British pronunciation 😁

[Mwak73]

This is just a light-hearted conclusion, I've come to, in recent years -
But pronunciation of characters from the star wars films, over here in the UK, has changed dramatically, since the advent of the internet.
Is your recollection the same as mine -
That, in the 70s and 80s.... Regardless of how they were actually said in the films... No one.... But NO ONE... Over here in blighty, pronounced -
Han solo, as "Hahn solo". It was said in the same, way as the word hand is said.
Leia, as "layer". It was always pronounced "lee-a".
Boba fett as "Boh-ba". We kids always said bobba.
Jabba as "jah-ba". It was jabber.

Etc etc.

Nowadays, everyone, especially online, whether British, American, or other, uses the same pronunciation.
Yes, I know that's how the films actually say them, but that's by the by....I just find it a teensy bit sad, to see this quirky little British way, has bitten the dust.
Actually, it puzzles me, why Americans tend to stretch out names such as Han, and say them "Hahn" ..... Is it because, it's the closest they can get, to the flat British/German way of saying an "a" sound? (Seeing as the natural American pronunciation would be closer to "hen")?

It's strange, because that drawn out "ah" sound, doesn't really occur in UK/European speech.
Curious.
Do any other 70s/80s British kids recall it the same way?

 

[Clawrence]

Defiantly mate....Han, Leea, bobba and jabber for me.
There are some others....what do you say for AT-AT I always say At At but some people say Ay Tee-Ay Tee
I also always had problems with Nien Numb is it 9 num or Nee-een nubb and Count Dooku Doko, duko du-ku i get confused easily

Sounds like a good topic for our resident poet Michael Sith i'm sure her will be able come up with a verse for this.

 

[Mwak73]

Ooh yes, you've just reminded me.
It was always At at, years ago.
I only heard it said as Ay Tee Ay Tee in the last few years. Certainly over here.
And me, my brothers and mates, never really knew how to say nien nunb as kids, so it was just said "nee-en".
The big reason for all of this, is the world was so much less connected back then.
There weren't even videos to watch, until after the era of return of the Jedi (well after, in our house).
So this is how these pronunciations came about.... You literally could only say it, as you saw it (as Roy walker used to say).
You couldn't just click on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and the like, to get reference.
All you had was the one visit to the cinema, with the next one happening 3 years after that.
And only comics and magazines in-between to quench your thirst for Star wars.

I mentioned all of this today, because it's a warm happy nostalgic memory, the way we all said the names back then.
Funny though, how it seemed to be the entire country who said things the same way.
At least, I take it, it was.

 

[Michael Sith]

Why do we speak the way we do,
our early years are the largest clue,
language around us in our formative days,
develops our speech, in specific ways,
there's the culture and language into which you are born,
then dialect our speech will embellish and adorn,
then the modernist twist comes along,
which leaves us clueless to where we belong!
text speak, creating a bland blanket of sound,
to an oldie like me it serves to confound,
but whatever is said in age or in youth,
is always the better for honesty, sincerity and truth,
pronounce how you will, I don't care a jot,
but Bobba it is , Bo Bah ……. it's definitely not!

 

[Mwak73]

Oh, yes, very good.
I tip my hat to you, sir.
In fact, I'm sure everyone will join me, in giving that rhyme,a big 'hahnd'

 

[peekaygee73]

Han solo, as "Hahn solo". It was said in the same, way as the word hand is said.
Boba fett as "Boh-ba". We kids always said bobba.
Jabba as "jah-ba". It was jabber.

Not only do I recall them that way, I still say them that way - only one I've adopted is lay-ah. I don't really mix in real-world Star Wars fandom which is why I still get away with it!

 

[Mini99]

What about the pig guards…I've heard some strange pronunciation of them over the years.

 

[Mwak73]

Firstly, peekaygee73, snap...I couldn't agree more.... I've never mixed in with star wars fandom much myself either.... Online or what have you...so I still say it the old way.
How nice to hear there are fellow sticklers, of the old ways, still about.

And mini99..... We used to say the pig guards as "gammer-ian'.
It's only lately I've realised it was meant to be "ga-more-ian".
Oh, and we used to say ig-88, as well, as kids.
Not aye-gee 88.
Igg-88.
Like I said earlier.... Say what you see

 

[Mwak73]

....."I'm just off down the clinic, love....
I've got a touch of gamma-ria I'd like them to sort out"

 

[Clawrence]

 

[Mwak73]

Ha. Love it

 

[Mwak73]

..... Of Course, if we aren't careful here, by talking about the changes in the pronunciation of things over the years, we might easily stray into the realm of discussing the dreadful CGI "improvements" that George Lucas added, to the original 3 films, over the years.
Uh oh, careful now

 

[Mwak73]

Just as an addition to this post -
I've just watched Empire, for the first time in a good while today, and smiled when I heard both Carrie fisher, and Billy Dee Williams, pronounce it as "Han" and not "Hahn".
In that film, if not any other ones.
Ha... Praise be

I'm wondering whether it's maybe due, to it all being filmed at elstree, and after weeks of listening to the accents of the British crew, it rubbed off on them a tad.

Or then again, maybe they just decided to say it, the obvious bloody way, it's written

 

[Robstyley]

Yeah totally agree. We always said it the ways you're saying it. AT AT's a bad one, and people calling them Ay T S T, it was always a Scout Walker to me. If you notice, it's mostly Luke calling Han Hahn and Leia Layer although Leia does sometimes call him Hahn I believe. Also.. me and my sister/family always called him Obi One Kenobi, but everyone else seems to call him Obi Waan Kenobi. You may be right, the differences in our accents affects the way those words are interpreted and come out.

