Qatar? Easy for you to say...
The word "Qatar" has been popping up in conversations at 60 Minutes lately. Why? Because Bob Simon recently visited this tiny speck of a Middle Eastern Country for his
60 Minutes story. The only problem is that no one seems to know how to pronounce it. Some people say "kuh-TAR," others say "KUH-tar" or "cutter" or even "gutter."
So, here at Overtime, we decided to do some research. We dug out the raw tapes of Bob's interviews with Qataris from all walks of life during his tour of the country.
Turns out, even the natives of Qatar seem to vary in their pronunciation of their country name. To clear up the confusion, we asked Bob Simon to sit down with Overtime and help us sort it out.
As Bob pointed out in this week's Overtime video, no matter how you say it, you're probably saying it wrong. Luckily, the Qataris seem to be a friendly people and don't mind too much.
Still, we've only got 10 years to figure this out. That's when the World Cup plays in Qatar and the country's name will be on the lips of every soccer fan, sports broadcaster, and news junkie around the world.