Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has sparked a laugh riot online over her unique pronunciation of “microwave”. In the viral video, which is a clip from her latest BBC series, she pronounces microwave as “mee-crow-wah-vay”, which has left the internet in splits.
It all happened when she was speaking in one of the episodes of her new cooking show Cook, Eat, Repeat, on BBC. While demonstrating the recipe for making brown butter colcannon, a dish made with cabbage and potatoes boiled and mashed together, she pronounced the word “microwave” as “me-crow-wav-vay”, leaving fans surprised and amused. Many wondered whether she had been mispronouncing the word all this time.
One user jokingly said, “Nigella Lawson’s pronunciation of microwave is how I’m gonna be saying it from now on.”
Watch the video here:
Eternally grateful to Nigella Lawson for letting us know we've all been mispronouncing microwave for the last 50 (or so) years. pic.twitter.com/tfXODGQRDp
— nigella lawson's asbestos hands (@floellaumbagabe) December 8, 2020
After the video made international headlines, the chef clarified that she was only joking. She also confirmed that she was familiar with the correct pronunciation, but chose to give the word her own flavour.
A Twitter user wrote, “Am I the only one who thought Nigella Lawson was being sarcastic when she pronounced Meecro-wavé?! Now, I’m starting to think she really pronounces it like that?”
To this, the celebrity chef replied, “Well, I do say it like that, but not because I think that’s how it’s actually pronounced.”
Well, I do say it like that, but not because I think that’s how it’s actually pronounced
— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) December 8, 2020
“I love this, we deliberately mispronounce words in our house all the time. Such fun,” quipped one user, reacting to Nigella’s clarification.
Here are other reactions:
Nah, she's just mucking about and deliberately misprouncing words.
I do it too.
In my world things can be hilariable and this is a large animal called a hippopoterous.
— Lydia Fenno (@DumbartonsDrums) December 8, 2020
It was so clear that you were saying it in a jokey way, doesn’t every family have words that they mispronounce deliberately for some reason?!
— Ali H 🕷 (@McookAli) December 9, 2020
My family says kah-niff for knife to celebrate how weird the spelling of the word is. And skissors for scissors. Actually, by the end of quarantine, I may no longer speak English. I thought all families did this? 🤣
— flora + fauna (@Stanford_lands) December 9, 2020
I say kah-baj in a french accent instead of cabbage – it made the kids laugh and eat it when they were small 🙂
— Cathy Archer 🕷 (@CathyArcher1) December 9, 2020
All in good fun, right?