What links Kamala Harris, Chappell Roan and mascot Phryge this year?

Vice President Kamala Harris did not have the best end of 2024, but her name was everywhere this year.

Same goes for breakout pop star Chappell Roan, who has had a banner year, especially with her song ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ and her six Grammy award nominations.

As for the French Olympic mascot Phryge, it may look like a clitoris, but it won over everyone by the end of the games. Bow down and show your respect.

They were among the year’s most talked-about people (and anthropomorphised plush toy).

However, their names were also among the most mispronounced.

This is according to language-learning company Babbel and closed-captioning company The Captioning Group, who released a list of the words that news anchors, politicians and other public figures in the US struggled with the most in 2024.

“It’s a nice way to kind of look back into the year and see everything that has happened,” said Esteban Touma, a linguistic and cultural expert at Babbel.

So, let’s set the record straight with their list.

Kamala Harris’ name, as her great-nieces stated when they took to the stage at the Democratic National Convention, is pronounced “COM-a-la”.
Chappell Roan’s name is pronounced “CHAP-uhl ROHN”, not “SHA-pel ROW-an”.
The French Olympic mascot Phryge – a nod to the Phrygian cap, an emblematic accessory of the French revolutionaries – is pronounced “FREE-je”.
The last name of Irish actor Barry Keoghan, star of Bird, Saltburn and The Banshees of Inisherin, is pronounced “key-OH-gin”.
The name of the actress Zendaya, who starred in Challengers and Dune: Part 2this year, is often mispronounced as “zen-DIE-uh”, but it should be “zen-DAY-a”.
Online fast-fashion giant Shein is “SHE-in”, not “SHEEN”.
Newly discovered exoplanet Speculoos-3b is pronounced “SPEK-yuh-lohss three bee”.
The breed of dog Dutch Kooikerhondje, which made its way into the lexicon this year, is pronounced “COY-ker-HUND-che”. Now you know.
Semaglutide, the drug in weight-loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy, is pronounced “sem-ah-GLOO-tide”, not “SEE-mah-gloo-tide”.

No more excuses now.

Several of the names / words on the US list, including Keoghan, Phryge and Shein, also made the list for the UK, which Babbel compiled with the help of the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters, an organization for subtitling professionals.

Other words on the UK list include Flygskam, a Swedish term popularized by climate activist Greta Thunberg (which translates as “flight shame”) which is pronounced “FLEEG-skam”, and the Chagos Islands, pronounced “CHAY-goss”. The latter made the list after the British government this year returned sovereignty of the long-contested Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius.

Touma, a native Spanish speaker, said if you can’t pronounce a word, it’s important to just keep trying.

“One of the problems we have is our mouths are not trained to do these sounds that come from different languages,” he said.

Touma admitted even he struggles with some words, including Harris’ first name. Even though he knows the correct pronunciation, he said, it’s hard to get it correct in the moment when he’s in a conversation.

Sounds relatable – even though many would have hoped to get a chance to perfect Harris’ first name with a ‘President’ in front of it…

Additional sources • Babbel, AP