D&D terminology pet peeves

[jasper]

who cares! Once you heard me say once or twice you know what I mean. So game on. Of course this would be easier if we used the 40+ characters phonic alphabet instead of 26 letter alphabet.

 

[glass]

Of this history of English I am aware. That still doesn't explain how all the French came to be in d20. It was written by Americans, and, for example, we purposely don't use "colour," "armour," "metre," or "cheque" . . .

But you haven't been around long enough to have your own spellings of words like guisarme, so it's (French derived) proper English or nothing!


glass.

 

[Gentlegamer]

But you haven't been around long enough to have your own spellings of words like guisarme, so it's (French derived) proper English or nothing!

No problem with various names. It's the untranslated terms that vex me.

 

[der_kluge]

I think you mean a subspecies of the same species or a species of the same genus. Yeah, I wish they would call them something else. Peoples might work. I also think that all the core races should be able to breed with one another.

They can in HARP. There are no half-breed races. Just greater (half) and lesser (quarter) blood talents that you can select at 1st level. So yes, dwarf/gnome or halfling(dwarf) are perfectly viable things you can play in HARP.

 

[Jupp]

But you haven't been around long enough to have your own spellings of words like guisarme, so it's (French derived) proper English or nothing!


glass.

Even if they would be around much longer it would still be Guisarme. The French invented it and gave it the name Guisarme. Same for Main-Gauche or Arquebuse. If you make it you can name it

 

[Kax Tuglebend]

This is seen all over the place in the English language; you'll find more French the higher caste the term is used in.

Though, then there's the food thing. If you eat it, it's French (pork, beef, poultry), if you raise it, it's English (pig, bovine, chicken). I never quite learned why this is. Maybe it became distasteful among the elite to refer to their food as animals so they borrowed French again.

okay i havent read about this in years, but if memory serves it was the exact same thing, following the norman conquest all the growing and production was carried out by the English speaking downtrodden Saxon peasantry, whilst the final product is eaten by the French speaking Norman nobility

 

[MonkeyDragon]

How's this for D&D blasphemy?

Just to throw the world into chaos, I will create a new mixed race:

Dwarf + Elf = Dwelf

I know its about as wrong as you can get in D&D, but I have decided to create it somehow, someday to freak my players out.

I have, to my shame, already begun the creation of dwelves as a PC race for my campaign. -2 to charisma. Big penalties on interactions with elves and dwarves. Some nifty bonuses, though.

 

[Algolei]

If you eat it, it's French (pork, beef, poultry), if you raise it, it's English (pig, bovine, chicken). I never quite learned why this is. Maybe it became distasteful among the elite to refer to their food as animals so they borrowed French again.

No, it's because French cooking is better than English cooking.

 

[werk]

I also think that all the core races should be able to breed with one another.

(source) + (mixed with) = (product)

human + elf = ½elf

elf + dwarf = gnome

dwarf + human = halfling


This is also pretty much the way I think about the product classes, i.e. gnomes usually live in underground facilities that are architecturally impressive (dwarven) yet fit with nature and all that stuff (elven).

 

[werk]

Can you find an English word ending in -sque that is pronounced -skew? If so I will retract my next question. What is the reasoning you pronounce it -skew?

"Gosh darn it Napolean, go in the kitchen and make yourself a kase-a-dill-a!"

and my mom always has 'tor-till-a" chips

...stupid americans.