Data/data, gif/gif, tomato/tomato: share your sounds!

[pm0kjp]

I once was talking with a physical therapy student as I was rehabbing from an injury, and he, on discovering I was a data scientist, asked if "day-tuh" or "datta" was the right pronunciation for "data". Long A, or short A? Apparently his professor had Very Strong Feelings about the pronunciation of the word!

What do you say?

Also, do you have Very Strong Feelings about other pronunciations? Forte? Gif? Archipelago? Vehicle? We're from all over the world -- share your idiosyncratic pronunciations and your strongly held beliefs.

I'll start -- I grew up in the southern United States and I think the word "vehicle" has a strong accent on the first syllable and a voiced "h". But now I live in Philadelphia and I think the Acme supermarket is pronounced "Ack-a-me." 🤷‍♀️

Oh, and it's "gif" with a soft "g" like "garden" for me, and "day-tuh" forever!

[rosemm]

I actually shift back and forth between saying "day-tuh" and "datta" and it drives me crazy to hear myself 😂

[kbaxelbaum]

I had a friend whose grandpa would go pick puh-kahns to bake a pee-can pie.

As to data, I'm definitely on the day-tuh train.

[pm0kjp]

Where I'm from, it's the "puh-leece" if you want to see a uniformed officer, and the "poh-leece" if you're going 20 miles over the speed limit!