Disclaimer: This article is based on actual news from the real world – honestly! However, it has been sprinkled with a healthy dose of satire.
We’ve still got a few weeks left, but 2025 has been one hell of a decade. At the beginning of the year, we had a different elderly President in office, there was only one Wicked movie, and the Stranger Things kids looked like they were in their ‘30s (okay, maybe some things haven’t changed). Now is the time to look back at the year that was, or at least it is if you have Spotify, according to our social media feeds.
For those looking to pay tribute to 2025 beyond your questionable music taste, language-learning company Babbel and closed captioning company The Captioning Group have teamed up to highlight the most mispronounced words of the year. Before we get into that, though, let’s give our own award to The Captioning Group for having the most literal name for a company in 2025. Okay, we can move on to mispronounced words now.
Not so easy for you to say, eh? (Austin Kirk/Creative Commons)
It’s not just you trying to pronounce these words, either. Babbel and TCG made their list from news anchors, politicians, and other public figures who had trouble. As things like the jewel heist at the Louvre and the election of New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani tended to dominate the headlines, they also topped the list. We’ll be honest here – “Louvre” is a tough one even if there aren’t heists happening, but now we know, according to Babbel, that it’s pronounced “LOOV-ruh.” We’d have gone with “that museum in Paris,” since most people would know what we were talking about.
Mamdani isn’t much easier, until you think of your mother and someone named Donny together. Why she left your dad for this Donny guy is up for interpretation, but maybe it’s your fault. At any rate, many had problems pronouncing the mayor-elect’s last name, even if the people of NYC had no problem voting for him.
There are several reasons for this. His main rival as NYC mayor was former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo rolls off the tongue, mainly because everyone had a decade to pronounce his name when he was governor. And then they got to pronounce it a ton more after a sex scandal forced him to resign. And also, his brother was on CNN, and his dad has a bridge named after him.
MomDanny might not be able to pronounce acetaminophen flawlessly either. (instagram/zohrankmamdani)
Due to the President recommending pregnant mothers not use Tylenol, its active ingredient, acetaminophen, made the list as well. And while he had no problem making the warning, he wasn’t particularly able to pronounce the ingredient so well. And in other health-related unpronounceable words, obesity drug Mounjaro also made the list, so if you can’t pronounce that one, maybe go with Ozempic. Alex Murdaugh, the attorney who killed his wife and son, made the list due to the Hulu series ‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family.’ It’s pronounced “Mur-dock” but you might as well just pronounce it “murder.”
Perhaps the most surprising inclusion on the list was a celebrity who caused the mispronunciation itself. Denzel Washington told Jimmy Kimmel that we’ve been saying his name incorrectly, but it’s his mom’s fault. He was named after his dad, whose name is also Denzel, but is pronounced “DEN-zul.” That got confusing, however, so she decided to call him “Den-ZELLE,” which is what we all know and love him as. Good luck telling your mom she’s been pronouncing it somewhat incorrectly for all these years, though.
This story is based on fully factual news, but if we got it wrong, blame these guys, we’re just here to make it funny.
