Few can pronounce Iceland volcano

AUSTIN, Texas, April 20 (UPI) -- A Texas-based language group said Eyjafjallajoekull, Iceland's recent volcano, appears 2 million times on Google but can be pronounced by only 320,000 people.

The Global Language Monitor in Austin, which analyzes word trends, said Eyjafjallajoekull is cited about 2 million times on Google, but only an estimated 320,000 people -- nearly all of them Icelandic citizens -- can correctly pronounce the word.

Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor, said Eyjafjallajoekull is unlikely to appear in English-language dictionaries anytime soon.

"A dictionary contains the spoken words in a language and those used in the written form of the spoken language known as exposition," Payack said. "However, there are very few words that appear millions of times in print yet can be pronounced by so few."

The correct pronunciation? Ay-yah-FYAH'-plah-yer-kuh-duhl.