Let's pronounce "Genasi"

[Leatherhead]

Similar to the way I say Ginsu.

Curse those infomercials for being so memorable.

 

[Ranger REG]

Didier Monin came to the design pit one day to ask us a question about the genasi, and pronounced it with a French accent.

You sure? Not German? Brooklyn? Alabama?

 

[Cam Banks]

So should we assume "genie" should have that much importance for pronunciation purposes?

Yes. Even though it's a made-up name, the connection to "genie" is at least a reasonable one.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Wyrmshadows]

Gen-uh-si (like genocide)

What's really odd is that there are so few pronunciation guides in regards to how to pronounce odd or unfamiliar sounding words in D&D.



Wyrmshadow

 

[Mouseferatu]

But serious, I am amazed that anyone pronounces it any way but, jen-UH-sigh.

It ends in "i", not "sey" or "sy" or "see"

While there aren't a huge number of English words that end in I, those that do, and those that we've borrowed or transliterated from other languages, almost all end with a long "ee" sound.

Broccoli.
Ferrari.
Ravioli.
Salami.
Pepperoni.
Tripoli.
And, of course, Ari.

 

[TarionzCousin]

And, of course, Ari.

I pronounce that just like the word "awry."

And isn't genasi pronounced "Gee-Nazi"?

 

[doctorhook]

...So it appears there is no "official pronunciation" for this word, if this thread is any indication. In this thread, there's already nearly sixty replies from a huge range of informed and semi-informed people, including official WotC staffers, community-renowned freelancers, and hobbists and D&D geeks of every stripe, from a fairly wide variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It's not a huge sample, but it's not bad either, and given the lore and hobby-knowledge some of these posters have, I think that if an "official pronunciation" existed anywhere, at least somebody would know it. Thus, I am no longer expecting an "official pronunciation" to appear, nor am I confident that Monte Cook's pronunciation of "genasi" will settle anything. (I'm still curious about how he does pronounce it, though.)

That said, a significant number of posters apparently pronounce "genasi" similar to "jen-NA-see". (Don't beat me up if either my transcription or my counting is wrong! For our purposes, though, I think it's okay.)

/d͡ʒзnα:si/ = 14 (Soft G, "jen-NA-see")
/d͡ʒinα:si/ = 1
/d͡ʒi:nαzi/ = 1
/ʒзnα:si/ = 1

/gзnα:si/ = 5 (Hard G, "gen-NA-see")
/gз:nαzi/ = 1

/d͡ʒзnαsaɪ/ = 6 (Sounds like "genocide")

/gзnsaɪ/ or /d͡ʒзnsaɪ/ = 3 ("gen-sai" or "jen-sai")
/gзnαsi:/ or /d͡ʒзnαsi:/ = 1

Rhymes with cow = 1
​

My next question is whether or not "we", the community, have the mandate to make this slightly dominant pronunciation (semi-)official. IMHO, there's both enough support for and a decent enough case to be made in favour of "jen-NA-see" (or something similar). In other words, can we agree on a pronunciation and declare, "Look, world! We, the English-speaking D&D community have agreed to pronounce the word "Genasi" as ______!"?

Does it even matter this much?

 

[Mouseferatu]

In other words, can we agree on a pronunciation and declare, "Look, world! We, the English-speaking D&D community have agreed to pronounce the word "Genasi" as ______!"?

Given that there's still not a community consensus on "drow," despite the fact that we have gotten an official answer from WotC, I think the idea that we could get any sort of community consensus on "genasi" is about as likely to happen as the world rising up with one voice and choosing between Coke and Pepsi.

Does it even matter this much?

No. No, it does not.

 

[Drakhar]

Given that there's still not a community consensus on "drow,"

Wait what? How do you have multiple ways of saying Drow?

And I've always pronounced Genasi, Geh-Nah-See myself but I have heard other pronounciations so YMMV.

....no really how the hell do you say Drow in a different way?

 

[Hypersmurf]

....no really how the hell do you say Drow in a different way?

How many ways can you say "Bow"?

-Hyp.