SHEE-in): The Chinese fast fashion company at the center of the “Shein haul” trend, in which participants record themselves trying on numerous different outfits from the company.
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (STEH-fuh-nohs TSEE-tsee-pas): Currently ranked as the world’s No. 4 tennis player, the Greek athlete rose to international prominence when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final of the French Open in June.
- Yassify (YEAH-sih-fai): A popular trend in which multiple beauty filters are applied to well-known pictures or portraits for comic effect
Don’t forget to subscribe to IWeb TEFL today.
Did you know that if you subscribe to our website, you will receive email notifications whenever content changes or new content is added.
1. Enter your e-mail address below and click the Sign Me Up button.
2. You will receive an email asking you to confirm your intention of subscribing to our site.
3. Click the link in the email to confirm. That’s all there is to it! Note: if you wish to unsubscribe from our site, click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email you received.
Then indicate you no longer wish to receive our emails.
Thank You
IWeb TEFL Team