Most mispronounced monster names

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Na zdrowie*

Now, now, say it with me ... d-r-o-u-w. Drow. No "ie" on the end.

 

[Krug]

What about Behir?

 

[Digital Archon]

The one i hear butchered the most is chimera, followed by lich. I've even heard chimera pronounced like Crimea.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Something often encountered, not necessarily a monster.

Blackguard

Pronounced: "BLA gerd".

 

[Tolen Mar]

Um..Caramel?

Seriously, who pronounces it Tarraskew? I had to come to a public forum to hear it like that.

Tarraskew? Terr askew? Sorry, the earth aint tilted.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Well it's nice to see that there's a pronunciation guide somewhere, but why can't they put those in the monster manuals? Oriental Adventures had some pronunciation guidelines for some of the Asian monsters. It would be great to do that for everything.

OTOH, a lot of the time I don't think anyone needs to be able to say the monster's name. If the adventurers have never seen one before, they won't know its name.

This isn't a pronunciation issue, but yesterday I had to explain to my GM what a minaret is. He thought that was what you call the "onion" domes.

[HIJACK]I will fix this. Just give me about forty years.

I intend to teach general linguistic principles to high school English students. Eventually, I will find a school to let me teach every student the IPA. This will spread throughout the nation (US) (no need overseas, since most languages are more phonetically dependable, IME, than English.

Once this is accomplished, the publishers of D&D will eventually start including an official IPA transcription of all unfamiliar/made-up terms so that we can all share a common pronunciation.

If I had it my way, this short simple addition would be made now, and every PHB would include a two-page intro to the IPA.[/HIJACK] What is a minaret?

 

[reveal]

What is a minaret?

A small rodent?

 

[Sejs]

"Smurf Bedouins".

Occasionally reinterpreted as the far more gnarly "Surf Bedouins".

 

[DMH]

A couple I have haven't notice yet are couatl and locathah.

Saw-hu-a-gin are the fish people according to Sea Devils.

The most annoying thing I see and many people do it is Cthulu. It is like the second h is invisible to a percentage of the population. Cthulhu isn't that hard to remember.

The Sage stated it is Bu-let (don't ask the issue).

 

[mattcolville]

This is a very common misconception. In French, "bullette" would be pronounced BOO-lett.

Very similar to bullet.

If it was spelled bullet, the French pronounciation would be closer to Boo-Lay.

When it doubt, do not pronounce the last letter.

Which interestingly means "bullet" would be "boo-lay" as in ballet and "bullette" would be "boo-lett."