The words we can't get right: Why 80 per cent of British people struggle to pronounce common words including espresso and prescription (and women are the worst)

Place names are particularly confusing with 'Ely' often mispronounced

Study commissioned by railway terminal St Pancras International, which is often pronounced as 'Pancreas'

20% of women struggle with common words such as espresso

One in six speakers do not pronounce London's Greenwich district properly



More than three-quarters of British people struggle with common words and place names, with espresso and prescription among the most difficult to pronounce, according to researchers.

A new study has revealed that 82 per cent of us regularly trip over our words, with women getting most tongue-tied by every day terminology.

And place names can be particularly confusing, according to the study commissioned by London railway station St Pancras International, which is itself frequently mispronounced by 33 per cent of people to sound like the gland 'pancreas'.



TONGUE-TIED? TRY TESTING THE 10 TRICKIEST WORDS TO PRONOUNCE 1. Ely Mispronounced by 59% of people EE-lee NOT Ee-Lie

2. Keighley (West Yorkshire town) 40% keith-lee NOT ki-lee or kay-lee

3. Sherbet 40% shur-but NOT sher-burt

4. Et cetera 34% et-set-ter-eh NOT ecc-set-ter-eh

5. St Pancras 33% Saint Pan-krass NOT Saint Pan-kree-ass

6. Espresso 26% ess-press-oh NOT ex-press-oh 7. Bruschetta 25% Brew-sket-a to be truly Italian NOT Brew-shet-a 8. Often 24% (traditionally offen, although off-ten has become increasingly common in the UK) 9. Prescription 21% Pruh-skrip-shun NOT per-skrip-shun or pro-skrip-shun

10. Greenwich 16% Gren-itch NOT Green-witch or Green-itch



Tongue tied: A study of the most difficult words to pronounce was commissioned by London railway station St Pancras International, which is itself frequently mispronounced as 'Pancreas'

The Cambridgeshire city of 'Ely' is the most commonly mispronounced word, with more than half of Brits (59 per cent) getting it wrong.

And one in six (16 per cent) speakers do not pronounce the south-east London district of 'Greenwich' correctly.

The study discovered nearly half of us can't pronounce 'sherbet' (40 per cent), while 34 per cent stumble over 'et cetera'.

Nearly a quarter of women (20 per cent) find common words such as 'prescription' and 'espresso' difficult to say, and 24 per cent of people get tongue-tied saying 'often'.

Researchers who have compiled a list of the words we find hardest to pronounce say the Italian starter 'bruschetta' has 25 per cent of people regularly stumped.



The study found a quarter of British people (23 per cent) feel so worried about getting words like these wrong they even ask someone else to say them.

One in six embarrassed speakers (17 per cent) confess to stopping the conversation and apologising for getting mixed up.

However, it seems men are less self-conscious, with 35 per cent of males saying they do not care if they mispronounce something.

Struggle: Nearly a quarter of women (20 per cent) find common words such as 'espresso' difficult to say

Difficult: The Cambridgeshire city of 'Ely' is the most commonly mispronounced word, with more than half of Brits (59 per cent) getting it wrong

And 41 per cent of us admit we interupt conversation to correct someone when they say a word incorrectly.

The study also highlighted regional differences, with 93 per cent of people in Northern Ireland admitting that they trip up during conversations.

But those in the North West are least likely to say that they pronounce their words wrongly, with only one in ten doing so.

'We are always hearing people referring to the station as "St Pancreas",' said Wendy Spinks, commercial director of HS1, which owns Eurostar terminal St Pancras International.

'With the rise of social media, more and more people are mixing the two up both in speech and text.

'It is completely understandable as people are more familiar with pancreas.

'In addition, it is a much easier word to say as it has three syllables allowing the speaker to elongate their speech and giving them longer to get their mouth around it.'

Tricky: Researchers who have compiled a list of the words we find hardest to pronounce say the Italian starter 'bruschetta' has 25 per cent of people regularly stumped

The study found more than half of Brits (55 per cent) actually attribute mix ups to some words being spoken differently to how they are spelt.

One in five (18 per cent) think certain words are simply difficult to say, while others (6 per cent) insist confusing silent letters are to blame.

One in 20 (5 per cent) instead pass the buck and suggest their errors come from repeating what someone else said.

'We often fail to engage our conscious brain when speaking aloud what we are reading,' said neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis.

'As a result we see what we expect to see rather than what is actually there.

'In the phrase 'paris in the the spring', for example, many fail to notice the second 'the'.

'It's the same with St Pancras.

'When seen for the first time the brain reads this as 'pancreas', the insulin-producing gland, and that is how it is pronounced thereafter.