Name pronunciation

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Kurgan
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Name pronunciation

Post by Kurgan »

If this has been posted before, I apologize, but I've always thought it was cool how people pronounce the names in Star Wars differently.

Obi-Wan's name is pronounced by other people as "Oh Bee Wahn" but he says his own name as "Oh Bee WAN" (like "LAN").

Han Solo says his own name like "Hahn Solo" but Lando pronounces it "HAN Solo" (again like "LAN").

Realistically people would have different dialects and things, so I just thought it was cool.
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Re: Name pronunciation

Post by Sean Howard »

Kurgan wrote:If this has been posted before, I apologize, but I've always thought it was cool how people pronounce the names in Star Wars differently.

Obi-Wan's name is pronounced by other people as "Oh Bee Wahn" but he says his own name as "Oh Bee WAN" (like "LAN").

Han Solo says his own name like "Hahn Solo" but Lando pronounces it "HAN Solo" (again like "LAN").

Realistically people would have different dialects and things, so I just thought it was cool.
Its kind of like when I ask my wife for sex she says yes but pronounces it "Sod off you fat bastard".
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Post by Grand Admiral Thrawn »

Well everyone says Leia Lay-ah except that silly General Dodanna who says Lee-ah.
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Post by Bob the Gunslinger »

That's why you shouldn't film after some cold script readings. Was there no one who caught these mistakes on set?
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Post by Panzer Grenadier »

Well I always have arguments with my friends over whether Darth Vaders Super Star Destroyer is pronounced ex-e-cute-er like a person who inflicts capital punishment, or an exec-u-tor as in someone who executes a plan.

Also, I have always prounouced AT-AT as a acronym, while some I know prounounce it at at.
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Post by Darth Garden Gnome »

Panzer Grenadier wrote:Well I always have arguments with my friends over whether Darth Vaders Super Star Destroyer is pronounced ex-e-cute-er like a person who inflicts capital punishment, or an exec-u-tor as in someone who executes a plan.
The proper pronunciation is the former.
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

No, it is not. "Executor" always means "someone who carries out a plan" and is pronounced as such; the word for "one who inflicts capital punishment" is executioner.
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Post by Darth Garden Gnome »

Illuminatus Primus wrote:No, it is not. "Executor" always means "someone who carries out a plan" and is pronounced as such; the word for "one who inflicts capital punishment" is executioner.
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Post by Jean Paul »

Executor fits perfectly with the entire ethos of the Empire.

You have this whole emphasis on the will of the Emperor... what with the emperor's "hands" and other sinister enforcers, the rule through fear (yes yes I know the Tarkin doctrine but it ties in), COMPNOR... the palpatinian empire is all about order, rule, the Emperor's Will above all and that kind of thing.

So they launch their greatest battleship... and it will indeed be a terrible executor of the Emperors will upon the galaxy. One who carries out the will of another I believe is what the dictionary says... and it will sure as hell enforce the emperor's will on everyone else, through it's great power.

It's natural that it would end up with a name like Executor.
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Post by Master of Ossus »

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:Well everyone says Leia Lay-ah except that silly General Dodanna who says Lee-ah.
GM Tarkin also says "Lee-ah," when he's talking about her execution.
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Post by Utsanomiko »

Problem with Lando's pronounciation of 'Han' is that then C-3PO starts calling him the same thing, instead of 'Captain Solo' like usual. I figured Calrissian had a way with people, but getting a droid to forget what he calls people seems a bit much. :P
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Post by Elheru Aran »

I'd say it probably has more to do with the various characters' backgrounds. "Leia" is a short name that can be pronunced pretty much the same anywhere you go...

Backgrounds aside, the actors' origins probably determined how they spoke the names and stuff-- many of 'em were British, so naturally, they spoke stuff with a Brit accent. *Shrugs* not that big a deal... just a nice bit that you can add to the backstory without too much trouble...
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Post by Butterbean569 »

Panzer Grenadier wrote:Well I always have arguments with my friends over whether Darth Vaders Super Star Destroyer is pronounced ex-e-cute-er like a person who inflicts capital punishment, or an exec-u-tor as in someone who executes a plan.

Also, I have always prounouced AT-AT as a acronym, while some I know prounounce it at at.
I always say A T A T for some reason...I just don't like the way AT AT sounds. Plus, you have to say A T S T for AT-ST's anyway...so I guess I got used to using the same format for AT-AT's
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Post by Kurgan »

Utsanomiko wrote:Problem with Lando's pronounciation of 'Han' is that then C-3PO starts calling him the same thing, instead of 'Captain Solo' like usual. I figured Calrissian had a way with people, but getting a droid to forget what he calls people seems a bit much. :P
Good point. Lando's pronunciation of Solo's first name seems to be really catchy in ESB in general. Maybe the director just didn't pay that close attention to ANH and Lucas didn't see fit to correct him...

