Interesting. According to Brent Spiner (the actor who...

scy

Interesting. According to Brent Spiner (the actor who plays the android Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation)

1) it was Patrick Stewart's UK pronunciation of his character's name (day-tah instead of the US's dah-tah) that made this pronunciation canon, and

2) the character of Data and the popularity of Star Trek has led to "day-tah" now being the common pronunciation in the US, too.

https://youtu.be/xeqTMTOxid8 (π min)

#StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #TNG #data #pronunciation #English #EnglishLanguage

Like 4 September at 12:28 | Open on chaos.social

18 comments

Leonard Ritter

@scy how generous. we both know the US pronounciation wasn't dah-tah, but dah-dah. it was dah-dah. dah-dah. say it over and over again, like an american. dah-dah.

dah-dah.

4 September at 13:29 | Open on mastodon.gamedev.place

Mina

@lritter

I remember watching a film essay made by some US-Americans, who spoke all the time about some "car lah-dah".

It took me about 15 minutes to figure out, they spoke about Carlotta.

@scy

4 September at 15:11 | Open on berlin.social

Lunar 🛸 ♾

@mina @lritter @scy Always amuses me when they speak of someone called "Gram". Or "Cregg".

4 September at 18:23 | Open on dosgame.club

Unattributed 👤 ☑

@scy I don't think this is completely true. I heard both pronuncations in the late 70's and early 80's -- well before ST:TNG debuted. I don't think either one was prevalent here in the US.

However, I can believe that the Patrick Stewart pronunciation became the more favored form during and after ST:TNG.

4 September at 14:26 | Open on mastodon.social

scy

@Unatributed I'm not exactly convinced either, that's why I've prefixed it with "according to Brent Spiner".

4 September at 14:28 | Open on chaos.social

Kee Hinckley

@Unatributed @scy Agreed. I've used day-tah in the US since the 70's. I think the other is more a regionalism or class difference. It reminds me more of an upper-class prep-school pronunciation. Especially if it's "dah", which sounds affected to me--think Katherine Hepburn. A more nasal "a" would be somewhat more likely.

4 September at 16:38 | Open on infosec.exchange

Unattributed 👤 ☑

@nazgul
I was thinking more of a regionalism... New York, especially Brooklyn vs a mid-western type of difference...
@scy

4 September at 16:52 | Open on mastodon.social

Mazzo

#somekindofstartrek Genes rule was declared: who ever pronounces the name first, thats how it was chosen to be the correct pronunciation :awesome:

i was first exposed to TNG in german language, where it always was "Day-tah"

@scy π min! haha almost :D 🥰
#idea find all π minute videos and watch it #lol

4 September at 14:27 | Open on chaos.social

Athena L.M.

@scy a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts: now day-tah is the common pronunciation and so it's totally believable that Federation English would pronounce it that way

4 September at 14:37 | Open on solarpunk.moe

fluffy 💜

@scy that makes the Season 2 scene with Pulaski, “one is my name, the other is not” even more poignant

4 September at 14:37 | Open on plush.city

scy

@fluffy Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's a meta joke they put in due to fan reactions.

4 September at 14:38 | Open on chaos.social

Carl Muckenhoupt

@scy I can believe that day-tah became more entrenched in the US in the wake of TNG, but it's misleading to say that day-tah was the UK pronunciation and dah-tah was the US pronunciation. Day-tah was definitely in use in the US pre-TNG, and my memory is that it was already the more common pronunciation.

Here are some examples of Americans saying day-tah in the 1980s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mm0blGMqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAZAsn5BfSo

Expand text...

4 September at 15:13 | Open on mastodon.social