TikTok Just Found Out Australians Pronounce ‘Blink-182’ Wrong, And Here Were Go Again
Which is it: 'Blink One Eighty Two' or 'Blink One Eight Two'??
You might remember that a few years ago, in late-2018, the internet became embroiled in a furious shitfight about the correct way to pronounce ‘Blink-182’.
If you don’t remember, you might be a little puzzled. What do you mean?! You ask, brow furrowed. Surely there’s only one way??
Well no, friend, there’s not. Turns out we had all been wandering about in the linguistic wilderness for years – with some fans, Australians and Brits mostly, choosing to say ‘Blink One Eight Two’, while others, Americans, saying ‘Blink One Eighty Two’, which is clearly ridiculous and absolutely not correct.
Linguists weighed in, pointing out that either way you slice it – saying One Eighty Two just doesn’t make any sense, as that’s just how you pronounce figures or a number.
If it’s a number it’s one hundred and eighty two, if it’s figures it’s one eight two.
One eighty two just doesn’t exist as an entity in the English language, fam.
— Perch (@ed_perch) November 19, 2018
James Corden even weighed in for some reason, before bandmembers Mark Hoppus and former singer Tom DeLonge threw their cents in.
Thank you James. Some say one eighty two. Some say one eight two. But in all of this, I feel like we’ve lost sight of the fact that the B in blink-182 should be lower-case. https://t.co/d3Gi2Ezmhu
— ϻ?Ⓡ? ??Ƥ?ย? (@markhoppus) November 19, 2018
It’s actually— Blink eighteen-two. People have all gotten this wrong for years. Sometimes this can happen with very complex, thoughtful and elevated art. https://t.co/jmsfv401KF
— Tom DeLonge (@tomdelonge) November 19, 2018
Clearly this news didn’t reach everyone, as a 2019 clip of Hoppus explaining the controversy is picking up speed on TikTok, causing a new legion of fans to realise they’ve been fucking up the name for their entire lives.
“We always, in the band, say ‘one eighty two’,” Hoppus explains in an interview with UK’s RadioX. “But when we got to Australia and the UK they insist on saying ‘blink one eight two’. It’s probably more correct to say that, but we say ‘one eighty two’.”
The comment section is predictably a mess, as fans across continents grapple with the having their entire way of being stomped on before their eyes.
“As a Brit I can also confirm we say ‘Blink one eighty two never heard anybody say ‘blink one eight two’,” one user boldly asserted, before they were promptly fired into the sun by fellow British fans who called them a complete knob.
The comments seem firmly in favour of ‘Blink One Eight Two’, although this could be an option that unites all fans: “Actually in the UK we say Blink one hundred, eight tens and two units,” writes one innovator.
Who knows, all we can count on is that this discussion will now resurface every two or three years, like how everyone loses their shit when they remember Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’ is a cover.