Diction aff liction! Words we can’t pronounce

FOR Britons struggling to pronounce certain words, the following sentence will present quite a verbal challenge...

‘A cache of quinoa, mangetout and an espresso in the foyer of Parliament probably leaves you on tenterhooks in Arctic February.’

It contains ten of the 25 words which Britons find the hardest to say, research has revealed. The survey of 2,000 adults found that quinoa is the one we struggle with the most, often pronouncing the edible seeds as ‘ki-no-ah’ instead of ‘keen-wah’.

Next comes probably, which regularly ends up as ‘probly’ instead of ‘probbuh-blee followed by espresso, frequently rendered as ‘ex-spres-so’.

Also in the top ten are tenterhooks and cache, which many people mangle into ‘tenderhooks’ and ‘cash-ay’.

The study was commissioned by South Korean car giant Hyundai which is currently running an ad campaign based on the pronunciation of its name.

Other words to make the survey list include parliament, foyer, Arctic, mangetout and February. The list has echoes of the classic ‘Loyal Society for the Relief of Suffers from Pismronunciation’ sketch on The Two Ronnies TV show which was a huge hit in the 1970s and 80s. But unlike members of the comically created support group for ‘people who can’t say their worms correctly’, at least today’s sufferers have the internet to turn to for help. Forty seven per cent of those surveyed admitted to using Google to check the correct pronunciation of a word.

Two increasingly used technical words, GIF – an abbreviation of a type of computer file used for images – and meme – a humorous image widely shared on the internet – made the top ten. GIF is often being mispronounced ‘JIF’ and meme ‘meh-meh’. The study also found that where you live may impact your ability to say certain words correctly. Probably was a particular problem in the North East, zoology in the North West and Arctic in Wales.

Meanwhile, nearly half of Londoners often use words or phrases they do not understand or know the definition of in conversation. Residents of the capital were also the most likely to correct someone if they pronounce a word incorrectly, with 49 per cent doing so.

A total of 44 per cent of people in the North West said they knew the correct way to say words but chose not to.

Hyundai is currently stressing its name is not pronounced ‘Hy-un- dai’ but ‘Hyun-day’. A separate study found that the most common hardest words to say for Britons are the Irish names Aoife (correctly pronounced ‘Ee-fa’) and Saoirse ( ‘Sursha’).

The survey, commissioned by Irish online casino Slotbox, also found that acaí, a fruit used in energy drinks pronounced ‘ah-sah-ee’, and gyros, a type of kebab pronounced ‘yee-ros’, are stumbling blocks for many people.

‘Just like Two Ronnies sketch’