Merriam-Webster has managed to provoke Irish speakers on social media, after asking users about the pronunciation of a name.
The dictionary’s editor took to social media to ask those at X “which word has the biggest disconnect between spelling and pronunciation?”
Known for his snappy and sarcastic posts, the post closed with: “asking about our friend Siobhan.”
In the case of Siobhán, broken down phonetically as shi-vawn, Irish speakers were quick to point out that the name is pronounced exactly as it sounds in Irish.
The name is also absent from their online dictionary, as it is a proper name in the Irish language, as opposed to English.
Sarah Snook is seen playing the character Siobhan (Shiv) Roy on the hit TV show Succession.
The dictionary’s editor took to social media to ask those at X “which word has the biggest disconnect between spelling and pronunciation?”
The now-deleted post was widely criticized by Irish speakers, who pointed out that the name was based on Irish pronunciation rules.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, a lawyer at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, posted: ‘Glad to see this silly post by @MerriamWebster has been removed.
‘Once again for the people in the back: Irish names *are* pronounced the way they are spelled. In *Irish*. It’s another language.’
Siobhán O’Grady, chief Ukraine correspondent for the Washington Post, posted: ‘Siobhán (which by the way has a fada on the a) is spelled phonetically in the language in which it is written, which is Irish.
‘A language that still exists and is still spoken despite systemic efforts to erase it. ‘
While Seán Ó Raghallaigh added: ‘Siobhan is pronounced exactly how it is written in Irish.
“There is no disconnect between spelling and pronunciation, unless you force the pronunciation of a different language.”
Just hours after it was published, the editor decided to delete the post, after community context was added to point out what was wrong.
The now-deleted post was widely criticized by Irish speakers, who pointed out that the name was based on Irish pronunciation rules.
A study last year found that Irish names were among the words that people found most difficult to pronounce. Irish actress Saoirse Ronan appears in the photo.
One user mocked the decision to remove it, posting: “There is something so touching about bullying the dictionary so much for not understanding the concept of the Irish language that they remove the post in less than a day.”
A study last year found that Irish names were among the words that people found most difficult to pronounce.
The research found that the most difficult name of all is Aoife, pronounced ‘ee-fa’, which generated the most Google searches above all other names.
While Saoirse, pronounced ‘sear-sha’, comes second among names that include Siobhán and Niamh, pronounced neev.
During an interview with Stephen Colbert, Irish actress Saoirse Ronan had to teach people how to pronounce her name, which she also did on Saturday Night Live.
Colbert had the actress read aloud Irish names, including Tadhg, (tag) Niamh, Oisin, (o-sheen) and Caoimhe (keeva).
Once the presenter asked him to pronounce Siobhan, he, laughing, called the pronunciation “ridiculous”.
