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Call it a phenomenon, which just happens to be the most mispronounced word in the English language, according to a recent study.

Small consolation to Tyler Hansbrough, Roy Williams and the folks in the sports information department at the University of North Carolina.

They might have figured that Hansbrough's last name topped the list.

With phenomenon, experts say people regularly mix up the letters M and N.

With Hansbrough, they tend to add an O between the B and the R. So it comes out "Hans-bor-ough," as in Greensboro.

"I think now it is to the point of amusement," said Steve Kirschner, the university's director of athletic communication. "The first couple of years it bewildered us. People like to throw in a third syllable."

To help broadcasters, Kirschner includes a pronunciation guide in the team's game notes. It reads "HANDS-bro (2 syllables.)"

But that hasn't helped.

"I'd say 50 percent get it right and 50 percent get it wrong," Kirschner said.

All this for a player who this weekend appears in his second straight Final Four and has more awards and holds more records than you could stuff in a peach basket.

With at most two games left in Hansbrough's college career, Kirschner gave up trying to be a pronunciation coach.

"We will leave it to some NBA team next year to complain," he said.

Sometimes public address announcers flub the name, too.

But Kirschner said the announcer at Duke put an interesting twist on the problem. He always got the last name right, but twice introduced him as Taylor.

Kirschner can't figure out how the mispronunciation problem began, other than some broadcaster early in Hansbrough's career got it wrong and others picked up on the mistake.

While Kirschner won't point fingers at any particular announcer, bloggers aren't as cautious.

One, called Tar Heel Fan, points out Digger Phelps and Steve Lavin, both former coaches who work as analysts for ESPN. Another cites two others from ESPN, former coach Bob Knight and Linda Cohn, a SportsCenter broadcaster.

The mispronunciations even bother at least one Duke fan.

"It blows my mind," said a blogger who identified himself as "a loyal Dukie." "Let's all send letters to Phelps, Cohn and Knight!"

Kirschner did say that he complained to ESPN about the problem last year after a Hansbrough dunk got repeated on SportsCenter and his name kept being mispronounced.

At that time, an ESPN official said Friday, the network sent broadcasters a note reminding them of the correct pronunciation.

"That really didn't solve it," Kirschner said. "It's still being said."

CBS Sports has its culprits, too.

Last week, when the Tar Heels played in the regional finals in Memphis, the network's radio announcer, Kevin Harlan, got Hansbrough's name wrong. So did TV studio host Greg Gumbel.

So how does Hansbrough feel about having his name garbled so often.

"I don't care," he said Friday in a statement released by Kirschner. "I know my family and friends back home wish they would get it right."

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com.