A
psychological phenomenon where a word, place or name is pronounced incorrectly by a lot of people. The Lewcatch Effect is to mispronunciations as
the Mandela Effect is to false memories, oral discrepancies and spelling errors. Named after Hungarian Marxist
philosopher György Lukács, whose surname’s pronunciation is a matter of dispute. He pronounced his last name “LEW-cotch”, while others make the argument that his last name was actually pronounced “LEW-catch.”
Other examples include:
• Dr. Suess = “Soice”, not “Soose”
• Tone Loc = “Tone Loke”, not “Tony Lock”
• Martin Scorsese = “Scor-SEZ-ee”, not “Scor-SAY-zee”
• Gyro = “YUR-row”, not “JYE-row”
• Açaí = “AH-sigh-EE”, not “ah-KAI”
“I’m going to Peter’s Mediterranean Shack, do you want anything from there?” - Hugh
“Yes, I’ll have two chicken jye-rows.” - Nikki
“Nikki, it’s
pronounced YUR-rows. You’re not the
first person to butcher that
pronunciation. In fact there’s a word for people who have picked up the habit of incorrectly pronouncing words. It’s called the Lewcatch Effect.” - Hugh
“Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll have two chicken YUR-rows! Thanks for correcting me, Hugh!” - Nikki