Ask HN: Is it reasonable to fire someone for pronouncing data as 'datta'? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it reasonable to fire someone for pronouncing data as 'datta'?

12 pointsbjornlouser22 comments

At a meeting with clients, my colleague said something like "... and then we turn your datta into business insight ... ", and his boss cuts him off mid sentence and shouts "THEY DON'T HAVE ANY DATTA. THEY HAVE DATE-UH. NOW GTFO!".

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"In front of clients" is neither the time nor the place to interrupt someone about their pronunciation. If I saw that and I worked there, I'd already be sending out job applications.

100% this. And as a client they'd be losing my business.

Of course not, but with at-will employment you can be fired for any reason or no reason at all [1]. Including, yes, the way you talk.

[1] Except for a small list of specific protected reasons, of course, but good luck proving you actually were fired for one of those reasons. If the boss has an ounce of sense then they won't give a reason at all, which is 100% legal.

Both pronunciations are acceptable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGNSxRru3I4

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10155/data-pronun...

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/data#Pronunciation

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/data

I used to work with someone who pronounced "cache" like "cachet" (i.e., "cash-ay"). It was like fingernails on a chalkboard.

I got so used to pronouncing "cache" like "kaysh" because I'd never heard it spoken aloud until I started working as a web dev... all my coworkers yelled at me. I eventually changed my pronunciation but it wasn't easy!

And here I am reading the comments still with no idea how to pronounce cache. Is it "cash"?

yup, the correct pronunciation can be heard here: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...

Hard k, short a, silent e

Yes.

The clients learned something useful about the boss, I'd say. No, it is not reasonable to fire someone over pronunciation. What next, fire someone from Pittsburgh over the way he says "iron", or a Baltimorean for stressing the last syllable of "ambulance"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOILZ_D3aRg

So is it pronounced date-uh? I think I've pronounced it both ways. English language is fairly ambiguous so this kind of thing is absolutely excusable (even if the pronunciation is decidedly wrong).

The boss, on the other hand should look into acquiring appropriate drugs to help him control his emotional outbursts in a professional environment.

No. But it sounds like it's a good place to not work; who knows how many other unreasonable things go on.

I would fire the boss.

It's usually safest to go with the unambiguous and uncontentious "datums".

Long "a" or short "a"? ;)

It's only reasonable if you work in a C Pound shop.

i guess I'd be getting fired. I'm surprised the client was cool with that. If I were the client, I'd be firing your business.

Fire the boss for ignoring latin instead.

I'd can developers who say "jaw-vah-script" instead of "jah-vah-script". Goddamn I find that pretentious.

Seems legit.

Wow. No it is not reasonable.

0_0 Uhhh...no. No, it is not.

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