Zidane's Name

[Bob]

An odd poll, I know. I'm just curious on this one. I made a thing about Zidane rhyming with "rain" in Ep. 2 Part 2 of AFFR and Dale pointed out that it shouldn't rhyme. I wrote that part before playing more Dissidia (I played a bit more...for shaaaame, me), where I was kinda disturbed by them calling him Zidawn. Help me out, my pronunciation brothas.

So two questions. One, just fill in the appropriate parts of the above poll. Use whatever logic and pronunciation. I'm not great with pronunciation, so I can't judge anybody for what they say.

After you answer, because you'll likely all say that I'm an r-tard here, explain how Zidane ISN'T "dane." I mean...it's how it's spelled. I'm thinking of all words I can think of that have an "a" modified by a silent "e" and they all sound like "dane."

Bane, Cane, Dane, Jane, Lane, Mane, Pane, Sane, Vane, Wane, Zane.... So why wouldn't it rhyme?

And just to be clear, Dale, this isn't against you. I just started going through those notes of yours and it reminded me of Dissidia, so I'm guessing that either you're getting the pronunciation from that abomination of a game, or I'm completely off-base here with my letter sounds. I've always said "Zidane" and, I know his Japanese name is like, "Jitan," but I've never been one to accept the logic of "well his Japanese pronunciation ends in 'ahn' so his English name must ALSO end in 'ahn'!" It's Aeris v Aerith all over again...sorta!

[Fleck]

I always said "Zih Dane" because what the hell do the Japanese know about English pronunciation? They think "Aerith" is a good name for a person. Or for anything.

This is kind of a point I end up arguing quite a bit, because if English was a language that made sense (and it isn't), then ALL words ending in a silent E will have the previous vowel modified to be its respective vowel sound (with a few exceptions, but the fact thatt there is a modification would remain constant)

I know, given the rather common pronunciation differences, Count and Juice can probably find any number of words that they think I say/spell wrong, but in the case of silent E's we should all be in agreement. After all, silent E's are the closest thing the English language has to the Spanish tilde thing or German Umlauts or whatever the hell the French are doing with their language (I took German in school, so that's the only one I know by name). Silent E's are, themselves, silent, but they are SUPPOSED to modify the pronunciation of the word, and when it doesn't, then you're just wasting everyone's time.

Like all those bastards in Spokane, Washington. Your stupid town SHOULD be "Spoke Ayn," but everyone's like "No no no LOL it's Spoke Ann, like an idiot would say." I know English is a free-for-all language, having been heavily modified by the French, the Germans, and--in America--the native Americans, but damn it, pronunciation shouldn't be a damn guessing game. I mean, if we just decide to pronounce words however we want regardless of spelling, then in a few generations we'll all be speaking Al Bhed.

EDIT: And don't think I've forgotten about you, "Pierre" South Dakota. Your name is not a homonym for "Pier," you jackasses.

EDIT: Long story short, if dropping the silent E from the end of the word doesn't change its pronunciation... then why the hell use it?

/rant

[Bob]

Word.

When I was playing Dissidia, they said something about "Zidahn" and I just about threw my PSP at the wall right then and there. But then, I realized, it was my fault for playing Dissidia. But dammit, my mom teaches first grade and about the only grammar thing I've ever heard her talk about is the changing vowel sounds with silent e's, so come on!

[Fleck]

It's funny how pretty much everything we learn in grade school is eventually proven false.

"I before E except after C!..... with exceptions."
"You can't divide by a negative number!... unless you really have to."
"Atoms are the smallest particles!... except a whole bunch of things that are smaller."
"All of America's wars were justified!.... hahahaha not really." (This one is for Americans only)

[countlieberkuhn]

Yeah, silent Es are one of the few things that are pretty consistent in the English language. I'm sure there's exceptions as there ALWAYS are, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

I think Zidahn in Dissidia might be going off the pronunciation of Zinedine Zidane, a French footballer (soccer to you guys). His name is pronounced Zidahn, but that's because his name follows French rules of pronunciation, and so it should. If Zidane is a French name, then that would be the correct pronunciation for it. However, I'm compelled to think otherwise, as nothing about Zidane (the FF9 Zidane, not the footballer) suggests he has any French heritage, or any Gaian/Terran equivalent of it. Therefore, I think it should be spoken as 'Zih-Dayne', as that's how the English should pronounce the name on its own spelling merits.

Interestingly, the name Quistis is also French, and as such should be pronounced 'Key-Stiss', following the same pronunciation of 'qui' as you'd find in quiche. Her surname would also be pronounced 'trayp', instead of 'treep' if we assume her whole name is French, which is apparently how it was intended. Trepe certainly sounds like a legitimate surname. I still call her 'kwiss-stiss' though XD

Actually, FF8's cast has very European sounding names in general. Trepe and Loire being French, Dincht and Kramer being German (Tilmitt also sounds kinda German, given away by the double-t ending), Almassy being Hungarian, and Kinneas being... something.

[Bob]

FF8 was the last FF that I played with my older sister watching it (at least a majority of it) and as such, I trusted her to pronounce things right, so I copied a lot of hers. She's a super English buff and I never was, so if she said it one way, I did, too. With Quistis, I've always said "Kiss-tiss" (similar to "key-stiss") and Trepe as "trayp."

I think Zidane was just because Jitan was (according to FF Wiki) the Japanese version, which I have little doubt would be prounounced "Gee-tawn," so I think they figured "if we translate it as Zidane, then it must be Zee-Dahn... I blame Enix. Who's with me!? *grabs torch and pitchfork*

[Fleck]

I blame Enix for everything, although it's hard for me to get on the "it should have been translated like _____!" bandwagon, because A: I have no idea about Japanese translations and B: I am a die-hard "Aeris over Aerith" person, and that's supposedly a mistranslation, so... yeah.

I'm on team "It sounds better when you say it this way."

Also regarding Quistis' pronunciation, I'm on team "Qwih-stiss" because I like my Q's to sound like Q's.

[Dale]

It's strange. When I first got FF9, I just pronounced it "Zie-dane." I actually started thinking it was "Zih-dahn" after also hearing it on FG during a cutaway. (Famous soccer/football player headbutts a woman as part of her birthday wishes.) And then, Dissidia pronounced it the same way.

What makes me think it's that pronounciation, though, is because prior to him going AWOL on all of us, Agent told me that's actually how it's pronounced. It's the French word for "gypsy." At least, that's what he told me.