# White people. How do you pronounce 50 Cent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588 "2011-05-11T23:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/61 "2011-05-12T02:11:40Z")
Two Bits? 😉 I agree it’s Fitty, cause that’s what the NY pOst calls him. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/62 "2011-05-12T02:27:53Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Two Bits? 😉 He has [pleurisy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurisy) too!? Poor bastid… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/63 "2011-05-12T02:33:37Z")
When talking about the person: _fiddy_ When talking about money: _fifty_ ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/64 "2011-05-12T02:44:50Z")
I say fifty cent. But I was once catchin’ a smoke in Flo-rida and a guy asked to bum one of my “Tree-oh-fi’s” ([305’s](http://www.cigarettespedia.com/index.php/Brand305%27S)). ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/65 "2011-05-12T02:47:17Z")
Australian. If I’m talking seriously to someone I will say “Hey, have you seen Fifty Cent?” (like when he lost all that weight for the movie role. If I’m taking the piss, I’ll deliberately put on an exaggerated “Fiddy” Listening to that film clip, to me I understand he’s saying “Fifty” but the centralised ‘f’ is very swallowed up. Not paying attention I could see how someone could hear it as “Fity” However Whitey McCracker the presenter is definitely playing “Fiddy” ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/66 "2011-05-12T03:04:23Z")
I say “Fitty Cent” but usually in an ironic way, like I know I’m whitety, ha ha ha… I don’t want to say Fifty Cent, since then I sound like a total dork jerk Neidermeyer. I don’t want to sound like I suddenly developed a black accent, since I’m clearly not black nor do I have a “ghetto” background, and then I would look like a total dork jerk Panderer. Honestly - I try not to refer to him by name, because it is a little uncomfortable. He’s super hot though. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/67 "2011-05-12T03:06:44Z")
Depends how black I’m trying to sound. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/68 "2011-05-12T03:08:30Z")
I’m a white middle aged woman. I said “fiddy” because I thought that’s how he, and everyone else pronounced it. I’ve never actually heard him say it himself. I’ll hide over here with the other uncool white people… ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/69 "2011-05-12T03:18:40Z")
Fifty cent. I feel like if I were to say “fitty” I’d just be imitating his accent, and why would I do that? I have my own accent. I don’t switch to British-style pronunciation when I’m talking to my friend from the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/70 "2011-05-12T05:05:35Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Fifty cent. I feel like if I were to say “fitty” I’d just be imitating his accent, and why would I do that? I have my own accent. I don’t switch to British-style pronunciation when I’m talking to my friend from the UK. On the whole I’d agree with you, except in the context of names IMHO. To be frank, if someone says their name (even if it’s a stage name like “Fifty Cent”) in a particular fashion, insisting on “correct” pronunciation even if it contradicts their pronunciation is just rude. But this is not a good example, because he actually does say “fifty”. So Fifty is correct in this context. But if he’d called himself “Fiddy” with a real emphasis on the “iddy”, even if he spelt it “Fifty”, I’d be calling him Fiddy because that’s what his name is. If that makes sense. I may not be explaining it very well. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/71 "2011-05-12T06:10:01Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Fifty cent. I feel like if I were to say “fitty” I’d just be imitating his accent, and why would I do that? I have my own accent. I don’t switch to British-style pronunciation when I’m talking to my friend from the UK. Sometimes, when somebody bums a cigarette and I tell the story I mimic the accent and say they’re “trio5in” it. I’m not black, and I usually relate this to white friends, I am telling a story… but I am not being truly being racist about it. I think it is funny, and a good catchphrase, but I really don’t think of it as racist, just mimicking an accent. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/72 "2011-05-12T06:22:37Z")
I do tend to say “Fifty”, but have been in parts of the US where Ts have a way to disappear mysteriously: tweeny, thiry, fory, fifdy. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/73 "2011-05-12T07:17:00Z")
Hell, I’m atey piece. (Insert “80 and a peace symbol here.”) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/74 "2011-05-12T08:20:41Z")
I say “fifty” because I’ve never thought to do otherwise; that’s how I say the word. I never, ever imitate accents. As someone who had his accent mocked as a child, I’m \*very \*sensitive about this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/75 "2011-05-12T10:07:55Z")
Fifty. Because, barring other circumstances, I try to do the opposite of whatever David Spade does as a matter of general principle. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/76 "2011-05-12T10:13:17Z")
Fitty Cent, because that’s how I’ve heard him say it (and because it’s fun to say). I make no assumptions about how black people other than Mr Cent pronounce it because, frankly, I don’t see the relevance and I don’t think all black people have the same accent anyway. [I Fitty da Pool!](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Gyrate/fiddy.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/77 "2011-05-12T10:24:24Z")
> [@colonial](#): > > Fifty. > > I have never heard anyone white, black or otherwise say fiddy. Carson Daly says fiddy. It sounds like he’s saying a real word instead of speaking slang or not enunciating. Amy Poehler said it for comic effect on SNL Weekend Update. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/78 "2011-05-12T12:18:46Z")
I just call him “Two Case Quarters”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/79 "2011-05-12T12:23:59Z")
Fitty for the artist, because on the rare occasions where I hear people pronounce it, that’s how it’s pronounced. The number, I always say and hear as “fifty”, unless it’s as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588/80 "2011-05-12T12:24:25Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > On the whole I’d agree with you, except in the context of names IMHO. > > To be frank, if someone says their name (even if it’s a stage name like “Fifty Cent”) in a particular fashion, insisting on “correct” pronunciation even if it contradicts their pronunciation is just rude. I agree that we should say people’s names like they want. But where does dialect come in and “correctness” not have anything to do with it? I’d say if someone corrects people on the pronunciation of their name (Andrea tells me, “It’s Ahn-DRAY-uh, not AN-dree-uh,”), I should say it their way. Short of that, I’m leaving it alone. I don’t affect a British accent when saying Prince William’s name, for example, and wouldn’t even if I were introduced to him. I think “fitty” is part of a dialect, more William with a British accent than the correct pronunciation of a name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-how-do-you-pronounce-50-cent/581588.md?page=5)