In 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris and pop sensation Chappell Roan captured significant attention. Notably, their names were among the most mispronounced, reflecting broader societal discussions.
A list released by language-learning company Babbel and closed-captioning company The Captioning Group highlighted the words most frequently mispronounced by U.S. public figures, including news anchors and politicians. This list not only brings awareness to common pronunciation errors but also provides a lens through which to view the year’s prominent cultural and political conversations. “It’s a nice way to kind of look back into the year and see everything that has happened,” commented Esteban Touma, a linguistic expert at Babbel.
Chappell Roan, who rose to fame with hits like “Good Luck, Babe!,” saw her name mispronounced as SHA-pel ROW-an instead of the correct CHAP-uhl ROHN. Similarly, Vice President Kamala Harris faced challenges with her name’s correct pronunciation, COM-a-la, as clarified by her great-nieces during a high-profile appearance at the Democratic National Convention.
Among others on the list, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has long struggled with the pronunciation of his name, prompting his 2020 presidential campaign to create pronunciation aids like “Boot-Edge-Edge”. The actress Zendaya’s name often suffers similar mispronunciations as zen-DIE-uh when it should be zen-DAY-a.
In the realm of fast fashion and online retail, Shein stands mispronounced as SHEEN, diverging from its intended pronunciation of SHE-in. Meanwhile, Phryge, the Paris Olympics mascot, is mispronounced more frequently than imagined due to its correct pronunciation being FREE-je, inspired by the symbolic Phrygian cap from the French Revolution. Other notable mentions include semaglutide (sem-ah-GLOO-tide), a component in weight-loss medications, and Irish actor Barry Keoghan, whose last name should be articulated as key-OH-gin.
Interestingly, many of the mispronounced words are non-English, as observed by Nancy Niedzielski from Rice University. She notes that familiarity with the phonetic rules of a language is crucial to correct pronunciation. This insight was mirrored in the U.K. list curated with the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters, reaffirming global pronunciation challenges.
Esteban Touma emphasizes the importance of persistence in pronunciation attempts, acknowledging his own struggles with these linguistic nuances.
The year also saw names like “Dutch Kooikerhondje,” a dog breed popularized by baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s pet, alongside Speculoos-3b, an exoplanet, making the rounds in discussions for their intricate pronunciations.
Mispronunciations of notable names and terms throughout 2024 not only highlight cultural and linguistic challenges but also reflect the diversity of topics that gained prominence. Understanding and attempting correct pronunciations can foster better communication and cultural exchanges.
Source: Apnews
