Have you been pronouncing the word ‘IKEA’ correctly?
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The massive Swedish furniture store IKEA is well-known and well-loved by Australians, with its uniquely named products and a layout that invites you to get lost in it. But have we really been saying its name right?
IKEA has been opening its doors for over 70 years now. Photo from The Urban List.
Recently, the most common pronunciation Australians and Americans have been using, ‘eye-key-uh’, has been debunked by Twitter users as incorrect.
“So IKEA is pronounced like (EE-key-uh) not (EYE-key-uh) and no one was gonna tell me?”, YouTuber ‘Mac Does’ It tweeted, setting off an online debate that no one was ready for.
Many people engaged with the post, saying how they were shocked that they have been saying it incorrectly the whole time.
“I refuse to acknowledge this,” one person commented.
The wave of denial surged as more users responded.
“I’m just gonna delete this tweet from my EYEs,” the second person said, followed by another with, “It’s a company, I’ll pronounce it however I damn well feel like pronouncing it”.
But there are others, particularly those who live in Europe, who were more surprised by people’s shock and reactions.
“I mean, all of us in the scandi-region already knew this,” a user said.
Another wrote, “The entire non-English speaking world pronounces this non-English name like that.”
A simple Google search, as well as a number of video tutorials on YouTube, also reveals ‘ee-kay-uh’ as the right way to say the company’s name.
The whole debate about how ‘IKEA’ should be pronounced is nothing new. The debate first emerged in 2019 after the store launched a sleep podcast with Swedish narrators using the correct pronunciation.
To finally settle the argument, an IKEA spokesperson confirmed the proper way to say the name.
They told The West Australian that, “the word IKEA brings together the name of IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad with the name of his family farm Elmtaryd and home village of Agunnaryd, Sweden.”
From the initials of these important details, we can already see how the company came to be.
“When Ingvar founded IKEA in 1943, he, of course, pronounced it with a typical Swedish accent: ‘Eee-KEH-Yah’.”
However, the spokesperson said that it is “absolutely OK” for Australians to say ‘eye-key-uh’.
“The IKEA brand is today present in more than 49 markets,” the person said. “It’s only natural that people pronounce ‘IKEA’ and the Swedish names of its products with a local accent.”
IKEA has been opening its doors for over 70 years now. Photo from The Urban List.
Recently, the most common pronunciation Australians and Americans have been using, ‘eye-key-uh’, has been debunked by Twitter users as incorrect.
“So IKEA is pronounced like (EE-key-uh) not (EYE-key-uh) and no one was gonna tell me?”, YouTuber ‘Mac Does’ It tweeted, setting off an online debate that no one was ready for.
Many people engaged with the post, saying how they were shocked that they have been saying it incorrectly the whole time.
“I refuse to acknowledge this,” one person commented.
The wave of denial surged as more users responded.
“I’m just gonna delete this tweet from my EYEs,” the second person said, followed by another with, “It’s a company, I’ll pronounce it however I damn well feel like pronouncing it”.
But there are others, particularly those who live in Europe, who were more surprised by people’s shock and reactions.
“I mean, all of us in the scandi-region already knew this,” a user said.
Another wrote, “The entire non-English speaking world pronounces this non-English name like that.”
A simple Google search, as well as a number of video tutorials on YouTube, also reveals ‘ee-kay-uh’ as the right way to say the company’s name.
The whole debate about how ‘IKEA’ should be pronounced is nothing new. The debate first emerged in 2019 after the store launched a sleep podcast with Swedish narrators using the correct pronunciation.
To finally settle the argument, an IKEA spokesperson confirmed the proper way to say the name.
They told The West Australian that, “the word IKEA brings together the name of IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad with the name of his family farm Elmtaryd and home village of Agunnaryd, Sweden.”
From the initials of these important details, we can already see how the company came to be.
“When Ingvar founded IKEA in 1943, he, of course, pronounced it with a typical Swedish accent: ‘Eee-KEH-Yah’.”
However, the spokesperson said that it is “absolutely OK” for Australians to say ‘eye-key-uh’.
“The IKEA brand is today present in more than 49 markets,” the person said. “It’s only natural that people pronounce ‘IKEA’ and the Swedish names of its products with a local accent.”
