‘Worcestershire sauce’ pronunciation may be biggest challenge the internet has faced

VIDEO of an Italian chef struggling to say the name of this humble condiment has gone viral. Could this be the greatest challenge in the English language?

Can you pronounce ‘Worcestershire sauce’?

JUST how hard is it to pronounce Worcestershire sauce?

Judging by the internet, it’s one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the English language.

Hilarious footage of an Italian chef repeatedly failing to say the phrase has gone viral.

And the response shows he’s far from the only one who struggles, with even native English-speakers having a hard time.

Chef Pasquale posted the video of him struggling to say the name of the condiment on his YouTube channel yesterday, captioning it: “Some bloopers from my recent video.”

He tries “Wanstar Shusha”, “Wancha Sheri”, “Wonjerster Shir” and even, particularly inventively, “Wonchester Starshine”.

It has already had more than 500,000 views, but the comments suggest no one else is sure how to pronounce it either.

The English county only has three syllables, despite looking as though it should have four, a fact that trips up many Australians and Americans.

Many commenters on the latest video announced confidently that it was pronounced “Wor - stur - shire”, although others noted that “shire” should be “sheer” or even “shuh” for the correct local pronunciation.

But others said the phrase should have just two syllables: “Wooster sauce”.

They were shouted down again, since if Worcester (the town) is “Wooster”, then Worcestershire (the county) should be “Wooster - shire”.

No wonder the poor chef got confused.

The internet is absolutely stuffed with confused cooks trying to find out how to say it.

One American video is greeted with the damning comment “More than 3 minutes on how to completely mispronounce “Wuss-ter-sheer”... Incredible!”

The consensus is that most English people say “Wooster Sauce”, although it doesn’t really make any sense.

But what else can you expect from a country where Leicester is Lester, Bicester is Bister and Warwick is Warick?