Storm Ciara is due to land this weekend and while it’s important to prepare for her arrival, there’s a bit of a side issue that’s getting people hot under the collar.
With Ciara being an Irish name, there’s relatively no problems on these shores with its pronunciation. Sure if you didn’t have a Ciara in your class in primary school, you may as well hand in your passport now because nobody will believe you ever lived here.
Away from Ireland though, it seems weather reporters and news anchors are having some trouble saying the words ‘Storm Ciara’, with the likes of ‘Kee-ara’, ‘See-ara’ and even ‘See-air-a’ already getting an airing.
As is usually the case when other nationalities mangle the pronunciation of our names, Irish people are taking extreme action. That’s right, we’ve taken to Twitter and we won’t stop until they get this right….
Please @SkyNews can you get your presenter to pronounce the incoming storm KEERA, as Ciara is an Irish name and that’s how it’s pronounced! @skynewssarah
— Adrian Kennedy (@AdrianFKennedy) February 7, 2020
Fuck sake EVERYONE it's not pronounced like tiara. #StormCiara
— SpecialGuestVillainess🏳️⚧️🏴🇪🇺 (@evilniamh) February 8, 2020
I suppose one of the up sides of Storm Ciara is that people in England will now know how to pronounce Ciara
— Andrew Kelly (@GardenGrowie) February 7, 2020
Right guys, I’m coming for you. Just pronounce it correctly and it will all blow over smoothly-ish (no promises) #StormCiara 🌪 pic.twitter.com/zSjc732Inu
— Ciara Fitzpatrick (@CiarFitz) February 7, 2020
The absolute melt on sky news just pronounced it Key-ah-ra for fuck sake. #StormCiara
— Seán (@GotGlint) February 7, 2020
#skynews Will somebody tell them on Sky News how to pronounce Ciara…. please… Keyra #stormciara
— Sue O'Neill🇮🇪🇺🇦 (@Suehi9) February 7, 2020
@SkyNews please explain to your reporters how to pronounce storm Ciara. It is pronounced "keera" not "kee-aa-raa"
— Emer Sally (@EmKealey92) February 7, 2020
The debate is even crossing the Atlantic, in the opposite direction to Storm Ciara mind, with the USA Daily Express offering readers a handy guide under the headline ‘UK’s named storm leaves public baffled’, which you can read here.
A handy tip is to remember it’s Ciara like Keira Knightley and not Ciara like the mid-2000s R&B singer who was famed for her 1,2 Step. Let’s hope they get this right before Storm Ciara makes landfall later today.
