funny... I'm not even sure I have ever heard the word "ennui" spoken... and not entirely sure I would know how to pronounce it out loud if I had to. It's one of those words I read, and know the meaning, but wouldn't feel comfortable saying it out loud without hearing it confidently pronounced by someone else. I feel like it would be pronounce "enn-you-eee".
Wow, you’ve really never heard one of the most annoyingly memetic songs ever, “Ennui”, the real disease. EDIT: IGNORE THIS COMMENT FOREVER, I'M THE REAL DISEASE.
It's like 1990's rom-com soundtrack meme though. I use the term "meme" too freely, perhaps. I can't find it! We've almost all heard this song, and we didn't know what the guy was saying, so it's un-googleable (edit: no, I'm just an idiot, see: elsewhere). The entire song has one lyric: Ennui, and at some point, I think we all thought it was a man repeating "On the way" or "On a way" etc. The most prominent backing track is some almost-lo-fi acoustic guitar pickings, not even 3-note-or-more chords. Probably light brushes hitting drums quietly. Can't remember a bass track. Anyone??? My google-fu has failed me. It's actually been kinda like a personal-failure-themed day. Brutal. kleinbl00, help, you know culture stuffs
omg my wife just found it by googling "On my way song", and the lyrics really are "On my way", and I'm an idiot. There are plenty more lyrics, too, than "on my way", but they probably cut off the song before Matthew McConnaughy started talking, or whatever
Nope, it was this one: I'm so sorry to have wasted your time. Thanks, everyone, for watching my show, "How am_Unition incorrectly pronounces 'Ennui' ".
It’s “air go”, for me. Do you say “zee” or “zed”? :)
The internet really mangled how people perceive the words "memetic" and "meme" . If I start singing the intro to that song, when a guy's mumbling "on the way", while playing the guitar part, 90% of American adults will be like "oh yeah!!", and they'll know the tune. That's memetic enough for me to call it such. Memes aren't only a picture with white text. But yes, somehow my dumbass brain decided the guy was actually saying "Ennui", and I have no idea when that happened. I'm so sorry, everyone!
What you're describing are called eggcorns and they are the best thing ever. Especially as they're the common reaction of any average reality show contestant to the vocabulary of the average reality show producer. You heard "on nui" where he was saying "on my way." We had a contestant once who told everyone she wasn't going to be their "escape goat". A friend of mine overheard a producer asking a Real Housewife if she found someone else "sycophantic" and the Real Housewife responded "...yeah when janine did that thing it made me feel all sick'n'frantic..."
/r/boneappletea will help people nip that problem in the butt.