One Syllable Answers

I'm American, and I've always pronounced it with two syllables. I've only heard Billy Joel's last name pronounced with two syllables.

I tried the same thing!

Everyone I know who has been there pronounces it with one syllable--" keev."

At the start of the invasion I think the bbc etc officially changed all reports to include Kyiv, pronounced “keev” or sometimes “kee-iv”. But that’s probably a new thing due to more attention on Ukraine than usual, and most of these comments are from before feb22

It doesn't rhyme with 'mouse'; it rhymes with 'brow'. Definitely one syllable, but the S is silent.

We must enjoy the last month we don't have to see the godforsaken blemish all over Jetpunk quizzes.

It's now almost 2025 and I have yet to type the fascist cheeto's name on any quiz here; I always just give myself another point mentally.

Really? Bath has a huge American tourist influx, as does York... and the latter did happen to influence the name of one US city - "New York"!

Oh please. "There's really no reason for a North American to have heard of it"? As an American, it's really ok, and dare I say useful, to learn about cities in the UK (or anywhere) other than major ones. Do you think people get an accurate understanding of the USA if all they know about are things in NYC, LA, Chicago, and Miami?

I'm American and I knew them all except Wells, even though I somehow missed seeing the last blank, so I missed York, too. Never heard of Wells,tbough. I've heard of Tunbridge Wells, but not just Wells.

To be fair that's how I felt about the American presidents... although I did get Maine, which I was quite pleased with.

Not as satisfying as the sequel: Chainsaw of the Apostates

-RCE is not a syllable.

Pee urse? wth

Hopefully the world will end before this happens, but, it is currently inconsistent with many other presidential quizzes on the site.

Then there would have to be four Johns and two Kings on the bible books sections. I think it gets the meaning across fine as it is.

I've always pronounced it Lo - me, or low may. But I have no authority for this, maybe it is pronounced like loam?

I think you have something here. I just checked two sources that pronounce it as one syllable, like Rome. Although there is an accent over the "e", both videos pronounced it with one syllable.

Not sure what videos you're referencing, but the accent should mean it's pronounced as two syllables. Same deal with Male (capital of the Maldives). Though that didn't stop me from trying it in desperation lol.

So it's pronounced Mar-ay then :-)? Seriously, how does the presence of an s sound influence the number of syllables - it would just make it "louse" if it weren't silent, surely?

Yes, I think your logic fails a bit in the way ChipOtley pointed out. The "s" being silent doesn't at all affect the syllable count.

It is pronounced Key-ev

Must have something to do with the accent where QM lives.

I know people named Joel, pronounced "Jole". Those crazy people who live in Nu Zild.

@Marvo In my experience as a speaker of English in the USA, Joel is indeed pronounced as a single syllable. I'm curious as to where you are from that you think it is such an outrageous notion.

I think the English diphthong is a major reason why people might think that Billy Joel's last name is two syllables. I'm pretty sure the bible has Jo-El, said "Joe Elle". However, Billy Joel's name has a one-syllable diphthong. That's where two vowel sounds are jammed together to make one syllable. It's like oil. You could say oil is two syllables, "oy yull", but you'd be wrong. It's a diphthong!

Far too Euro-centric - just look at those capitals too!

I feel so dumb for forgetting France.

Technically not considered a national capital as Greenland is considered part of Denmark.

In Spanish (I know it says English pronounciation, but English borrows Spanish for this) it would be prnounced with two syllables: soo-kreh

It's Spanish

Except when it's not.

The common English pronunciation of Seoul is the same as the word "soul". It's one syllable. Now, if we all get together and point out how stupid it is that European countries during the Colonial and Imperial Age decided to just call places whatever stupid, lazy, incorrect thing they wanted, I'm all for that. But then you'd have to argue against Finland and call it Suomi instead and a whole bunch of other things. This is like the Metric system in the US. It'd be better to change away from an arbitrarily stupid system, but the change is impossible! Impossible I say! So just say the capital of South Korea sounds like sole.

Not sure how you're meant to say LESTER in one syllable, chief.

You've always said it with an extra syllable. Say the word "allow". Now don't say the "ah" sound at the beginning. That is how you pronounce Laos.

proper pronunciation of Kyiv is two syllables!

KIH-yiv?

How many syllables does it have?

Kee-Yiv.