For almost two weeks, users of the online social platform reddit have been submitting what they consider to be “the hardest English word to pronounce”.
Here are the Some of them
Rural
One user says: “I cannot say Rural Juror – comes out rurrrerr jerrrerr and sounds like I’m growling.”
A self-confessed Australian user says: “An aussie would pronounce it ‘ruhral jurah.”
Otorhinolaryngologist
One user, going for a word largely on the basis of its length, suggests this medical term for an ear-, nose- and throat-doctor.
But, as another points out, “that one looks like a beast, but once you break it down, it’s pretty easy to say”.
A user says: “Once you know what it is, it’s much easier. “oto-rhino-laryng-ologist” is literally “ear-nose-throat-scientist”.
Colonel
Submitted by a user who explains: “If you know that it’s pronounced “kernel”, it’s easy to pronounce. But if you were new to the English language and didn’t know that, you would never pronounce it correctly.”
Another offers the “fun fact” that: “We took the French spelling (spelled and pronounced with r) and the Italian pronunciation (also spelled with an l).”
Penguin
An overt reference to Benedict Cumberbatch, one user offered this popular submission presumably as an excuse to re-watch this video of the actor voicing a BBC documentary on the South Pacific.
Choir
Some popular comments
“As a foreign speaker: Choir. Seriously. Why?
Someone suggests helpfully that “it’s like ‘enquire’ but without the ‘en’”.
“I read that as ‘Enrique’ and was confused for a solid 5 minutes.”
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