The most mispronounced placenames in the world
There are a heap of Australian places that could be added to the list. Strangers get Barcaldine, Mungindi and Goondiwindi badly wrong and where I live -- Woolloongabba -- is a real challenge. And attempts to pronounce Woolloomooloo are a reliable laugh -- JR
The 20 most mispronounced places around the world are:
1. Cannes, France
2. River Thames, England
3. Yosemite National Park, USA
4. Louvre Museum, Paris, France
5. Versailles, France
6. Seychelles, East Africa
7. Ibiza, Spain
8. Phuket, Thailand
9. Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda
10. Dubai, UAE
11. Oaxaca, Mexico
12. Maldives, Indonesia
13. Laos
14. Beijing, China
15. Seoul, South Korea
16. Reykjavik, Iceland
17. Worcester, England
18. Budapest, Hungary
19. Qatar
20. Edinburgh, Scotland
Whether you’re traveling to different regions across the globe or discussing international news with your friends from home, you’re bound to visit or talk about a place you don’t know how to pronounce. Instead of waiting for the inevitable to happen, take some time to explore our list of the most mispronounced places on Earth so that you can speak confidently about the world around you (and impress some locals while you’re at it!).
The language learning platform Preply has used Google search data to reveal a list of the most mispronounced places on the planet and how you pronounce them.
Some places are super simple to get right, but good luck with even some of the most famous cities and landmarks. Unfortunately, how to pronounce your favourite holiday hotspots is much more complicated than it should be.
It's a common problem and one that's pretty prevalent when it comes to many of the Australian place names you'll come across.
The city of Brisbane has just been named on a map of place names that people always pronounce wrongly, alongside Montreal, Phuket, and Dubai.
To determine the most challenging global destinations to pronounce, Preply compared Google search data around correct pronunciation.
The list of the top places features the most challenging places to pronounce, analyzing a list of 68 places.
Let's see if you're pronouncing some of these places correctly:
1. Brisbane
Correct: Bris-bn
Incorrect: Bris-BAYNE
https://preply.com/en/blog/most-mispronounced-places/
*************************************************The Divide Between the Middle Class and Elites is Only Widening Amidst Economic Woes
The divide between the middle class and elites is only widening as skyrocketing inflation, higher gas prices, and a tepid economic recovery push economic issues front and center.
Last week, Market Research Foundation noted close to two-thirds of voters say their number one issue is something directly related to the rising cost of living. The latest Monmouth University poll shows a full third of voters (33%) say inflation is their number one issue, followed by gas prices (15%), the economy overall (9%), and paying for bills and groceries (6%).
This translates to 63% of Americans saying they are most concerned with immediate economic issues, over any number of distant political narratives peddled by the ruling elites.
Now polling from the New York Times/Siena College shows wealthy white liberals are significantly more likely to prioritize social issues like abortion and gun control, while working class whites and minorities are focused on tangible economic issues. A focus on the economy is also closely linked to preference for a GOP-controlled Congress this fall.
The pollsters found those who say the economy is their number one issue prefer Republican control of Congress 62% to 25%. The Times was careful to point out voters who are economically motivated skew less affluent and are more likely to be nonwhite than voters who prioritize social issues.
Those who say the economy is their number one issue say they prefer Republican control of Congress 62% to 25%.
These economically motivated voters are not necessarily conservative on social issues. For example, more than half of the voters who said the economy was their biggest concern also said abortion should be mostly legal.
As the Times points out, the Democratic party is continuing to drive away minorities and the middle-class, drawing its support mostly from wealthy white liberals.
“For the first time in a Times/Siena national survey, Democrats had a larger share of support among white college graduates than among nonwhite voters — a striking indication of the shifting balance of political energy in the Democratic coalition”, writes the Times. “As recently as the 2016 congressional elections, Democrats won more than 70 percent of nonwhite voters while losing among white college graduates.”
The Time points out only 17 percent of white college-educated Biden voters prioritize economic issues, the lowest percentage for any ethnic or educational group.
But even still, the share of Americans who prioritize abortion or gun control is slim. The Times points out that only about one in six registered voters combined say either gun issues or abortion is the most important problem facing the country. Those who do prioritize gun control or abortion prefer Democratic control of Congress, 68 percent to 8 percent.
Only about one in six registered voters combined say either gun issues or abortion is the most important problem facing the country.
