“Oppenheimer” was one of the biggest movies this year, but it turns out, a lot of people don’t know how to pronounce the name of its star. A new list reveals the most mispronounced words of the year and actor Cillian Murphy is one of them.
The research comes from closed-captioning company The Captioning Group on behalf of the online language company Babbel. They’ve been releasing the list since 2016 and the 2023 edition shows that some of the words related to this year’s hottest topics were also often said incorrectly.
These are the top 10 most mispronounced words of 2023, in no particular order.
- SZA - The singer-songwriter leads the nominations for the upcoming GRAMMY Awards, but people still struggle with how to say her name. It’s SIZ-uh, for the record.
- Enceladus - Saturn’s sixth moon made headlines in the spring after NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope spotted a huge plume of water on it that’s twice as long as the continental U.S. The correct pronunciation is En-SEH-luh-duhs.
- Cillian Murphy - The actor starring in the title role in “Oppenheimer” may be well known after the movie’s success, but the way to say his name? Not so much. It’s pronounced KIL-ee-uhn.
- Popocatépetl - The most active volcano in Mexico threatened to erupt in May and pronouncing its name is challenging for many. The correct way to say it is Poh-poh-kah-TEH-peh-til.
- Travis Kelce - He was already a well-known pro football player, but he became famous to a whole new crowd when he started dating Taylor Swift this year. His last name can be said two ways, both are correct, according to Travis: KEL-see or Kels.
- Iam Tongi - The winner of this year’s “American Idol” is the first person from Hawaii and the first Pacific Islander to nab the title. Iam Tongi is William Tongi’s stage name and it’s pronounced EE-am DONG-ee.
- Psammophile - This word may be tough to say, but it wasn’t hard to spell for 14-year-old Dev Shah, who won the National Spelling Bee with it in June. The word means plants that love sandy soil and the correct pronunciation is SAM-uh-file.
- Vivek Ramaswamy - Many stumble over the right way to say the name of the Republican presidential candidate, but it should be Vih-VAKE Rah-mah-SWAH-me.
- Choupette - This is the name of the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s cat and celebs including Jared Leto paid tribute to him at this year’s Met Gala. The correct pronunciation is SHOO-pet.
- Kīlauea - Another volcano tripping people up with pronunciation this year is this one in Hawaii, which is pronounced Kee-lou-EY-uh.
- Runners up include - Wambsgans, Tom’s last name on “Succession” [[WOMS-gans]] and Nepo Baby [[NEH-po bay-bee]].
Source: Business Insider