US President Donald Trump on Tuesday extended Diwali greetings to attendees at the White House. The celebrations were marked by his familiar struggle with pronouncing several Indian-American leaders’ names, adding to a long history of amusing mispronunciations.He initially struggled to pronounce ‘Diwali’ but later pronounced it correctly.During the ceremonial lamp-lighting, Trump acknowledged Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and then turned to Indian Ambassador to the United States Vinay Mohan Kwatra, whom he referred to as “Vinay Kwatruth.” “We’re greatly honored to be joined by the Indian Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Kwatruth. It’s very nice. Well, I wasn’t too far off. Thank you very much,” Trump said.He also congratulated US Ambassador-designate Sergio Gor, pronouncing his name correctly. “It’s a great honor to have you as a new ambassador to India. This is a nice, easy name. Sergio Gor. Congratulations, Sergio. You’re going to do a fantastic job,” he said.He also mispronounced the names of several Indian-American business leaders, including Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.Those whose names he pronounced correctly included IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora.He referred to Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen as “Shanta Nu Narayan”. “And Adobe is big stuff. And that’s Shanta Nu Narayan. Thank you very much,” he said.US President called Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra “Sanjay Marotta”. “Thank you very much. CEO of Micron Technology, Sanjay Marotta. Sanjay, nice to see you again,” he said. This comes as US President has previously remained in the limelight for mispronouncing names of several people and places. Before being appointed President, he admitted that he had sometimes purposefully mispronounced names, saying: “They say, ‘Sir, you made a mistake.’ I said, ‘No, I didn’t.'”He has also mispronounced name of former Vice President Kamala Harris as “Kamabla.”In February 2020, during his first term, Trump visited India with First Lady Melania Trump and spoke at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad to over 100,000 people. The speech emphasized and celebrated the US-India relationship, but his attempts to reference Indian culture and prominent figures led to a few laughs.He mispronounced the word “chaiwala”, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s humble beginnings, as “chee-wallah,” which drew laughter from the crowd. He also mispronounced cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli as “Suuchin Tendulsar” and “Virat Kholi.”Another memorable moment came when Trump attempted to quote Swami Vivekananda, saying: “As the greatest religious teacher Swami Vive…Kamun…nund once said…” but could not complete the name and laughed it off. Last month, Trump stumbled over the pronunciation of acetaminophen, better known as Tylenol, while discussing an unproven link between the drug and autism: “Effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of aceta— well, let’s see how we say that… Acetam — enophin. Acetaminophen. Is that OK? Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol.”Trump, who critics say has a very distinct speaking style, has also clarified his pronunciation of Qatar, admitting he had long called it “Cut-R” before realizing the correct pronunciation.“Nobody’s ever told me right or wrong. I always like to say ‘Cut-R.’ But it’s Qatar. We’ll probably stop at UAE and Qatar — as I used to call it ‘Cut-R’ — nobody has ever told me right or wrong. I always like to say ‘Cut-R.’ But it’s Qatar.”This is not the first time Trump has jested about foreign pronunciations. In 2016, during a foreign policy speech, he pronounced Tanzania as “Tan-ZAY-nee-uh,” diverging from the standard “Tan-zuh-NEE-uh,” prompting then White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest to quip, “Apparently the phonetics are not included on the teleprompter.”
