A language-learning app called Babbel — which teaches subscribers everything from Norwegian to Indonesian — this month released its annual list of the most-mispronounced words of 2023. The company has been announcing the year’s most-mangled every December since 2016, when Americans had trouble saying “quinoa” and “Roald Dahl.” In 2022, Americans just couldn’t manage “Rishi Sunak” and “Edinborough.” This year, Babbel says, the words and phrases everybody gets wrong include:
“Sza” (SIH-zuh), the stage name of Solana Imani Rowe, the singer-songwriter who had a number-one chart hit with “Kill Bill,” singing about murdering her ex-boyfriend.
“Choupette” (Shoo-pet), Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, who entered the conversation when Jared Leto wore a kitty outfit to the Met Ball honoring the late Chanel designer.
“Kilauea” (Kee-lou-EY-uh), the Hawaiian volcano that has been belching toxic gases and shaking the ground a bit too frequently, lately, for the comfort of residents of the Big Island.
And “nepo baby” (NEH-po BAY-bee), a trendy term popularized by New York magazine, referring to celebrities born to celebrity parents, who succeed because of nepotism.
Babbel compiles the list by polling people who provide closed-captioning services for broadcast clients — for instance, the live captions that run beside the newscaster’s head on the 6 o’clock news as he says “cache” and “probably” wrong.
As a public-service announcement, we’d like to take this opportunity to mention a short list of East Hampton’s most-mispronounced words. According to us, these are:
“Pantigo,” as in Pantigo Road, which is PANT-uh-go, not Pan-TEE-go, a mispronunciation that has become so widespread you hear it on the voicemail messages of certain businesses actually located on Pantigo Road (sending smoke out of the ears of the more harassed and irritable locals). See also: Bendigo Road — BEN-duh-go — in Amagansett.
“Ashawagh,” as in Ashawagh Hall in Springs, which is ASH-uh-wah, not Ash-uh-WOG, in point of fact, despite what your friend who’s been living in Springs since 1979 says. This one nowadays seems to be mispronounced about half the time we hear it coming out of someone’s mouth. Maybe the latterly Ash-uh-WOG pronunciation will triumph in the end over the traditional pronunciation, but we’re not going down without a fight.
“Bonac,” which, okay, may not be mispronounced quite as frequently as some of the above, but needs to be mentioned after a Star staff member nearly choked on her doughnut when she heard a fellow parent shout out “Go, BONE-ack!” (instead of BONN-ick) at a high school sports meet at which the East Hampton Bonackers were playing.
“Conch,” which is conk, end of story, goodbye, the end. “Amagansett,” which is Am-uh-GAN-set, not Am-uh-gan-zet, hard “S,” not soft “Z.”
And, while we’re at it, “espresso.” It’s not ex-PRESS-oh. If the average modern Long Islander can manage “acai,” “charcuterie,” and “dogecoin,” we should be able to handle ess-PRESS-oh,” can’t we agree?