D&D General Thaco the angry clown... really?

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

For the same reason that a .gif file doesn't sound like peanut butter, on account of the "g" standing for "graphics."

Well, you would think so... but the creator of the GIF begs to differ: Here’s a Timeline of the GIF vs. JIF Pronunciation Debate

I don't care though. I still pronounce it properly

 

[BRayne]

For the same reason that a .gif file doesn't sound like peanut butter, on account of the "g" standing for "graphics."

THAC0 stands for "to hit armor class zero," or in shorter terms, "to hit AC 0." Which you necessarily pronounce with a long a. "I roll to hit ay-see zero." I don't know anyone on this good green earth who's saying "æ-see," so the ash sound has no place in the pronunciation of "THAC0".

(And before some joker jumps in with the obvious: no, that doesn't justify softening the c to "thay-so." The zero can only be read as a back-vowel, which automatically velarizes the c.)

but clearly the t and h are separate and it should be pronounced t'hay-so

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

No one else pronounces it Thay-so??? Weird.
/s

 

[J.Quondam]

For some reason, a lot of these variant pronunciations of "THAC0" sound to me like names of mummy lords.

edit: Here's a few from earlier in the thread, with minor mods in spelling:

• Thak-Oh
• Thak
• Tuh-Hak-Nil
• Thay-So
• Thak-Not
• T'Hay-Soh
• Thakth

I think there's some good potential in that list!

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I see some folks saying THACO started in 2e which I did not play.

quick google searches say the abbreviation started in 1979?

I did play 1e and THACO was familiar to me…

 

[Hussar]

I see some folks saying THACO started in 2e which I did not play.

quick google searches say the abbreviation started in 1979?

I did play 1e and THACO was familiar to me…

I think it would be fair to say that THAC0 became more commonly used in 2e, although it was present in 1e.

 

[cbwjm]

I see some folks saying THACO started in 2e which I did not play.

quick google searches say the abbreviation started in 1979?

I did play 1e and THACO was familiar to me…

I believe it had shown up by the end of 1e, I think there were some modules or something which used the abbreviation. I'm sure people know of more examples, but it was definitely adopted as the standard by 2e to make it associated primarily with that edition.

I first encountered the term in the BECMI rules cyclopedia which I'm fairly certain was released alongside 2e which might be why it included it and although I think I first used the attack tables, this was quite quickly dropped in favour of Thac0.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Not typically. Only the "e" does that usually (although, of course, there are exceptions. Even within this sentence. )

acolyte - is not pronounced with a long a. To be fair, I suppose, you do have acorn. But that is an exception. Acoustic, pharmacology, draconian. It's very much the exception for an "o" to make an earlier vowel long. And, since Thaco is an acronym, and the A is for Armor, I'm really not sure where the long A comes from.

(And, before anyone brings up USA - we don't say that one as a word - we pronounce the letters. Acronyms are pronounced as words, generally, when it makes sense. Although, thinking about it, NATO is pronounced with a long A. Sigh. )

Whaaaaaaat?! You talkin' about Willis? It's not pronounced Dray-conian. Not even just a little bit?

Great, now I have to go back and reread everything I've ever read.

And you're just talking about the letter o. Are there different rules for each vowel. Or is it less about 'rules' than it is about general patterns and observations.

Maybe this is why I suck at spelling so badly. Well anyway, my wife is a fourth grade spelling bee champion, she has no idea what THAC0 is, and she pronounces it Thack-Oh. As in, "Please quit asking me how to pronounce THAC0 or I'm going to scream."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Mod Note:
This is an abuse of the concept of punching up and down. It is like saying Statler and Waldorf are "punching up" at Fozzie Bear because they don't have influence over the content of Fozzie's act. No, they are economically, socially (an indeed physically) above Fozzie, and are punching down at the lovable Muppet.

The terms are largely intended in terms of general sociopolitical and economic context. Those "gatekeeping grogs" are not, in general, disadvantaged with respect to the game designers.

Please don't abuse the terminology in this way - doing so obfuscates real issues.

But Statler and Waldorf are right - Fozzie's jokes do suck. So isn't your example also confusing?

Yeah, I know, challenging moderation. I'll show myself out...

 

[Lanefan]

(And, before anyone brings up USA - we don't say that one as a word - we pronounce the letters. Acronyms are pronounced as words, generally, when it makes sense. Although, thinking about it, NATO is pronounced with a long A. Sigh. )

Well, NATO's pronunciation could be based on the word "Nation". But not on the word "National", I suppose...