D&D terminology pet peeves

[Pbartender]

For pronounciation peeves, Webster.com has audio bites of the proper English pronounciations for words with every definition. Just go to the site, look up the word, and click on the little red 'speaker' icon next to the word... A fellow with a pleasant voice will speak the word for you.

NYJM, for example, is wrong about guisarme... It is not, 'gwee-zahrm', it is just 'gih-zarm' (like Quasqueton's second suggestion), and it does rhyme with 'arm'.

 

[Warehouse23]

The only pronunciation issue that comes up in my D&D groups is how to pronounce the Wizards of the Coast acronym.

WotC, they claim, is pronounced "Watsee," which is much too much like "Rotsee" (ROTC) for my tastes.

WotC, I claim, is pronounced "Whatck" or "Whatuck" (if the tck sound is hard for you). Whatck! is the sound an axe makes splitting a log clean in two on a stump. It is the logical pronunciation for a fantasy game company's name. Go split some logs, and see if you don't agree with me.

 

[MerakSpielman]

NYJM is pronouncing it in the original French. Americans have twisted foriegn words around becuase you have to make sounds that don't exist in english. Every time I hear somebody talking about the football team "Notre Dame" I wince.

I wonder how Webster pronounces "foyer." I'll go check.

 

[MerakSpielman]

I wonder how Webster pronounces "foyer." I'll go check.

Ah, it actually has both the correct and the bastardized pronunciations.

 

[Drew]

Regarding my own errors:

I used to say "me-lee." It came from reading the term in gaming books but never hearing it in actual conversation.

For some reason I used to say mage as "maj" (almost rhymes with badge). I was taunted for it, and thus changed my ways.

One I do mind is "Attack of Opportunity", because some people say it like it's a proper title which must always be used, much like one must use Dionysius the Areopagite to distinguish from Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite. I prefer "free attack" or "Op-attack" or "AoO" because they roll off the tongue better than the concentration-breaking "Attack of Opportunity."

Skip Williams at GenCon 2000 said "Oppy." I liked it, and try to spread it around as much as possible.

Barbarians. Now I can't refer to the "nomadic folk who live in the north outside the city walls" without my entire table thinking it's a civilization made up solely of berserkers.

J

Here, here! I agree.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Apparently some people pronounce "Gygax" like "Jyjax." Both the Gs are supposed have the same sound as the one in Gary.

 

[billd91]

Most of this stuff doesn't bother me. And I like to pronounce drow like snow because it sounds better, softer, more likely to sneak up on you in the dark and put a dagger in your back. Ask youself which is easier to say quietly and I think my point is well made. Notice that saying you pronounce it like row is quite ambiguous since row can be pronounced with both ow sounds.

But my big peeves about terminology involve ambiguity and bad attempts to hide source inspirations.
Spontaneous metamagic vs 1 round casting times - both are full round actions but are yet different (based on what I've been told by Skip) but the difference is never clearly spelled out, leading to different interpretations by DMs. Ambiguity bad, clarity good, and an ambiguity persisting too long to not be a peeve of mine.
I also was peeved by a Sean K. Reynolds rant about the spelling of mithral (and not, oh no, NOT mithril). As if it wasn't inspired pretty much directly by mithril in Lord of the Rings. That certainly hit a peeve of mine... getting all ranty about something that insignificant when, as players, it shouldn't matter if we use the spellings interchangeably since they mean pretty much the same thing anyway.

 

[VirgilCaine]

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.

Hwaahaah! I pronounce it correctly!

we were playin RTTTOEE and we were attacked by some (dms words) mine o taurs, here I was sitting racking my brains trying to think of some underground subrace of the minotaur, until one player pointed out (after the Dm had said it 5-6 times) that it was pronounced minotaur. Then it all made sense. Ive been attacked by minitaurs and minnowtaurs but that was my first incounter with a mineotaur.

What about the Mime-ic? The Cooatel? Min-d Flayer? Chayoss Beast? Ever fight any of those?

I also was peeved by a Sean K. Reynolds rant about the spelling of mithral (and not, oh no, NOT mithril). As if it wasn't inspired pretty much directly by mithril in Lord of the Rings. That certainly hit a peeve of mine... getting all ranty about something that insignificant when, as players, it shouldn't matter if we use the spellings interchangeably since they mean pretty much the same thing anyway.

Gee, that rant made sense to me. They aren't the same thing.

 

[billd91]

The only pronunciation issue that comes up in my D&D groups is how to pronounce the Wizards of the Coast acronym.

WotC, they claim, is pronounced "Watsee," which is much too much like "Rotsee" (ROTC) for my tastes.

WotC, I claim, is pronounced "Whatck" or "Whatuck" (if the tck sound is hard for you). Whatck! is the sound an axe makes splitting a log clean in two on a stump. It is the logical pronunciation for a fantasy game company's name. Go split some logs, and see if you don't agree with me.

Why not just call them "Wizards"? Seems easier to me.

 

[Quasqueton]

The only pronunciation issue that comes up in my D&D groups is how to pronounce the Wizards of the Coast acronym.

WotC? I pronouce it "Wizards".

Quasqueton