The Irish arm of German discounter Lidl announced earlier today (1 April) on its Twitter page that from May, its name will no longer be pronounced as ‘lee-dell’, but instead will use the more common Irish pronunciation of ‘lid-ill’.
As the announcement was made on 1 April, it can be assumed that the news is the retailer’s April Fool’s joke for this year.
A tweet appeared on the retailer’s account this morning, saying, "As many struggle to pronounce Lidl properly (it's Lee-dell) from May we will go with Lid-ill based on your feedback."
Even though the brand is well recognised in Ireland, with the retailer having been in the country since 2000 and now holding 8.1 per cent of the grocery market, Lidl is still rarely referred to by the Irish public by its correct name.
Because of the differences in the way that ‘i’ is pronounced in English (as a short 'aye' sound) versus in German (a long 'ee'), most Irish people already say ‘lid-ill’ instead.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Jenny Whelan. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
