# How do you all pronounce "Betta"? :)



## obiordi (Jan 31, 2014)

How do you all pronounce Betta? Everyone I come across says BAY-TAH. While I say BET-AH. I'm curious what fish keepers say about it.


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## stellenternet (Dec 3, 2014)

I've been thinking about this too! I say bay-tuh


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## Kingcrimson (Sep 3, 2015)

I've always pronounced it bay-tuh, I've never heard anyone say it differently.


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## Aquastar (Jul 17, 2015)

I say BET-TAH. Generally, I find that people who care less about bettas say Bayta, whereas the more professionals tend to say bettah. It's just seems to be a thing. It tends to differ.


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## obiordi (Jan 31, 2014)

aquastar said:


> i say bet-tah. Generally, i find that people who care less about bettas say bayta, whereas the more professionals tend to say bettah. It's just seems to be a thing. It tends to differ.


same!


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## ShadowRaven (Jul 25, 2015)

I say bet-tah because of the double T. I'm no professional though!


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## stellenternet (Dec 3, 2014)

I say I know a lot about bettas. I just say it like bay-tuh because it sounds better to me.


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Bett-uh! It is the correct way but I always get "corrected" by the fish store people, "you mean bay-tah." I am just like, "okay". I don't argue.


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## obiordi (Jan 31, 2014)

BettaSplendid said:


> Bett-uh! It is the correct way but I always get "corrected" by the fish store people, "you mean bay-tah." I am just like, "okay". I don't argue.


I know that happens to me with family and friends and I'm like... mhmmm. Lol.


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## LaRougeRaven (Jan 24, 2015)

I say Bet-tah, because Bay-ta is how you pronounce Beta, like beta programs, or the Greek letter beta. Betta has 2 Ts, so there is that extra T sound, unlike beta that only has 1 T.


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

Ok... well I say Bay-tah and I love my fish.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

It's officially pronounced bet uh, but I say bay tah just to be onery and to annoy those who think they're bettah. :lol:


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## mattchha (Aug 1, 2015)

I say "bay-tuh" because that's the popular pronunciation. Most people will look at you funny if you say it the proper way. But now when I talk to biology majors I get embarrassed on the off chance they know about the species. It's like when I was a kid and I used to pronounce manga "main-guh" because that was the popular pronunciation. It was really hard for me to pronounce it correctly, not physically but psychologically, because I know someone might bring up how I'm saying it.


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

I say bet-uh. I've actually never had anyone try to correct me... huh. The employees at the Petcos here even pronounce it bet-uh, which I think is kinda interesting.


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

I know the correct way is bet-uh, but I just like the way bay-tah sounds more. I admit I willingly mispronounce it lol.


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## Polkadot (Feb 10, 2013)

BettaSplendid said:


> Bett-uh! It is the correct way but I always get "corrected" by the fish store people, "you mean bay-tah." I am just like, "okay". I don't argue.



Same here exactly. I have always pronounced it like 'better' and the petstore's (mostly) say 'bay-ta'.

I mostly just end up saying 'the fighter fish' at the lfs anyway,lol.


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## obiordi (Jan 31, 2014)

Not everyone who says bay-tuh is uneducated, but a lot of the times people I know who say bay-tuh think they live in 1/2 gallon bowls with no heater or filter. They haven't even heard of the nitrogen cycle in their life! Lol. Then this really good fish store near me are all really educated and say bet-tah. But it depends on the person of course!


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I have and will always pronounce it as 'Bet-tuh'. I've honestly never really heard anyone calling them 'Bay-tuhs' here in Australia. Possibly because they are more commonly labelled as 'Siamese Fighting Fish' anyway.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

As my job I teach reading and literacy skills so I know the correct pronunciation is _/beh/ /tah/_ based on what I know about syllable types.. It's funny because the last letter of the word is an open vowel /a/ which should make the pronunciation_ /bet/ /tay/_ but I have never heard this pronunciation. I try to say /bet/ /tah/ but it's more socially recognized to call them_ /bay/ /tah/_ so I go with that.


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## Aquastar (Jul 17, 2015)

*Just to clarify: *Just because you say BAYtah does not mean you are fish abusers. It just so happens that people tend to say BAYtah when they are uneducated.
It's like thinking that people who work at MacDonalds are rude people who do not care about who as a person, just as a costumer. Yes, some people are like that, but not all of them.


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## obiordi (Jan 31, 2014)

Aquastar said:


> *Just to clarify: *Just because you say BAYtah does not mean you are fish abusers. It just so happens that people tend to say BAYtah when they are uneducated.
> It's like thinking that people who work at MacDonalds are rude people who do not care about who as a person, just as a costumer. Yes, some people are like that, but not all of them.


Exactly.


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## TerriGtoo (Jul 2, 2013)

"Bay-ta" is an incorrect pronunciation. The confusion comes from using the same pronunciation as the word "beta" which is something entirely different and not associated with fish. "Beta" is associated with, for instance the old Beta vhs recorders or beta testing of prototype websites. 

Back in the 70's when I was a kid I made the same mistake and the owner of the petstore I frequented corrected me on the pronunciation.

"Bet-uh" is the correct pronunciation.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

I say it like 'better', but I think most people in the UK would tend to pronounce it like that, different to the pronunciation of the Greek letter beta. Since we don't do the whole fraternity/sorority thing over here, Greek letters aren't the sort of thing everybody knows, although the prominence of US popular culture on TV and in movies makes it more visible than it used to be. Before then, I imagine people who knew the correct pronunciation of the Greek alphabet were Classics students/academics or dedicated geeks, lol.

E.g. In the sentence 'my Betta is better' the two words would be homophones (sound the same but spelt differently). I think this pronunciation would come naturally to the tongue of British English speakers.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Thanks Danni! That's actually very interesting. I found a series of YT videos teaching reading by teaching sounds and it was based out of the UK so some of the pronunciations were different than what I would use in Canada so I am actually undergoing my own project of re-writing some of my readers in the method the UK videos teach but with some minor tweaks! (for example, one being the suffix -ing pronounced in the UK and /-in/ whereas here I need the whole /ing/ sound!).


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

-ing is really interesting, being from the Midlands I do vaguely pronounce the G but it's more of a glottal stop at best, whereas someone from London would likely omit it entirely (unless educated into an RP accent). I love linguistics but my PhD is more in medieval/renaissance literature. I find it fascinating how you can reconstruct archaic accents by looking at the old rhyming patterns and rhythmic structures without ever having heard them! Although I'm not a linguist myself, I work quite closely with them in my research... if I have to do a reading for some undergrads or something, I like to try and capture the accent it may have been spoken in, or at least discuss it and have the students give it a go. 
Shakespeare, for example, has a flow if spoken in a sort if west country accent that just works... it's possibly the closest thing still around to the accent he spoke in. If you've seen the film Hot Fuzz... it's that accent, lol 

I've gone a little off topic...! Hehe.


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## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

It is bett-uh but i have been known to lazily say bay-tuh at times


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## LaRougeRaven (Jan 24, 2015)

I've already answered but wanted to also say. That even with me pronouncing it Bet-tuh, when I'm lazy or talking fast it usually comes out Bed-da. So yeah...
Plus with some people getting offended by some unintentional comments, or people writing comments not realizing it sounds hurtful.
We can all agree that as long as we are loving and taking care of our Siamese Fighting Fish, that it doesn't really matter what everyone pronounces it.


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