How many on this list have you been butchering?
“Cheugy” is apparently a lot to chew on, while the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and
Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce have something in common – broadcasters butcher their names.
Virtually everyone, meanwhile, is having trouble with “Omicron”.
Cheugy (CHOO-gee): A trendy term popularized by Gen Z and used to mock an outdated and unfashionable aesthetic typically associated with millennials, such as “Live, Laugh, Love” signs.
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.
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 US and the
UK.)