I think I just found something interesting, 'Boba Fett' isn't referred to by name onscreen (somebody correct me if I'm wrong), they just call him "[that] Bounty Hunter," (until ROTJ where Han mumbles "Boba Fett? Boba Fett?! Where?!" right before he delivers the fateful blow that sends Fett into the Sarlacc pit; and of course in AOTC as a kid, but I'm talking OT here).

Good point about Leia (Lay-uh, Lee-uh).
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Post by Kurgan »

Hope this isn't considered TN, but I discovered some more interesting bits.

Listening to the audio commentaries on all five released movies on DVD, notice how Lucas pronounces stuff.

Some examples:

Naboo = "Nay boo"

Dooku = "Doe Koo" (Yoda calls him DooKoo, with emphasis on the "Koo", while other characters just say "dookoo" as one would expect).

IIRC Lucas alternates between saying "Han" (like WAN) and "Hahn."

Then we have planet names like Alderaan (All-Der-Ahn vs. All-Duran), and Coruscant (Core-uh-sent, Core-uh-sahnt, Core-uh-scunt).

Some of the pronunciations of the planets can be chalked up to accents by those actors possessing or affecting British accents, but I just think its amusing that Lucas himself doesn't seem to settle on any one for most of them. It's fun listening to him talk about "Nazis" and "laserswords" too. I love the commentaries, but I agree with the people who said that Ben Burt should have gotten his own seperate commentary to ramble on about the sound effects, and get more storytelling by Lucas + getting the producers and principal actors in on it to fill the gaps.
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Post by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman »

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:Well everyone says Leia Lay-ah except that silly General Dodanna who says Lee-ah.
Not to mention Luke who pronounced it "Carrie" after landing his X-Wing in ANH :P
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Post by Kurgan »

LoL ; ) I thought I heard that too!

The party-line over at the Ranch (IIRC) and Hamill himself is that he just adlibbed/said "yay!"
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Post by Stofsk »

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:Not to mention Luke who pronounced it "Carrie" after landing his X-Wing in ANH :P
I always thought he said "Hey!" It was monosyllabic, so I don't see how anyone can mishear 'Carrie' in there. Besides, him saying 'Carrie' makes no sense, while him saying 'Hey!' does.
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Post by Vympel »

Leia's middle name is Carrie, didn't you know? :twisted:
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Post by Kurgan »

Stofsk wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:Not to mention Luke who pronounced it "Carrie" after landing his X-Wing in ANH :P
I always thought he said "Hey!" It was monosyllabic, so I don't see how anyone can mishear 'Carrie' in there. Besides, him saying 'Carrie' makes no sense, while him saying 'Hey!' does.
Of course it doesn't make sense in the movie but it makes sense in real life, since that's Carrie Fisher's name. Anyway, "Yay" would be more appropriate than "Hey" if you want to get technical.

In a lot of movies there's gaffes like that (saying the real name instead of the character name). I wish I had the Original originals to compare and see if it wasn't edited in the Special Edition. ;)
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Post by Spanky The Dolphin »

It was ALWAYS fucking "hey!". The fact that they filmed more than one take of the scene would make it impossibly unlikely for such a flub to survive into the final version. Around the time of production of the SEs, Ben Burt and his team carefully listened to the audio for each take, for the specific purpose of dispelling that rumour, and have confirmed that every single time, Hamil says "hey!" and not "Carrie!".

For the love of Christ, it's on BOTH the IMDB and the SW official website. Why don't you actually do some God damn reasearch for yourself for fucking once, Kurgan, rather than sit on your mother fucking hands and waste all of our time cooking up bullshit hypotheses and theories because you're God damn obsessed with hearing the sound of your own voice.
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Post by Kurgan »

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It was ALWAYS fucking "hey!". The fact that they filmed more than one take of the scene would make it impossibly unlikely for such a flub to survive into the final version. Around the time of production of the SEs, Ben Burt and his team carefully listened to the audio for each take, for the specific purpose of dispelling that rumour, and have confirmed that every single time, Hamil says "hey!" and not "Carrie!".

For the love of Christ, it's on BOTH the IMDB and the SW official website. Why don't you actually do some God damn reasearch for yourself for fucking once, Kurgan, rather than sit on your mother fucking hands and waste all of our time cooking up bullshit hypotheses and theories because you're God damn obsessed with hearing the sound of your own voice.
That time of the month again? Seriously, Kreshna brought it up, yet you attacked me for commenting on a common rumor in a semi-humorous fashion, go figure. Do you also believe the official party-line that the audio changes in the english track of ANH are creative changes? Or that IMDB isn't a database run by fans that can make mistakes? If you've got the Original clip, put up or shut up.

How about you relax a bit and stop hovering around discussions about the new dvd's so you don't get a heart attack trying to defend every perceived criticism of them (from bad guys like me). :roll:

And don't go calling the kettle black about "obsession" considering you have many times the number of posts I do, in a shorter period, and it's not like you don't jump up to express your opinon when you feel like it.

I've tried not to take your comments personally, but sometimes it seems like you've got some vendetta. Sheesh.
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