The Times also shows only 74% percent of Democrats who supported Biden in 2020 and prioritize the economy now say they want a Democratic controlled Congress. In other words, as many as a quarter economically driven Biden voters do not want the Democratic Party in charge anymore.
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The progressive elite's naive soft-on-crime ideology is destroying America's cities. So how nauseating that Starbucks' woke boss only condemns it when it hits his own stores
By MEGHAN MCCAIN
Is there anything that symbolizes smug elitism more than a Starbucks coffee cup? The green logo stands out like a badge that proves the drinker is part of the club. Club members are enlightened and progressive. Not like those knuckle-draggers drinking Dunkin' Donuts. They know that Republicans are heartless and that they have all the answers.
That's why it's so surprisingly to hear Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz – one of the wokest of American executives – announce that he's shuttering more than a dozen Starbucks stores, because the liberal cities they're in have become uninhabitable.
Well, well, well… haven't the progressive chickens have come home to roost!
In newly-released video leaked from a company meeting, Schultz derides the nation's leaders – from the White House on down – saying, 'America has become unsafe.'
'In my view,' he says, 'at the local, state, and federal level, these governments across the country and leaders, mayors, and governors and city councils have abdicated their responsibility in fighting crime and addressing mental illness.'
'It has shocked me,' he continued, 'that one of the primary concerns that our retail partners have is their own personal safety… Starbucks is a window into America, we have stores in every community... we are facing things in which the stores were not built for. We're listening to our people and closing stores, and this is just the beginning. There are going be many more.'
Is it too soon to say I told you so?
Conservatives, like me, have been shamed and harassed for years by members of the liberal media and woke-elected class for being cruel, because we advocate for law and order. But wanting one's family to feel safe is normal. It doesn't make you an unevolved person with no compassion for the most vulnerable in society to feel that way. It is also normal to believe that there is no justification of any kind for violence or theft.
And up until a few years ago, those were commonly held beliefs in America.
Then came the notorious 2020 summer of hell after the murder of George Floyd. The mindset shifted among a growing number of increasingly vocal Americans, as radical progressives gaslit many into believing that 'law and order' was wrong.
Just type my name and 'George Floyd riots' into Google and see what comes out. See how well my criticism of the looting and rioting went over with the mainstream media and one particularly outraged former neighbor, who works for fringe late night host Samantha Bee.
At the time, it seemed like so many Americans had gone mad. Hard-left progressives advocated for everything from defunding the police to relaxing penalties for people who commit crimes.
If a building was set on fire by a protester that's the sign of a ''fiery but mostly peaceful protest.'
If someone steals less than $1,000 worth of merchandise from Walgreens or Target, it is fine. We should look the other way because clearly the people committing the crime need to because America is a wretched place. The criminals are victims, you see.
And the victims? Well, they are privileged.
Is all of this sounding familiar yet?
Starbucks was an early adopter of these short-sighted policies.
In 2018, the chain opened their bathrooms to customers and non-customers alike, after a Starbucks employee called the police on two Black men, who refused to leave the store after they were denied access to the restroom.
I'm not passing judgement on those men. But didn't Schultz suspect that his policy – maybe, just maybe – might backfire?
Now it's not uncommon to go into a Starbucks and see a homeless person doing drugs or passed out on the floor.
And make no mistake, Schultz is no hero for finally calling out progressive leaders and policies that have destroyed cities. He has only spoken out after the lawlessness started impacting his bottom line.
I don't recall hearing his influential voice as homicides spiked in cities across the country.
Yeah Howard, it sucks when you want to make money and enjoy the blessings of a free and law-abiding society, but instead your neighborhood descends into mayhem
And it's not just Starbucks feeling the pinch --- its entire city governments. In New York City and Washington D.C., social services are being strained by the influx of illegal immigrants.
Border states leaders, who have grown sick and tired of fighting a tidal wave of immigration without the help of the federal government, have decided to bus these people north.
On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams demanded the federal government help pay for what he said was a flood of asylum seekers pouring into the Big Apple.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared on television Sunday morning to say her city's homeless shelters are filling up because of the busloads of desperate people.
Part of this is obviously due to the relaxed immigration policies of the Biden Administration and the progressive demand for seemingly open borders.
