You won't believe how Nutella is officially pronounced

It's the worst thing since JIFFS.

Thu, 20 Aug, 2015 - 14:08

Nutella is a great foodstuff. It's near-liquid chocolate that can be eaten with a spoon, spread on bread, or used on pancakes or in baking. It's also made with some nuts, so we can pretend - much like its advertising - that it's vaguely healthy somehow.

Since it's made from nuts, it's nut-ella. Right? RIGHT?

Wrong - at least, according to the company which makes it.

Things kicked off in this highly important story yesterday, when Twitter user @garwboy innocently retweeted comedian Dan Mitchell's observation he heard someone pronounce it "new-tella".

Fair enough - one mistaken soul does not an internet trend make. But then things really began to snowball when Buzzfeed's Tom Chivers tweeted a screenshot of Nutella's official FAQ page.

hell no this is NOT OK. http://t.co/A0vWI9kWe4 Via @garwboy pic.twitter.com/J7uJQJOFO0
— Tom Chivers (@TomChivers) August 19, 2015

"Nutella® (pronounced 'new-tell-uh') is a tasty, unique spread made from the combination of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa," the FAQ helpfully supplies.

Twitter did not appreciate this brutal assault on common sense. Chivers and co were inundated with rage-filled tweets pointing out how completely nonsensical "new-tella" is, in a language backlash reminiscent of the discovery that "GIF" is pronounced "jiff".

I DON'T CARE ENOUGH ABOUT NUTELLA FOR WHAT'S GOING ON IN MY MENTIONS RIGHT NOW @TomChivers!
— Dean Burnett (@drdeanburnett everywhere) (@drdeanburnett) August 19, 2015

In fact, a Twitter search reveals this has been a problem for a while, particularly in North America:

Italians pronounce Nutella the correct way - Nut-ella, as (no doubt) the late founder Michele Ferrero intended. But things reached fever-pitch on Twitter anyway.

It got so bad that Buzzfeed reached out to Ferrero for official clarification, who said in a statement that they don't want to force an "official" pronunciation.

"In the UK we call it and pronounce it ‘Nutella’ as do consumers. The US pronunciation is just for them," the company told Buzzfeed.