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15th Sep 2013

Video: Incredible pronunciation of a ridiculously long surname on Hawaiian television

Normally we wouldn’t be that excited by anything to do with pronunciation, but Jesus Christ!

Conor Heneghan

Normally we wouldn’t be that excited by anything to do with pronunciation, but Jesus Christ!

For generations, phrases like ‘She sells sea shells by the sea shore’ and ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ have been the barometer of a person’s ability to pronunciate but a presenter on Hawaiian television has raised the bar and raised it ridiculously high at that too.

Reporting on the plight of one Janice Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele (we didn’t copy and paste that surname… honest), whose name was shortened on her driver’s license and her state ID card because it couldn’t accommodate all 36 characters, a presenter on KHON2 News breezed through the pronunciation of a name that gives us a headache just looking at with the ease as if she was saying ‘John Smith’.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the presenter in question just came up short when asked to repeat the name three times backwards but she still deserves plenty of kudos for the original effort.

Bravo madam, bravo indeed.

Video via YouTube/KHON2 News

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Topics:

Hawaii