Babel or Babble?

[God of War]

Ok, first up, I have not seen this movie. But I heard the other day on Tv, this dude pronounced it; "BAB ULL" - Babble. I was always led to believe that the correct pronounciation is; "BAY BELL". Isn't Babble what someone does, like me now? :)

Anywho, I prefer to call it Babel [bay bell].

What say you'z, Schmoe'z? :D

[Jamesadin]

I've always said "Babble".

[dennisv]

I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Ba-bel. I might be wrong.

[Danger^Cart]

Well, the word itself is derived from the biblical story detailing the "Tower of Babel," in which God made all the harminous tribes of Earth speak different languages so they couldn't work together in building a tower to Heaven. There's more to it than that, with Babylonians being the historians of all historians and blah blah blah, but that should suffice.

So, to "babble" is to speak incoherently, as we understand the word today. Seeing as how the film's main theme is miscommunication, I'd say "babble" is the correct way of pronunciation. It's not surprising they screwed up. Stupid people are everywhere, even on television. Perhaps especially.

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by Danger^Cart
Stupid people are everywhere, even on television. Perhaps especially.

"Perhaps?"

I thought thats where they flock to?

[AndrewDB]

Baa-Buhl.

[LordSimen]

I've been confused about this from day one. I'd pronounce it one way, someone would correct me. I'd pronounce it the other way, someone else would correct me. I have no clue.

[cocksmokinclerk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel

so i think its just like "babble"

[Cronos]

it was funny watching the director in an interview because he corrected himself when saying the title, he first said "bay-bell" and then changed it to babble

i've always called it babble

[TheMazVolta]

Ive always heard it said as 'bay-bel'.

[Shockwave]

Everyone i have ever heard has called it 'babble".

[Lindsey]

Originally posted by Shockwave
Everyone i have ever heard has called it 'babble".

Yep.. "Babble" indeed. When I worked at H-Video, that was one of the top titles that people had a hard time pronouncing. Just like Gigli... People have no clue. :p

[zeppelin]

Either way is correct, actually. I agree with Danger^Cat that if you say "babble" for this specific movie, it adds another dimension to the title. But in the general use of the word, either way is correct. From the impression I've gotten, most Americans say "babble" and most British people say "bay-bel." But again, neither is wrong.

[Le_Big_Mac]

I've always preferred how Arny pronounced it at the Golden Globes.

"Bah-bel."

[X-Nightcrawler]

I wondered the same thing. In spanish it's Bah-bell, but I never knew how it's said in english.

But then, there was an article on the paper (that's right, a whole article on this) making fun of Brad Pitt because he had said it like "Babble". God, I hate the mexican filmgoing crowd. Hate it with all my heart.

[Digifruitella]

where the f do you see "bay' in that.

[X-Nightcrawler]

Originally posted by Digifruitella
where the f do you see "bay' in that. You mean the two ways to pronounce the "A" in english?

As in "Ah" (car) and as in "Ey" (cake)?

[ParanoidAndvoid]

Its pronounced like Babble.

I work at Blockbuster and everyones got their own way of sounding it out.

Most people say it like Buh-Bell or or Bay-Bull. Not right. It gets irritating after a while, especially when everyone and their mother asks you how its pronounced.

[Digifruitella]

Originally posted by X-Nightcrawler
You mean the two ways to pronounce the "A" in english?

As in "Ah" (car) and as in "Ey" (cake)?

i know how "A" is pronounced in english. what i dont understand how you can hear "bay" when the "a" is the second letter in the word. do you also call apples aypples ?

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by Digifruitella
i know how "A" is pronounced in english. what i dont understand how you can hear "bay" when the "a" is the second letter in the word. do you also call apples aypples ?

Well, "a" is the first letter in "apple." Do you call aprons "ap-runs?" There is no such rule in the English language that says any "a" used as a second letter in the words must be pronounced "ah" and not "ey."

BOTH WAYS ARE CORRECT, PEOPLE. Look it up in the dictionary, it will have both pronunciations. Some words just have different pronunciations, and that's that.

[X-Nightcrawler]

Originally posted by Digifruitella
i know how "A" is pronounced in english. what i dont understand how you can hear "bay" when the "a" is the second letter in the word. do you also call apples aypples ? zeppelin seems to have explained it for me. But, I gotta make clear that I never pronounced it "Bay-bell" (mainly because I've never needed to say the word in Enlgish), was just trying to explain why some people might.

That all.

[deftdelivery]

The movie was PURE babble to me.

[Danger^Cart]

Originally posted by deftdelivery
The movie was PURE babble to me.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c14/Freelance_Cube/goodone.jpg

;)

[The Other]

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary says either pronunciation is correct.

[God of War]

Danger cart, dude, that is an awesome description analogy thingy you said before. And it makes sense within the Bible. They all ended up babbling to eachother after that.

:)

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by God of War
it makes sense within the Bible.

Hey, maybe a third proununciation could be taken from this?

[Monotreme]

Well, as a first-account user of the language of the Bible, I can tell you that in Hebrew the world is pronounced "Bah-Vell", with the emphasis put on the second syllable (Vell) and not the first syllable. I also know that in most of the european languages including Alejandro's native tongue, Spanish, the word is pronounced similarly. In America, though, I have mostly heard the name being pronounced "Bay-Bell", with the emphasis on the first syllable. I guess the "Babble" pronounciation pretty cleverly gives the title another meaning, though, so go with that one.