Ross Johnson, a graduate student studying mechanical engineering at Stanford University, is a pretty smart guy. But recently, he learned something that shook his worldview.
Johnson was at a party where he made some new Scandinavian friends. They told him Americans all make one huge mistake when it comes to their favorite Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture store.
"I learned that IKEA is not I-kee-ya. It's Ee-kay-uh," Johnson says. "That blew my mind."
It's true. The correct pronunciation of IKEA has a long "e" sound at the start, instead of a long "i" sound, and emphasizes the second syllable, "kee." Most Swedes stand by this pronunciation.
—Alan (@alan_maguire) July 28, 2014
When IKEA opened its first US ___location in 1985, the company realized that most Americans would mangle the pronounciation. Marty Marston, product public relations manager at IKEA US, told ABC News that the company just decided to go with it.
When the first IKEA billboard went up over 30 years ago, it featured images of an eyeball, a key, and a person saying "ah." Promotional videos in the US also use the American pronounciation.
But on visits to the mothership in Sweden, Marston, a 25-year veteran of the company, uses the original pronounciation. Otherwise people "look at me in a funny way," she said.
