The World's Weirdest Pronunciation of 'Microwave' Immortalized In BBC Cooking Video

I say Microwave, you say me-crow-wah-vay? Earlier this week, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson lit the internet ablaze after bizarrely mispronouncing the word "microwave" while preparing highly-appetizing (?) black pudding meatballs with fatty milk on an episode of her six-part BBC series, Nigella's Cook, Eat, Repeat.

"Now, I'm aiming for quite a solid mash at this stage," she said, pulverizing her pot of potatoes. "But I still need a bit of milk, full fat, that I've warmed up in the microwave," Lawson explained, pronouncing the kitchen appliance "me-crow-wah-vey."

Soon after, the internet, as it often does, pounced on the peculiar pronunciation, flocking to twitter to share their collective confusion over the cook's quirks. 

"Eternally grateful to Nigella Lawson for letting us know we've all been mispronouncing microwave for the last 50 (or so) years," remarked Twitter user @floellaumbagabe.

"Us gays will now all say Mecrowavay instead of microwave from here on in thanks to @Nigella_Lawson," added @JoshPBooth alongside the hashtag "#CookEatRepeat."

Other users even gave the incident the Sue Sylvester "I am going to create an enviornment that is so toxic" treatment. "I am going to make a mecro that is so wavey," wrote user @escjames21 in the most quintessentially November/December 2020 image to ever grace our computer screens. 

'I am going to mispronounce a commonly used word that is so absurd," quipped user @GraceGarde in the meme format.

Yet amid the memes lives a piece of um, interesting business advice, with user @ZaraLouB offering a suggestion for how Lawson could capitalize on the mishap -- producing a milk-warmer with Swedish furniture giant, Ikea. "The @Nigella_Lawson and @IKEAUK collab drops tonight," they wrote, atop a stylized poster of a minimalist, £49 "MEEKRO WAHVE."

And it seems the Nigella Lawson X Ikea collab could actually see the light of day. At first, it seems the star wasn't initially too pleased with the internet's radioactive reaction to the whole affair, taking to Twitter to clarify her word. "Well, I do say it like that, but not because I think that’s how it's actually pronounced," Lawson replied to a fan asking whether or not she was being sarcastic "Can this be the end of it now?" she later posted, before chalking up the entire snafu as "just fauxtrage for clicks."

However in the hours since, it seems she's come around, even giving her digital stamp of approval to the Ikea poster mockup. "I know I said enough now, but couldn’t resist," she wrote alongside the fan art, to the joy of every weird internet-dweller with approximately $65.58 burning a hole in their pocket (a.k.a me).

Now, in the great tradition of potato/po-tah-to and tomato/to-mah-to, let's follow in the footsteps of Ginger Roger and Fred Astaire and call this whole thing off. It's been a long week and it's only Wednesday.   

For more internet nonsense, and proper pronunciations of Microwave, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.