 

[Mwak73]

I think you're spot on, with the observation that it's mainly Luke with the Hahn thing.
I can actually hear him very clearly saying it, in my head.
Maybe that stretched out way of saying certain words, is more prevalent in certain parts of the US, than others. IE where mark Hamill is from.
Mind you, if you look on most internet things, nowadays, or DVDs, etc, where someone is talking about star wars, they virtually always use that Luke way of saying the names.
In fact, just to show how out of fashion, it is now, to use the old British way of pronouncing the names... Have you seen the Solo film that was out five years or so back?
There is a scene, where the young Lando, says "Han" in the British way, and the reply comes back from one of the others, in such a mocking, self righteous tone, that he's saying it all wrong, and that it's said "Hahn".
I felt like giving them a slap when I saw that
It was no doubt written, that whole scene, as a tie in, to connect back to the old films, and Billy Dee Williams, who..... God bless him..... ALWAYS said Han in the original trilogy.
On the subject of scout walkers, or at-st's, and basically any of these names, I reckon all of that started, with

 

[Mwak73]

.... The advent of the expanded universe.
People suddenly got very anal and very detailed about everything.
Suddenly everything had to have a back story..... Who made it, which planet it was from, which species it is, etc etc.
I personally don't give a stuff for any of that.
The original trilogy just had stuff in it, and never felt the need to explain it.
It's simplicity was it's charm.
All these folks now who get hung up on all the technical details.
Scout walker it was, for me back in the day.
Although actually, I believe we called them chicken walkers, now I remember
And as for Kenobi..... Yes, it was always obi one, for me.
I think the confusion for that, originated in the very first film (y'know..... Star wars. NOT a new hope).
When Luke says to Ben, that r2d2 is looking for an obi one Kenobi, that's when Alec Guinness replies "I haven't gone by the name of obi WANN in a long time".
You could tell this was purely how Alec thought it should be said, without actually finding out first.
But the official way to say it, is Obi one.
I think it's supposed to sound slightly Japanese. Samurai and all that.
Funnily though, I've never heard anyone but Guinness, actually say obi WANN, since that occasion.
It's a fascinating subject all of this, for sure.

 

[Michael Sith]

"It's a fascinating subject all of this, for sure"

in that sentence alone sound out the letter 'a'in its different forms, then add into the mix the other ways of pronouncing it, then take the other letters of the alphabet and do the same thing, then add dialects, then add in colloquialisms, the different nationalities that have English as their first language. After all that then factor in modernism pronunciation (not pronunciation as that's not a word) and down right lazy speech

you will find there is no wrong or right, depending on who you are and where you come from

 

[Mwak73]

Pure logic in the way we say them, is my whole meaning, behind the whole Hahn thing.
I can't profess to know the technical and intellectual aspect of word construction/pronunciation... At all... But just purely in the case concerning Hahn, I don't think it's a logical use of pronunciation.
I can't back up any of what I say with actual hard evidence, but it does strike me, that when Americans say Hahn.....jah-ba.... Etc.... And stretch out that middle A, it really does feel like it originated from them attempting to get close to a more Germanic feel.
After all, in many American films, TV shows, many say the German name Hans as Harnze.
I do feel this is
And yet, Germans don't.
But Americans say similar words like hand, can, dandy, man in a very logical way.
Hend, ken, dendy, men.

It almost sounds like they originally were going for a cod upper class/RP English accent. You know, such as in words like class, pass, fasten.
Clarse. Parse. Farsen.
Yes, in such cases, a large portion of Southern England, stretch out the middle A.
But NEVER in the case, of hand, man, can.
They still say it flat and fast.
It's never harnd, marn, carn.

And I feel that may well be the origin of the American way (for some at least) of saying names like Han, as Hahn. To sound a little more classy, but missing the whole point.

Of course, it's all just conjecture, and just how I view it all.
I can't back up a single thing with a shred of proof
But isn't that what the less savoury aspect, of the modern internet world is all about..... opinions, opinions, opinions.
And you know what they say about those

 

[Mwak73]

And even though that last theory I described, might sound a little bit out there, listen to this other observation -
It's not even to do with star wars.
I saw the kids film Frozen, a few years back.
Now, it's set in some fairy tale, that is clearly based on a European type country.
Germany, Switzerland or Austria perhaps.
And the heroes of the story, have solid Germanic names - Anna, Elsa and Kristoff.
Not only do the American actors in it, say "hahns" for Hans, in it, but for some inexplicable reason, they pronounce the main character....Anna..... As "Ahna".
Even the basic rules of grammar, say that two n's together in a word or name, means you say it quickly, and don't elongate the sound.
The absolute only reason I can think of, that they did this, was to attempt to make it sound less American and more European.... Perhaps English even.... By stretching out the A.
It's just highly ironic in the end, though, because actual Europeans don't ever do that.
I do genuinely feel, all of the examples I've given, point to the fact, that it's a case of Americans trying to make that flat, quick 'A' sound, that British and Europeans use, such as in 'Han', because it isn't natural to them (it would naturally sound like "Hen") but they miss the mark, and come out instead, with an "ahhh" sound.
Seems logical to what my ears are hearing.