The words and phrases Scottish people find it difficult to pronounce (2024)

It is no secret that Scotland's many regional accents are very distinctive, with our accent being among the most recognisable in the world.

In fact, in a survey published earlier this year, the Scottish accent was even voted the 'most attractive' in the UK. As any Scot with a thick accent knows, however, there are also some downsides — mainly having difficulty pronouncing certain words and phrases.

Those who follow Scots comedians on TikTok or other social media apps will no doubt be well aware that the subject of our accents has led to some hilarious content.

One side-splitting example comes from Scottish TikTok star Sully (rsullivan1991), who posted a clip on the video-sharing platform of him attempting to pronounce a series of words in his heavy accent.

Among those that Sully struggles with are 'tarantula', 'vocabulary', and 'barrel'. The social media star also struggles with the word 'burglary', saying "next" after he repeatedly fails to pronounce it correctly.

Meanwhile, some phrases that you might have difficulty saying aloud are 'purple burglar alarm' and 'Irish wrist watch'. The thicker your accent, the more likely you are to tripped up trying to pronounce these — especially if you try and say them quickly.

Other examples of words many Scots might stumble over are 'Carl' and 'poem'. If you say the former aloud, it might come out as 'carol', while the latter may sound like 'poy-um'.

Why don't you try saying the following words and phrases out loud and see how many you struggle with.

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Words and phrases Scots might struggle to say aloud

  • Carl
  • Poem
  • Burglar alarm
  • Parallelogram

  • Irish Wrist Watch
  • Honorary
  • Ibuprofen
  • Curly Wurly
  • Specific
  • Generally
  • Vulnerability
  • Diagonally
  • Tarantula Burger
  • Vocabulary
  • Jewellery
  • Medium

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The words and phrases Scottish people find it difficult to pronounce (2024)
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