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

12 points| bjornlouser | 11 years ago | reply

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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[+] ThrustVectoring|11 years ago|reply
"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.
[+] busterarm|11 years ago|reply
100% this. And as a client they'd be losing my business.
[+] paulmd|11 years ago|reply
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.

[+] acheron|11 years ago|reply
I used to work with someone who pronounced "cache" like "cachet" (i.e., "cash-ay"). It was like fingernails on a chalkboard.
[+] magic_beans|11 years ago|reply
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!
[+] cafard|11 years ago|reply
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

[+] mladenkovacevic|11 years ago|reply
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.

[+] davidw|11 years ago|reply
No. But it sounds like it's a good place to not work; who knows how many other unreasonable things go on.
[+] CocaKoala|11 years ago|reply
It's usually safest to go with the unambiguous and uncontentious "datums".
[+] tvmalsv|11 years ago|reply
Long "a" or short "a"? ;)
[+] chris_somenums|11 years ago|reply
It's only reasonable if you work in a C Pound shop.
[+] busterarm|11 years ago|reply
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.
[+] scabbycakes|11 years ago|reply
I'd can developers who say "jaw-vah-script" instead of "jah-vah-script". Goddamn I find that pretentious.
[+] robodale|11 years ago|reply
Wow. No it is not reasonable.