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
@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
@CarlMuckenhoupt
Also, I cannot imagine a more upper class British word that dah-tah (wif a ftiff upper lip of course). 😂
@scy
