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Countdown made an absolute hames of pronouncing the word 'sliotar' earlier

Slee-oh-tar.

Jun 22nd 2016, 6:48 PM 7,841 Views 4 Comments

EVERY SO OFTEN, Channel 4′s Countdown throws up a gem. Sometimes it’s a bold word and sometimes it’s a word that you haven’t heard in a while.

Today it was ‘sliotar’.

When the following letters came up…

A contestant named Conrad managed to get a good seven-letter word: sliotar. Nice work, Conrad.

Unfortunately when it came to explaining it to British viewers, Susie Dent made an absolute hames of pronouncing it.
http://vine.co/v/5Bpphqt0rPA

SLEE-OH-TAR.

Oh Susie.

Needless to say, the error did not go unnoticed.

Hang on, if @suziedent can't even pronounce 'sliotar' how does she even know it's a word?? @C4Countdown #suspicious #sleeotar
— Aoife McCarthy (@aoifemcmccarthy) June 22, 2016

Source: Aoife McCarthy/Twitter

@susie_dent susie, a sliotar is pronounced slit her over here in Ireland
— Niall B (@Berminn27) June 22, 2016

Source: Niall Bermingham/Twitter

@C4Countdown That was painful on my Irish ears. Sliotar pronounced slit ar not sli o tar
— Stephanie O'Mahony (@MrsOMahony90) June 22, 2016

Source: Stephanie O'Mahony/Twitter

As if that weren’t bad enough, they managed to mess up the pronunciation a second time. After Dent’s initial mistake, host Nick Hewson stepped in to confidently inform her that it was actually pronounced “slither”.
http://vine.co/v/5BpPFKruiQW

Time to send them off to Irish college, we think.

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Amy O'Connor

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Countdown made an absolute hames of pronouncing the word 'sliotar' earlier

Slee-oh-tar.