Ever overheard someone mispronounce the name of something? Annoying isn’t it? Common mispronunciations may come in the form of exotic holiday locations, coffee-based loan words from other cultures and even the names of the latest Hollywood blockbusters – ‘Django Unchained’ for example.
But here at Car Keys, we are focusing on the number one, most important issue. The mispronunciation of car names. We are not talking about opinionated ‘tomayto – tomahto’ scenarios, or even Americanisms like ‘vee-hickle’ – we are talking about right and wrong.
After a heated debate in the Car Keys office over how to pronounce Bentley’s new ‘Bentayga’ SUV, which has just made an appearance at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, we thought it fitting to produce a list of some of the most commonly mispronounced car names. So, let’s start with the Bentayga shall we.
*Disclaimer* - Your tongue may become twisted at times while reading this article and some of our phonetic breakdowns are so ridiculous that they border on facetious.
Bentley Bentayga
Pronunciation: Bent-lee Ben-tay-gah
Rumour has it: The Bentayga name refers to a mountain peak in Gran Canaria called Roque Bentayga.
Toyota Prius
Pronunciation: Toy-oh-ta Pree-uss
Rumour has it: In a nod to its early adoption of environmentally-aware hybrid vehicles, the word Prius was chosen as it is the Latin meaning for “to go before” – in other words, we were first!
Volkswagen Touareg
Pronunciation: Volks-wag-en Twar-regg
Rumour has it: The Touareg was named after a Berber-speaking group in Africa called the ‘Tuareg people.’
Renault Kadjar
Pronunciation: Ren-oh Kad-jar
Rumour has it: Kad is evocative of ‘quad’, meaning all-wheel drive all-terrain, and Jar refers to the French word for agile.
Alfa Romeo Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde
Pronunciation: Al-fa Rom-a-oh Jul-e-ett-a kwod-dri-foglio Ver-day
Rumour has it: The word Quadrifoglio refers to Alfa Romeo’s popular Cloverleaf emblem, which was introduced to the body work of all Alfa race cars, as of 1923, as a good luck charm to those racing.
Nissan Qashqai
Pronunciation: Niss-an kash-ki
Rumour has it: The name Qashqai refers to the ‘Qashqai people’ living in Southwestern Iran who are made up of a number of tribes.
Hyundai Tucson
Pronunciation: Hi-un-di Too-son
Rumour has it: It takes its name from the city of Tucson in Arizona… that is all.
Not had enough? Here are a few other car names that usually spark debate:
Ford ‘EcoSport’
Pronunciation: Ford Ek-ho-sport
Although the carmaker’s popular petrol range is pronounced ‘Eco-boost’, Ford is calling this compact SUV the ‘Echo-sport.’
Skoda Fabia
Pronunciation: Sko-dah Fab-e-ah
Ssangyong Tivoli
Pronunciation: Sang-yong Tiv-oh-lee
Kia Sportage
Pronunciation: Kee-a Spor-tar-j
Range Rover Evoque
Pronunciation: Rayn-j Roh-ver Eev-oke
Maserati Ghibli
Pronunciation: Maz-er-rat-ee Gib-lee
Let us know on our Twitter and Facebook pages what car name mispronunciations bug you.
