Why can't Brits pronounce Ikea properly?

I first came across the shop in Germany in about 1992, when there was only about one in the UK. The Germans follow the Swedes and call it "Ikk-kay-ah". The Brits were already, I think, calling it by the usual "Eye-kee-ah". I remember an episode of HIGNFY many many years ago where Ian Hiplop pronounced it the Continental way and was mocked for it.

As for the adverts, they started on TV long after the shops had been here and the pronunciation had been settled, so almost all but the very earliest use the Brit pronunciation.
 
I first came across the shop in Germany in about 1992, when there was only about one in the UK. The Germans follow the Swedes and call it "Ikk-kay-ah". The Brits were already, I think, calling it by the usual "Eye-kee-ah". I remember an episode of HIGNFY many many years ago where Ian Hiplop pronounced it the Continental way and was mocked for it.

As for the adverts, they started on TV long after the shops had been here and the pronunciation had been settled, so almost all but the very earliest use the Brit pronunciation.

Because English has two alphabets, the one you learnt as a toddler - ah buh cuh duh eh, and the other ay be sea dee ee.

A better question is why is IKEA written in capitals? Does it stand for something?
 
We are not Swedish.

We pronounce things according to the rules of our language, the same as every other country around the world.
 
People saying Ikea stuff is rubbish tat, is all your furniture hand-crafted from solid mahogany by the finest cabinet makers, or is it just a cool thing to say?

My experience is that for flat-pack furniture, it's actually quite good quality for the average person. Cheap stuff from Argos is what I would class as "tat".

Oh, and EYE-KEE-YA.
 
I often find my fellow Brits lambaste Americans for saying things like "Eye-Rack" (Iraq) or "Eye-ran" (Iran), yet hear those same people say "Eye-key-ah".

The correct (Swedish) pronunciation is 'Ickier' [e-ke-ahhh], as in that cake is icky, but that one is 'ickier'.

Then you need to tell 'Ickier' to say it that way on their British adverts.
Surprised nobody has bought this up.
 
I say it ee-ke-aah - but that's undoubtedly owing to my foreigness ;)

Does it matter? Not really. The Brits mispronounce a lot of non English words - you can't expect everyone to be able to pronounce things perfectly when they struggle with their own language.
 
Some friends took me to ickyea once.

A quick look at the product lables in the "Sweden Shop" told me all I needed to know!

Most of it had "Made in India" on it:eek: :D
 
Back
Top Bottom