D&D terminology pet peeves

[diaglo]

The "coup de grace" problem is solved by pronouncing it killing blow (see also melee). How did all this French get into the game?

they don't call us grognards for nuthin' ya know.

wargamers playing little man syndrome with a hand tucked in their coat.

 

[loki44]

I would imagine some of our British brothers may disagree with us on proper pronumciations.

I think Cthulhu, or maybe Nyarlathotep, are butchered more than any other proper nouns.

 

[Quasqueton]

it's pronounced "gwee-ZAHRM". does not rhyme with the english word "arm". if your french accent isn't that hot, try a faux british one and that might help.

yay for 14 years of studying french.

Oops. I meant the "s" in my pronunciations to be "z" (we pronounced with "z"). And pronounce with a French accent? Ha! I'm Southern [American], my friend. The former Player I mentioned was from northwest America (Alaska and Washington, specifically). It was a feat to be able to understand each other in our common native language as it was. Adding in a faux (pun?) foreign accent would have thrown all communication out the window.

And I say "mee-lee". I read the term for years before actually hearing it spoken, and I've never been able to get the mispronuciation out of my head. I avoid the word outside of D&D conversations.

Quasqueton

 

[Mystery Man]

While not exactly DnD terminology this qualifies as a DnD session gaff:

One day I was reading text aloud and pronounced translucent, tran-SLUCK-ent all the while knowing better. I just wasn't paying attention. It's been 2 years and I'm still trying to live it down.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I think Cthulhu, or maybe Nyarlathotep, are butchered more than any other proper nouns.

Well, they are unpronouncable by the human tongue anyway, so what difference does it make? I just want people to spell the name correctly! C-T-H-U-L-H-U

 

[Gentlegamer]

they don't call us grognards for nuthin' ya know.

wargamers playing little man syndrome with a hand tucked in their coat.

The legacy of Nappy lives on . . .

 

[Gentlegamer]

Well, they are unpronouncable by the human tongue anyway, so what difference does it make? I just want people to spell the name correctly! C-T-H-U-L-H-U

Actually, isn't misspelling a safer idea?

 

[Mystery Man]

Well, they are unpronouncable by the human tongue anyway, so what difference does it make? I just want people to spell the name correctly! C-T-H-U-L-H-U

In the movie "Necronomicon" Bruce Payne pronounced it KEH-thloo.

 

[Ambrus]

It's pronounced Kimira, not Shimera, dammit!!

I'm with you. Still "She-mer-ah" is a step ahead of "Che-mer-ah" which is a chronic problem in Changeling games. It's "KI-MER-AH" damnit! "KI-MER-AH"!

For the life of me, I still can't figure out what's with the propensity of "rouge" vs "rogue" mistakes online. I'm starting to think that people know better but continue to mispell it to grate on the nerves of those who try to correct them.

 

[EricNoah]

Ooh, well this weekend I ran a one-shot Dark Sun game. PCs were attacked by a group of maenad psychic warriors. I'd never used a maenad character before, and had never had the opportunity to pronounce the name of this race. So when these characters show up, the players hear me say...

"You are attacked by a gang of my nads."



Another fellow pointed out that they seemed a little testy, and it just went downhill from there...