How do you pronounce "Drow"?

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm a drow (cow) kinda guy, an opinion reinforced by the game's contributors/creators, and that's how I voted.

However, "dark elf" and "Bane Sidthe" also crop up in my campaigns.

 

[Creamsteak]

Drow as in cow. Thats the way it be.

Droe sounds like they are all fatigued... Orc says "ugh... droe" before he passes out from their sleep poison arrows.

 

[woodelf]

Now I think this is interesting because we can see a change in table language as younger gamers come into the fold.

2002 67% Cow - 254 votes
2003 77% Cow - 299 votes
2004 XX% Cow -

However, that hardly is the whole trend. I was around to read pretty much teh first D&D use of "drow", in the drow series modules (or did they get mentioned in Greyhawk before then? i forget). It wasn't until '92 that i *ever* heard drow rhymed with go. It is only among younger [than me] gamers that i've ever heard that pronunciation (which is not to discount any not-younger gamers in this thread that're following that pronunciation, just that i've never personally encountered it). I'm actually surprised, if the trends of the threads on EnWorld are actually indicative, because i would've expected to see it trending the opposite direction. Especially since, if we're going to generalize about whole swaths of gamers by age, i'd expect the older gamers to do things like consult a dictionary--or be old enough to have read the pronunciation guide published in Dragon--while the younger ones are the less-literate and/or less inclined to care about the historic pronunciation or any weight of authority it might have.

Here's a thought that comes to mind: anybody here who both predates the Forgotten Realms version of drow elves and pronounces it to rhyme with "go"?

 

[woodelf]

The choice between prnounciations is simple...

Choose between:

"Oh wow! It's a drow!" and "Oh no! It's a drow!"

For my money, rhyming drow with cow leads towards nasal pronounciation. The name of this race should strike the heart, raise dread in all who hear it. "Cow"-style just doesn't do that.

Why should the name strike dread into the heart? The race sure doesn't. IMHO, drow are silly, not scary--they make me think more of the guy in middle school who thought he was all ninja-riffic (but hadn't actually studied any martial arts or the like), not a Chow Yun Fat character wanting me dead, to use an analogy.

Then again, i've always thought the borg were silly rather than scary, too, so maybe i'm just weird.

 

[Legend]

This is making me nostalgic for the old days.

The first time I remember seeing this thread was on the old USENET D&D group, about ten years ago. As I recall, it went on for months, and drove everyone nuts.

Carry on.

 

[drakhe]

Reason for pronunciation...

I've been mulling over this for the last couple of days and just now, I figured out why I originaly pronounced it drow (go).

I figured drow(go) because drow(cow) sounded British to me and since most gamers I know are either US folks or use American english as opposed to British english, that kinda stuck (but then offcourse, the "sounds brittish" was/is a very personal impresion)

 

[Ravellion]

I scowl and growl at those who mispronounce the word for the foul drow. Really, they should be mindful of how to do it by now.

Rav

 

[Michael Morris]

Ah, good to see the old traditions kept up.

Someone should keep a tally of just how often the 'how do you pronounce drow' threads come up.

According to the search feature there are 10 threads containing the words "drow" and "pronounciation" (Yes, I know that's a mispelling but it's a common one), 33 threads containing the words "drow" and "pronounce", and 17 threads containing "drow" and "pronunciation."

That said folks, lighten up when a "old" topic comes up again. Just cause you've seen the topic 33 times doesn't mean everyone here has seen it.

 

[Olive]

That said folks, lighten up when a "old" topic comes up again. Just cause you've seen the topic 33 times doesn't mean everyone here has seen it.

Totally. I've been on here since forever (before 3e came out anyway), but not everyone has, and there's no reason why new people can't enjoy these conversations is there?

Anyway, here's the Gary Gygax quote:

When I discovered the "drow" listing in an old, unexpurgated dictionary, created the race for the D&D game system, I pronounced the name as to rhyme with cow. Ah, but what's in a name? So if someone prefers it to rhyme with crow, that's acceptible too--as in many words, there can be alternate pronunciations that are correct.

 

[woodelf]

I figured drow(go) because drow(cow) sounded British to me and since most gamers I know are either US folks or use American english as opposed to British english, that kinda stuck (but then offcourse, the "sounds brittish" was/is a very personal impresion)

Funny, drow-rhymes-with-go is the one that sounds British to me.