D&D terminology pet peeves

[Henry]

My wife and I defiantly refer to the killing blow as a "koop du graisey." You should see the looks we get when someone overhears.

When I hear someone say that, I call that the "Bugs Bunny Pronunciation."

I've always pronounced it TARE-uh-skew myself.

To me, that's like pronouncing "Mosque" as "Moss-kew" or "Lobster Bisque" as "Biss-kew."

 

[Gez]

I can confirm that Tarrasque should be pronounced Tarask.

I don't know why much, but I pronounce Babau as if it was a german word. Babao sounds slightly less silly than Babo IMO.

 

[Guardsmith]

While this isn't D&D, I felt LotR was still on-topic.

My brother-in-law, even after seeing the movies multiple times, insists on
pronouncing Moria "more-EYE-ah"

I've given up trying to correct him, and instead, when he says it that way, I
look for a thick wall to bang my head against ...

Dan

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

What is the reasoning for this? I've always pronounced it TARE-uh-skew myself.

It's French. "Que" in French (at least, at the end of words) generally has a hard K sound. It is not pronounced like the British word "queue."

 

[kenobi65]

My brother-in-law, even after seeing the movies multiple times, insists on
pronouncing Moria "more-EYE-ah"

::breaks into song:: "And they call....the mine....More-EYE-ah!"

(Apologies to Lerner and Loewe)

 

[Remathilis]

Terminology: I hate having to to go to LEVEL 3 of the dungeon to face a random 4th LEVEL monster so that I can gain a new wizard LEVEL in order to caster 3rd LEVEL magic...

Aside: We laugh at our Knee-Crow-Mancer who used to cast the illusion spell "VEAL".

Or the PA-LAD-IN. Your choice.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I've had some pretty embarrassing mispronunciations. Once I was reading aloud from an unfamiliar text and I pronounced carbocation as KAR-BOH-KAY-SHUN instead of KAR-BOH-KAT-EYE-AHN.

As for the other mispronunciations, I wasn't even aware that so many people mispronounced tarrasque, drow, or coup de grace; I hadn't even thought of those mispronunciations...

 

[der_kluge]

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.

Now I'll admit this is a word I'm not sure about.

I usually find myself pronouncing it "MINE-uhtar" or "MEN-uhtar", but never have been quite certain which one was correct. I've heard it both ways.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Now I'll admit this is a word I'm not sure about.

I usually find myself pronouncing it "MINE-uhtar" or "MEN-uhtar", but never have been quite certain which one was correct. I've heard it both ways.

The common English is MIHN-OH-TAHR but it comes from the Greek Minotauros (mu iota nu omega tau alpha upsilon ro omicron sigma) which would properly be MEYE-NUH-TAH-OOR-OHSS. Most dictionaries give pronunciations with both the short and long I.

 

[der_kluge]

What is the reasoning for this? I've always pronounced it TARE-uh-skew myself.

It's phonetics.

If it were pronounced "TARE-uh-skew" it would be spelled Taraskew, or maybe Tarascue!