Data

[Victoria Neufeldt]

I believe that the speech community as a whole (i.e. not linguists, etc.)
can accept the existence of more than one "correct" pronunciation more
readily than more than one "correct" spelling.  If two pronunciations for
'data', for instance, are recognized in mainstream general dictionaries,
people will accept them both, even while preferring to stick with the one
that is more common within the group with which they are or wish to be
identified.  This is especially true if the difference is easily
describable, e.g. as geographical or generational.

Victoria
Merriam-Webster, Inc. P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102
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On June 16, 2000, Aaron E. Drews wrote:

> Being a pedant, I use /daet@/ because this is what I was told it
> is in Latin.
>
> If there is variation in the word, can there be a "correct"
> pronunciation, even if one has prescriptivist tendencies?  Or is this
> just another problem with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"?