Revealed: Commonly mispronounced words that make Brits angry… so are you pronouncing them correctly?
Do you have flawless pronunciation or do you always end up messing up words?
The answer may be how many of these words you can pronounce correctly.
The experts at Unscramblerer.com have identified the UK’s most mispronounced words – Niamh is at the top of the list.
A spokesperson for the site explained: “Our research provides a fascinating insight into UK culture regarding the most sought-after mispronunciations.”
“Exposure to new words through media, music, pop culture and social platforms sparks curiosity.
“People often look for excuses if there is a gap between how a word or name is spelled and how it sounds.”
So did you pronounce these words correctly?
Tap or hover a term in our interactive chart below to learn the correct pronunciation.
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The analysis revealed that two Irish names topped the list – ‘Niamh’ (searched 124,800 times in the UK this year) and Sawyer (109,200 searches). Image: Actress Saoirse Ronan
To understand the most commonly mispronounced words, Unscramblerer.com turned to Google Trends and Alphabets.
“We used Google Trends to find the most commonly mispronounced words, and Ahraf to find the number of searches,” it explains.
“The UK’s most commonly mispronounced words can be found by searching ‘how to pronounce’, ‘pronunciation’ and ‘how to pronounce’ on Google Trends.
Alphabet shows many variations of pronunciation searches such as ‘croissant pronunciation’ or ‘how to pronounce jalapeño’.
“We added 100 search types of the most common wrong searches.”
The analysis revealed that two Irish names topped the list – ‘Niamh’ (searched 124,800 times in the UK this year) and Sawyer (109,200 searches).
Meaning ‘light’ or ‘enlightenment’, Niamh is pronounced ‘NEEV’, while Saoirse – meaning ‘freedom’ – is pronounced ‘SER-sha’.
Next on the list is “gyro” – a popular Greek dish, usually made with lamb, beef or chicken.
It’s a staple in many kitchen cabinets, but do you know how to pronounce Worcestershire sauce correctly?
Acai (assa-ee) is a small, dark purple palm berry native to South America, widely regarded as a superfood.
While most Brits pronounce it as “GEE-roh” or “JEE-roh”, the correct pronunciation is actually “IEE-roh”.
Gyros isn’t the only food to confuse the British.
Other foods we’ve mispronounced include “croissant” (koh-son), “worcestershire sauce” (vuss-tuh-shuh sauce), and “acai” (assa-ee).
If you’re having trouble with any of these words, don’t worry – Unscramblerer.com explains that the English language is “particularly unstructured”.
“English spelling only matches pronunciation about 75% of the time (Oxford University research),” it explains.
“A Cambridge University linguistics survey found that more than 60% of English speakers regularly mispronounce at least one common word.
“Correct pronunciation is closely related to perceived intelligence and ability.”
“The desire for correct pronunciation is a combination of avoiding social embarrassment and simple curiosity.”
“No wonder people notice how to pronounce words.”
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