A microwave oven is an electric oven that uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range to heat and cook food.
What began as an experiment using high-frequency radio waves for heating substances using vacuum tube radio transmitters in 1920s and the 1930s, the technology has been improvised and further developed and enhanced for home use.
It was around the 1970s that Tappan and General Electric started offering stoves that appeared to be conventional, but had the microwave capability.
The items were popular because they sped up cooking tremendously.
This fact attracted other manufacturers to develop their own 'microwave' appliances. And it was in the late 1970s that a boom of microwave-capable appliances hit the market.
For almost 50 years, the pronunciation for microwave in English has been "mai·krow·weiv". But celebrity chef Nigella Lawson pronunciation was nothing like it.
During an episode of her show Cook, Eat, Repeat on BBC Two, the British free-to-air television network, the British chef declared that she had heated some milk in the "micro wav ay".
This quickly went viral as many cropped the clip and shared it numerous times on social media networks, especially on Twitter.
One fan even describing it as a “defining moment of 2020”.
After noticing her name trending on social media, Nigella finally addressed the debate.
“Well, I do say it like that, but not because I think that’s how it’s actually pronounced,” suggesting that she was only creating a playful variation of the word, and not how she would really pronounce it.
In another tweet, the 60-year-old added: “Can this be the end of it now?”
Can this be the end of it now? https://t.co/QVc2FHJiMq
— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) December 9, 2020
Although she replied to some tweets debating her pronunciation, her last tweet suggests that she doesn't want to be bothered with it anymore.
The moment did made quite a stir, that a fan even updated Wikipedia's article about 'Microwave Oven', to include "micro wav ay".
This however, was reverted by Wikipedia contributor, who marked the change as a vandalism to the article.
Contributors even had to change the protection level of the 'Microwave Oven' Wikipedia page to Semi-Protect because of the "persistent vandalism".
In this protection level, the page cannot be edited by unregistered users, as well as accounts that are not autoconfirmed.
