There are at least two ways to pronounce the word "data". How was the pronunciation of Data's name in TNG decided?
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8Just the one right way, though.– Paul D. WaiteAug 5, 2016 at 20:51
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5One is his name, the other is not– CodesInChaosAug 6, 2016 at 9:35
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11@T-1000'sSon : No. My British education disagrees with that. Please consult the Oxford Grammar, Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation Dictionary. I just did. I hope there are no hard feelings, but I have to roll back your edit (again).– PraxisAug 6, 2016 at 16:00
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5@T-1000'sSon : See the accepted answer at english.stackexchange.com/questions/23. A notable point elsewhere on that page: If you're an American, periods or commas almost always go inside the quotation marks. If you're British, periods and commas only go inside if they're part of the actual quote. Also: Punctuation inside quotes is a rule that was invented by American publishers and is not necessarily followed elsewhere.– PraxisAug 6, 2016 at 16:07
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8@T-1000'sSon: The site may be hosted by an America-based company, but it's definitely international. Please don't try to enforce some global spelling rules, every user is free to use his preferred ones (as long as they are consistent within the same post).– BergiAug 6, 2016 at 18:19
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1 Answer
Patrick Stewart crystallized the pronunciation during the first script reading
I'm at the Star Trek 50th Anniversary Celebration in Las Vegas right now. Brent Spiner just revealed the answer to this on stage.
He mentioned that he himself would have pronounced it "Daa-ta", but Patrick Stewart read it as "Mr. Day-ta" in the first script reading (in front of Gene Roddenberry) and it stuck.
Spiner added that he believes Patrick Stewart's pronunciation of the word has affected its overall pronunciation in North America.
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5It's fitting that Patrick Stewart played a role in this, as he was the one initially chosen to play Data (until Roddenberry was finally convinced that a bald captain was okay). Aug 6, 2016 at 3:21