Pronunciation: [pˈɒŋ] (IPA) 
The word "pong" is spelled with three letters, with the "p" and "g" being pronounced as they are in most words. The middle sound, however, is represented by the IPA symbol /ɒŋ/, which is a combination of the vowel sound "o" and the consonant sound "ng". This combination gives the word its unique sound, similar to the onomatopoeic noise of a ball bouncing back and forth in a table tennis game. "Pong" is a simple word with a complex sound!
Pong is a noun that refers to a simple electronic game typically played on a video screen. Originating in the 1970s, it was one of the first widely popular arcade games and has since become a classic. In Pong, two players control virtual paddles or bars, which they use to hit a small square ball back and forth across the screen. The objective of the game is to move the paddle in such a manner that the ball cannot pass through and reach the player’s side of the screen.
Pong is often considered the pioneer of electronic sports and played a crucial role in establishing video gaming as a popular and lucrative industry. The game's basic mechanics and straightforward gameplay made it accessible to players of all ages and skill levels. While the original Pong had limited visual and audio features, subsequent iterations and adaptations have introduced more advanced graphics, sound effects, and various gameplay variations.
Throughout the years, Pong has remained an iconic symbol of the early days of video gaming and is frequently referenced in popular culture. The term "pong" has also developed a more general usage to describe a low or unpleasant smell. This informal colloquialism is derived from the onomatopoeic sound of a noxious odor, akin to a bad odor causing someone to say "Pong!"
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "pong" is derived from the sound it represents - that of a short, resonating noise. It was coined to imitate the sound made when a table tennis ball makes contact with the paddle or the table surface during gameplay. The term "pong" was first used in the early 20th century and gained popularity when it became the name of the iconic video game "Pong" released by Atari in 1972, which was based on table tennis. Since then, "pong" has also been used more broadly to describe any similar bouncing or resonating sound.
