NICK EICHER, HOST: Working in radio, one of our biggest challenges is figuring out how to pronounce things correctly. And there are times, we must admit, when we get it wrong. But at least we’re not alone!
The U.S. Captioning company, which captions and subtitles real-time events on TV just released a list of this year’s most mispronounced words and names.
Shockingly the ubiquitous face of Dr. Anthony Fauci came up. How do you get that wrong? We had so much practice, and we’re probably not done practicing.
Here’s another: Kamala Harris. Some people say Kuh-MAHL-uh. It’s KAH-mah-luh. Again, I expect we’ll get some practice.
But speaking of practice—something pro basketball players do—practice, I’m talking about practice. Not the game. Practice.
Anyway, here goes. The MVP of the NBA. This name gets mispronounced.
Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Here is hall of famer Shaquille O’Neal with the young superstar on TNT trying to say his name.
CLIP: Yannis Ah-tun-kuh-numbo. That’s close enough. That’s kind of in the ballpark. Is that right my brother? No, Shaq.
Also on the list, Hurricane Isaias. We might have gotten that one wrong ourselves.
And finally, a mainstay on this list: the state of Nevada. That is Nehv-ADD-ah, not Nuh-VAHD-uh.
And this is The World and Everything in It.
