Cillian Murphy, the Stone of Scone, Karl Lagerfeld's cat Choupette, and the Popocatepetl volcano. These were only some of the words that Babbel, a language learning company, had revealed as the most mispronounced words this year. Don't worry if you've been pronouncing them wrong. Unless you have some background knowledge of those words or their origins, you're probably saying it the same way everybody is.
Babbel listed several UK and US words which many people found tricky to pronounce. In the UK list, we have the Stone of Scone (pronounced SKOON), that slab of stone present at King Charles' coronation. We might have all been tempted to pronounce it like the pastry, since it would have a nice rhyme to it, unless you're British and you pronounce it as SKAHN.
In the US list, we have the name of the Oppenheimer star, Cillian Murphy. It's an Irish name and just like the word Celtic, it's pronounced with a K. The Boston Celtics are an exception. We also have the US singer who has been making rounds for her Grammy nominations, SZA (pronounced SIZ-uh).
Choupette (pronounced SHOO-pet), Karl Lagerfeld's pet Birman cat, is probably the easiest if you're familiar with French. And finally, we have the Mexican volcano, Popocatépetl (pronounced Poh-poh-kah-TEH-peh-til). For the rest of the words, you may check them out on Sky News.
(Image credit: Sky News)
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