Billie Eilish’s name makes the list of the most mispronounced words by broadcasters in 2021
All four made it onto this year’s list of most mispronounced words as compiled by the U.S. Captioning Company, which captions and subtitles real-time events on TV and in courtrooms.The list released Tuesday identifies the words that proved most challenging for newsreaders and people on television to pronounce this year.
The caption company said it surveyed its members to generate the list, which is now in its sixth year and was commissioned by Babbel, a language-learning platform with headquarters in Berlin and New York. “Newscasters in the U.S. have struggled with 2021′s new words and names while reporting on key sporting events, viral internet trends and emerging celebrities,” said Esteban Touma, a standup comedian and teacher for Babbel Live.
“As a language teacher, it’s always interesting to see that some of these terms are usually new colloquialisms, or are rooted or borrowed from another language,” he said. “As a non-native speaker, I must confess it’s fun to see English speakers stumbling a bit for a change.”Cheugy : A trendy term popularized by Gen Z and used to mock an outdated and unfashionable aesthetic typically associated with millennials, such as “Live, Laugh, Love” signs.
Chipotle : The American fast food chain became the center of a viral trend this year challenging Baby Boomers to pronounce the name.popularized in Netflix’s “Squid Game.”Dogecoin : A divisive cryptocurrency that began somewhat ironically before being popularized by Elon Musk, causing its value to dramatically increase.