But again -- Democratic mayors didn't sound the alarm until it became a blue state problem, instead of an issue that only impacted my home state of Arizona and other border states.
It turns out not everything in life is as simple as it sounds in a political science class at Oberlin College. This is real life we are talking about.
Conservatives and independents (heck everyone except these wild progressives) are not cruel. We are realistic.
It didn't take much to look into the future and see that allowing crime to go unpunished and allowing the border to go unsecured would lead to problems.
So here we are – CEOs and liberal leaders are looking around at each other dumbfounded. They thought that simply believing in a utopian society – would make it happen.
It's a bitter cold brew blast of reality. Progressivism drags society backwards. Full stop.
Don't look at me though, I'm just the big, bad conservative who wants your family to feel safe when you're buying a cup of coffee.
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Australia: new mom is OUTRAGED after being called a 'birthing parent' instead of a mother by the Australian government
A Gold Coast mother has called out the Australian government after being referred to as a 'birthing parent' rather than a 'mother' on a healthcare form.
Sall Grover says she was shocked by the 'alienating' form that has been introduced in some hospitals as part of a trial to upload new baby details to Medicare.
Ms Grover pointed out the form asked for the 'birthing parent's full name' in one box and 'birthing parent's signature' in another instead of mother - and shared an image of it on Twitter.
'Attention women in Australia: On the form to put our newborn baby on our Medicare card, we are referred to as 'birthing parent,' Grover wrote.
'Enough is enough. This absolute bull--- is exclusionary, alienating and derogatory towards every woman who wants to be and is called "mother."
'I know enough what is happening at the moment with women's rights, and the erosion of our language and spaces, so I know where it's coming from,' she said.
During an interview with the Today Show on Thursday morning, she said the new consent forms were simply to please fringe activists and lobbyists.
'The fact that it was on this government form saying 'birthing parent', shocked me.'
Today Show host Karl Stefanovic said he 'couldn't believe' the form had been changed in the first place and described it as 'bureaucracy gone crazy'.
'Motherhood is about so much more than that, it is every other day from then, you have your first few days of excitement, being part of that and then you see "birthing parent", are you reducing the role of me getting her here,' Ms Grover replied.
She called on the people offended by the term 'mother' to 'get help'. 'If the word "mother" bothers you so much, I mean motherhood is going to be quite a shock. Get help, go and deal with it if the word "mother" bothers', she said.
Today Host Ally Langdon said as a mother, she found the term 'birthing parent' dehumanising. 'I feel divided about it if I'm perfectly honest. As someone who does identify as a mother, I see that and it's sort of-putting to see birthing parent,' she said. 'It's dehumanising to me.
'But I understand when the surrogate and, you know, it's not one bill fits all.'
The new mother re-appeared on the Today Show later on in the morning, after news broke the new forms had been dumped.
'Since that interview went to air, Bill Shorten who is a regular on the show, has been in contact to confirm these forms have been dumped,' Karl said. 'Replaced with new ones that use the word "mother" not "birthing parent".'
Ms Grover said it was 'amazing news'. 'I was actually just talking to my own mum about it and I was saying it's awesome, fantastic. No complaint,' she told the hosts. 'It doesn't take a genius to work out that it should have been "mother" all along.'
While the new mum received an outpouring of support from Aussies, some pointed out that the word 'mother' alienates other groups such as same-sex couples, adopted parents and surrogates.
'One form that uses inclusive language is not erasing/stealing your rights/whatever other nonsense you're suggesting. 'Why is it ok to alienate other groups to keep you happy?' 'It removes ambiguity for situations with: lesbian couples, surrogate pregnancy, non-cis parents, adopted parents, and so many more situations.
'By using 'birthing parent', it neatly and simply clarifies specifically which person they need the signature from.'
However others agreed that the words 'birthing parent' had no place on the form. 'Disgraceful. Becoming a mother was the most special time of my entire existence. It re-defined everything I thought I knew about myself,' one wrote.
Anyone coming across this on forms should cross out the offending words & put MOTHER in block capitals,' another agreed.
'If there is space, write on the form, saying that their description is offensive to women. This has come about because a tiny minority have banged on about being offensive.'
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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Kristina Pimenova, once said to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Note blue eyes and blonde hair
Bliss: What every woman wants: to feel safe and secure in the arms of her man. Robert Irwin and Rorie Buckey. See 
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