Words are hard!

[Morrus]

Thought of another one which tripped me up not so very long ago - gaol, gaoler. Never had seen that spelling. Had no clue what it was. I started pronouncing it like GOW-el, GOW-el-ur. Then I think I was playing Neverwinter Nights and in the game it was being pronounced jail/jailer and I finally grokked what was happening. "We'll spell it in Auld English/Welsh/Gaelic/Urdu/Mandarin because that will make us seem erudite and COOL!"

That's perfectly modern British English. It's not "Auld English" or "COOL!", it's how 63-million of us spell the word. Including, presumably, Bioware (I don't know if Canada uses that spelling or not).

 

[Thotas]

I imagine plenty refer to the famous football team.

Isn't that supposed to spelled socce ... kidding! Kidding! And, more seriously, given how willingly and intentionally ignorant of America sports I am, good luck with any hope of me knowing about teams outside of our borders.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Thought of another one which tripped me up not so very long ago - gaol, gaoler. Never had seen that spelling. Had no clue what it was. I started pronouncing it like GOW-el, GOW-el-ur. Then I think I was playing Neverwinter Nights and in the game it was being pronounced jail/jailer and I finally grokked what was happening. "We'll spell it in Auld English/Welsh/Gaelic/Urdu/Mandarin because that will make us seem erudite and COOL!"

As I understand it, it is an example of pairs of words that come from different roots but are used for the same thing, in most cases one being a nordic/viking root and the other being a norman/french root.

So one example is gaol/jail for a place of imprisonment.

Another is garden/yard for a green bit behind the house.

I'm pretty sure there are quite a few others.

(now an example of a word whose spelling was just chosen for coolness is apparently the military rank of Colonel. Back in the day they liked the French rank of Coronelle, but preferred the Italian pronunciation of their rank Colonello. Originally our Colonel was spelt with an r, but for a century both spellings and pronunciations were used until we finally settled on the french pronunciation and the italian spelling!)

 

[Plane Sailing]

The word which gave me trouble for the longest time was Halcyon. It was one of those words that I just took a run at when I was 10 and then didn't ever actually read the letters again for about 30 years! I used to say Hal - e - con rather than Hal - sea - on

Cheers

 

[TarionzCousin]

I have in the past and still do quit often say Die-Rad instead of Dryad, but that is a gaming word. My wife swears i pronounce Measure wrong...I say Mey-shure...is that wrong?

Repeat after me "My wife is always correct." This will save you trouble down the road.

Are there still people out there who pronounce "Celtic" with a soft c to refer to anything other than a basketball team?

I imagine plenty refer to the famous football team.

Located in Glasgow, Scotland, established in 1887. Even the Gaels mispronounce it, so maybe it's okay.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

It's pretty typical of me to get "prestidigitation" correct and then mispronounce "ogre". What's the opposite of "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"? It probably has three letters, and I haven't a prayer of saying it right.

 

[Fifth Element]

That's perfectly modern British English. It's not "Auld English" or "COOL!", it's how 63-million of us spell the word. Including, presumably, Bioware (I don't know if Canada uses that spelling or not).

Nope, jail for us. And curb, and -ize. We're kind of in-between.

 

[dd.stevenson]

1) apothecary
2) bowsprit
3) Any french word relating to castles, torture implements, architecture, or warfare
4) Any Japanese word whatsoever

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

That's perfectly modern British English. It's not "Auld English" or "COOL!", it's how 63-million of us spell the word. Including, presumably, Bioware (I don't know if Canada uses that spelling or not).

Oh you wacky people and your spelling!

 

[Dioltach]

The one that always gets on my nerves, perhaps not so much in D&D but in anything Arthurian, is when people say "Ga-WAIN" instead of "GAH-wain".