D&D terminology pet peeves

[Snapdragyn]

(On elf/dwarf hybrids, aka dwelfs)

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.

Been there, done that summer of 1985 when my gaming group was on break. Wrote my first adventure & then never got to use it as the group never got back into gaming once the fall semester started. 1e.

The D&Dspeak I don't like is the insular jargon in general, including the videogame imports.

Hehe, one of my groups would drive you batty. We have 2 major EQers, & 1 who's at least dabbled. We don't just import the jargon, we import the TACTICS -- bowkiting ROCKS for zombies! I'm working on convincing them to have a bunny (agro-kiter who runs the MOB around in circles while the rest take pot-shots at it).

"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.

Have to second the post that Americans aren't as bad as this makes out. Heck, try going to Australia where they eat TACK-os. *shudder* I had to laugh when a morning news program in Sydney had callers phoning in to complain about a reporter who'd pronounced Las Vegas as 'Loss Vegas' (which is at least close) -- all of those lovely misguided people arguing that it should be LASS Vegas!

 

[Gez]

I'm irked by the misuse of the word "fey."

Fey is an adjective, not a noun - someone can be fey ("Having or displaying an otherworldly, magical, or fairylike aspect or quality; having visionary power - clairvoyant; appearing touched or crazy, as if under a spell; fated to die soon (Scots.); full of the sense of approaching death") but something cannot be a fey.

OK. So fay/fey is not a gray/grey kind of dichotomy between British and American Englishes.

Speaking of fa/eys, I'd like to know why the fay Morgan is always named Morgan Le Fay (or Le Fey) in English? Is she a male in the English versions of the tales?


PS: For trebuchet, if you go by the French pronounciation, it should be (very) roughly tray bushay. But English does not have include the proper 'u' sound for this word anyway.

 

[Turjan]

"Elves" and "dwarves" follow Tolkein's usage - if they're good enough for an Oxford professor of ancient languages, then I'm content with them.

The difference between fey and elemental et al. is that elemental and friends are new applications of a word - there is already a word for fey, and it's fay. There was no reason to extend the language to cover something new, since the correct word already exists. It's just sloppy editing.

Professor or not, it's an invented spelling *shrug*.

And I don't think your rejection of the usage of 'fey' for creature type is conclusive. There's also a noun for 'reptilian', and that's 'reptile'. Of course, you can see the meaning of 'reptilian' as 'reptiles and similar creatures'. Similarly, 'fey' means 'fairies and similar creatures'. A satyr is not really a fay in RL mythology, but a 'fey' creature in D&D (and 'elves' are not). Basically, this leaves the entry open for creatures that have some features in common with the group without the need to follow the exact meaning of the word in RL.

Speaking of fa/eys, I'd like to know why the fay Morgan is always named Morgan Le Fay (or Le Fey) in English? Is she a male in the English versions of the tales?

Sloppy French in old English ?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Fey is an adjective, not a noun

Yes, and so is "poor."

Or, "pauvre," if you prefer.

And yet, no one has any problem at all talking about "the poor" or "les pauvres."

 

[Bloodstone Press]

How about when people pronounce "melee" as "me-lee" instead of "may-lay".

Yeah, that bugs me a little, but I don't say anything about it.

Some of the funnier mispronunciations I've heard are:

Tithe- pronounced "thith" (rhyming with "fifth")
Chaotic- Pronounced "Chartical" (rhyming with "particle")
Paladin-pronounced "paddle-in"

 

[MerakSpielman]

My cousin, looking through the old Monster Manual, and never having encountered the world elsewhere, pronounced "unique" oon-quay.

 

[The Shaman]

Speaking of fa/eys, I'd like to know why the fay Morgan is always named Morgan Le Fay (or Le Fey) in English? Is she a male in the English versions of the tales?

The correct interpretation of Morgan le Fey would be Morgan the Mad, not Morgan the Fairy.

Yes, and so is "poor."

Or, "pauvre," if you prefer.

And yet, no one has any problem at all talking about "the poor" or "les pauvres."

I believe that would be because in the English language poor is both a noun and an adjective, while fey is not.

As I said, I don't have a problem with made-up words, only when a made-up word is used to replace a word that already exists.

And I don't think your rejection of the usage of 'fey' for creature type is conclusive. There's also a noun for 'reptilian', and that's 'reptile'. Of course, you can see the meaning of 'reptilian' as 'reptiles and similar creatures'. Similarly, 'fey' means 'fairies and similar creatures'.

That would be a truncated definition of fey, however, as it doesn't mean 'fairies and similar creatures' but rather having qualities associated with them.

Aberration? Noun. Animal? Noun. Fay? Noun.

 

[Turjan]

The correct interpretation of Morgan le Fey would be Morgan the Mad, not Morgan the Fairy.

Your answer has nothing to do with Gez's question: why the male form in 'Morgan le Fay'?

As I said, I don't have a problem with made-up words, only when a made-up word is used to replace a word that already exists.That would be a truncated definition of fey, however, as it doesn't mean 'fairies and similar creatures' but rather having qualities associated with them.

That's exactly what I said. In D&D, 'fey' describes a quality associated with these creatures, similar like 'elemental, 'reptilian' or 'humanoid'. The word 'fey' means, according to Webster, 'supernatural; unreal; enchanted; elves, fairies and other fey creatures'. This is a direct quote, and the example for the use of the word is exactly the one I applied.

Aberration? Noun. Animal? Noun. Fay? Noun.

And, what does this tell us? Nothing, as there are the other examples that support the opposite. There's nothing wrong with using adjectives as nouns.

 

[The Shaman]

Your answer has nothing to do with Gez's question: why the male form in 'Morgan le Fay'?

You're right - I missed that.

Unfortunately I don't have an answer either, at least not a good one - while I'm tempted to say that perhaps Morgan had gender reassignment that the Arthurian saga overlooks, I think it's more likely that it's something to do with the possessive article in Old French.

In D&D, 'fey' describes a quality associated with these creatures, similar like 'elemental, 'reptilian' or 'humanoid'. The word 'fey' means, according to Webster, 'supernatural; unreal; enchanted; elves, fairies and other fey creatures'. This is a direct quote, and the example for the use of the word is exactly the one I applied.

That's interesting as none of the three dictionaires I have sitting around my house nor the one that I checked on-line, including my Webster, has that definition - is this quote taken from the 1912 edition by chance?

At least half of the definition you quote here is composed of adjectives: unreal, enchanted. Supernatural can be both a noun and an adjective, so that's inconclusive. But instead of the definition, what part of speech does your dictionary assign to fey? I'd be willing to bet it's adjective, not noun.

And, what does this tell us? Nothing, as there are the other examples that support the opposite. There's nothing wrong with using adjectives as nouns.

Again, my take is that where adjectives were made nouns to fill a gap that didn't exist (e.g., water elemental), I have no major issue, but where the word already exists in the language, there's no need to take liberties. That's just ignorant.

I think we'll just have to disagree on this one, Turanil.

 

[Gentlegamer]

Cohorts. Cohort implies "peership." They're not peers, they're HENCHMEN!

Your fellow party members are cohorts.