Godot

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 4:03pm

How do you pronounce it?

Guh-doe

God-oh

Go-doe

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 4:05pm

Guh-dough

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 4:05pm

Guh doe.

or Go dot.

Depends who I'm talking to.

Around theater friends it's Guh doe. Updated On: 4/22/09 at 04:05 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 4:15pm

God-oh.

[heo1128]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 5:24pm

Last night on Letterman, Nathan Lane said it's pronounced GOD-oh or guh-DOE.
Updated On: 4/22/09 at 05:24 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 5:35pm

With the preferred pronounciation being GOD-oh.

[Weez]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 5:37pm

GOD-oh. I didn't realise it was up for debate. O_O

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 6:46pm

Traditionally, Guh-DOE.

This production, GOD-oh.

[willep]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 7:23pm

GOD-oh, and no it isn't just this particular production that pronounces it that way

[LadyDramaturg2]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 8:24pm

Is that like, when we used to take dance class with Miss Violet, we studied Baal-AY, but since we got to New York, we found out that it was supposed to be BAAL-ay.

[vlegra]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 10:19pm

just for the hell of it I like saying GO-DOT

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 11:01pm

Somewhat off topic, but: "Waiting for Godot" is not a strictly accurare translation of the original French, which is "En Attendant Godot." The French captures the idea of what we do while waiting for Godot, who or whatever that is. "Waiting for Godot" somewhat distorts the intended meaning, IMO.

Updated On: 4/22/09 at 11:01 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 11:22pm

Traditionally, Guh-DOE.

This production, GOD-oh.

Actually, no. Almost all of the literature available on this play states that the correct pronunciation is, and always has been, GOD-oh, with a hard stress on the first syllable. This was the pronunciation which Beckett advocated and encouraged actors to use.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 12:30am

GOD-oh?

Well then I totally take back everything I said about David Cote on OnStage last weekend for being a douche for pronouncing it that way.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 12:46am

Guh....

This conversation has me slapping my forehead saying "D'oh!"

PS: If anyone plans on nabbing HipTix for this, the evening shows are quickly selling-out. I called today and the next available evening with HipTix available is after May 12.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 12:57pm

The French pronunciation would be Guh-doe. And Beckett was supposedly inspired to write it while waiting for a French bicyclist (I think) named Godeaut (Guh-doe).

I know the traditional pronunciation in productions of the play is God-oh, but I've always said Guh-doe and can't break the habit now.

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 3:38pm

I too always thought it was "guh-doe" but I guess I'll say "god-oh" from now on.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 4:29pm

I've heard it pronounced both ways by several Ph.D. holding theatre historians whom I greatly respect.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 3:29pm

NYTIMES:
Anthony Page of "Waiting for Godot" Teaches Us How to Pronounce Its Title

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/anthony-page-of-waiting-for-godot-teaches-us-how-to-pronounce-its-title/?ref=theater

Well GOD-dough is what Samuel Beckett said. Also, the word has to echo Pozzo. That?s the right pronunciation. Go-DOUGH is an Americanism, which isn?t what the play intended.
Updated On: 5/3/09 at 03:29 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 3:34pm

"Somewhat off topic, but: "Waiting for Godot" is not a strictly accurare translation of the original French, which is "En Attendant Godot." The French captures the idea of what we do while waiting for Godot, who or whatever that is. "Waiting for Godot" somewhat distorts the intended meaning, IMO."


Considering Beckett translated it himself, I don't think he'd pick a title that distorted his meaning.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 4:56pm

The confusion comes from the original American production with Zero Mostel, in which it was pronounced "Guh-DOH," as seen in this clip from a 1961 TV production with Lahr and Burgess Meredith (who, of course, later played the Penguin in Batman).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efjndFMHZ3A


"Let's go."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"We're waiting for Guh-DOH."

Updated On: 5/3/09 at 04:56 PM