Viral ‘Illiterate Boyfriend’ Test Sparks Debate Over Literacy and Dating

By Benson Daniel

A new TikTok trend is putting couples to an unusual test, with women asking their male partners to pronounce difficult words and then judging their performance, often with plenty of laughter and, in some cases, surprisingly harsh reactions.

Dubbed the “Illiterate Boyfriend” test, the trend involves presenting men with lists of words that are commonly mispronounced or considered difficult to read aloud. Among the words making appearances are “hyperbole,” “cynicism,” “diaphragmatic,” “hors d’oeuvres,” “epitome,” “challah” and “faux pas.”

One widely viewed video featured a woman asking her boyfriend to “do your best” as he worked through a list of 17 words. He correctly pronounced some of the entries but struggled with others, including epitome, challah and fuchsia. He eventually scored five out of 17, prompting a flood of reactions from viewers.

The couple appeared to take the exercise in good humour, but the online response was considerably less forgiving. Some viewers joked about the man’s mistakes, while others suggested that poor performance on the test could reveal something more significant about education or compatibility.

The trend has since spread to other couples, with men receiving everything from criticism to praise depending on how many words they manage to pronounce correctly.

Even men who score highly have not necessarily escaped the commentary. Some viewers have argued that being able to pronounce difficult words should not be treated as an exceptional achievement, while others have questioned why vocabulary knowledge has suddenly become a measure of relationship suitability.

Behind the jokes, however, the trend has opened a broader conversation about an educational divide between men and women.

Data cited in the discussion show that women aged 25 to 34 are now more likely than men in the same age group to hold bachelor’s degrees. In 2024, 47 per cent of women in that age bracket had a bachelor’s degree, compared with 37 per cent of men. That represents a reversal from 1995, when young men and women were equally likely to have such qualifications.

The difference is also reflected in reading habits. Women have continued to report higher rates of reading books, while men’s reading levels have declined over the past decade. Dating profiles may be reflecting some of that change, with references to books becoming increasingly common among women.

Still, psychologists and relationship experts have cautioned against treating vocabulary as a reliable measure of intelligence.

A person may struggle with words such as hors d’oeuvres or niçoise without lacking intelligence, education or the ability to communicate effectively. Pronunciation can also depend on a person’s upbringing, reading experience and familiarity with words borrowed from other languages.

For couples, experts say the more important question is often whether partners can communicate, understand each other and engage meaningfully with one another’s interests.

That distinction has become particularly important as the trend has moved beyond harmless teasing into discussions about whether women should reject men who fail the test.

Some critics have described the exercise as elitist because the selected words may reveal differences in education or social background rather than intelligence itself. Knowing how to pronounce a French culinary term, for example, does not necessarily say anything about a person’s emotional intelligence, reliability or ability to maintain a healthy relationship.

Others see the trend as less about vocabulary than frustration within modern dating.

Women are increasingly entering relationships with higher levels of formal education than their male counterparts, creating a dating environment that differs from previous generations. Some of the humour surrounding the “Illiterate Boyfriend” videos appears to reflect that wider shift.

The trend is therefore doing more than producing embarrassing pronunciation attempts for social media. It has become a small window into changing expectations between men and women, differences in education and the qualities people now seek in relationships.

But while TikTok may provide an entertaining way to expose a partner’s unfamiliarity with difficult words, a failed pronunciation test is unlikely to provide a complete picture of who that person is.