Why do Americans pronounce centaurs "centars"???

[Jack Daniel]

Every time I hear this (just been listening to dungeoncast episode) it drives me nuts, like fingernails on a blackboard...there is a 'u' in it, so is "Centaur" like "Dinosaur".....aargh

I dunno. Why do Brits pronounce "minotaur" with a long i? That one bugs me more than people mispronouncing "chimera" (kye-MEER-uh) with either variety of soft "ch" (I've heard my fellow Americans mispronounce it like "chimichanga", and Brits and Aussies who say it wrong give it a "shimmer").

Oh well. I accept that "grognard" has been thoroughly anglicized and, among gamers at least, the proper French pronunciation has been lost. But I'll still die on this hill: the first syllable of cognates "goblin" and "kobold" should rhyme in English ("kobold" and "cobbled" are homonyms), so if you throw KŌ-bolds at your players, you should also be siccing GŌ-blins on them! :Þ

 

[niklinna]

Every time I hear this (just been listening to dungeoncast episode) it drives me nuts, like fingernails on a blackboard...there is a 'u' in it, so is "Centaur" like "Dinosaur".....aargh

Yes, all Americans, from coast to coast, pronounce things exactly the same.

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FWIW, I pronounce "centaur" and "dinosaur" to rhyme. I also pronounce "sauna" as it's spelled, and not as if it were spelled "sana" (which means "word" in Finnish), and definitely not as "swana"—both of which drive me nuts, like fingernails on a blackboard.

 

[niklinna]

Ha!
I have a similar reaction when I hear Brits say ‘aluminium’ when it’s pronounced (and spelled!) aluminum.

It's spelled 'aluminium' in the British isles (except by Americans who just happen to be there), so at least they match? ;-)

 

[niklinna]

Either pronunciation is fine: Centaur - Wikipedia

In Attic it was a hard "k" and the au was pronounced like in "sauerkraut" (approximately).

Κένταυρος​

Everything is ok. No need to worry.

Centum and satem languages - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

(Ooh, I'm on a linguistic tear!)

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Every time I hear this (just been listening to dungeoncast episode) it drives me nuts, like fingernails on a blackboard...there is a 'u' in it, so is "Centaur" like "Dinosaur".....aargh

Really, an inconsistency between spelling and pronunciation? In English!!! Perish the thought.

 

[John R Davis]

They drop a lot of "U" in the SA!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Its American public education at its finest.

Your school taught you about centaurs?!?! Mine just taught me a bunch of stuff about poetry and geometry that I'm never going to use again.

 

[R_J_K75]

Your school taught you about centaurs?!?! Mine just taught me a bunch of stuff about poetry and geometry that I'm never going to use again.

I had to take a semester of Mythology in high school Freshman English. IDR but pretty sure a Centaur or two showed up. I'd say the better portion of my academic career was worthless. I remember taking subjects in grammar school, retaking the same material in high school and then retaking it yet again in college. Talking about a waste of time and money. But hey, I can pronounce Centaur so I got that going for me.

 

[Rafael Martin]

Why do Canadians pronounce about 'aboot'?

 

[Casimir Liber]

When I was a kid I pronounced minotaur like dinosaur