Words are hard!

[Oryan77]

The last seems pretty reasonable

"We can excuse the fact that you slaughtered two Yugoloths before you realized where you were, Outsider. But you pronounced the name of our fair city 'Sijil,' not 'Sigil,' and there can be no excuse for that! - Her Honor Rastina Tollin of the Guvners (Sigil and Beyond page 4 of the Planescape Campaign Setting boxset)

Except that in the Planescape setting it explicitly states that the name of the city is pronounced "sig-ill." Mispronouncing it is one way the locals identify the noobs.

I had a player once that kept purposely pronouncing it sijil because he was a prime and he thought it was more appropriate to do that to identify that he's a clueless. His character kept insisting that that is the way to say it.

It's interesting to see that a lot of people trip over the same words that I do. It's also interesting to see words that people mispronounce that I never thought would give someone trouble. Funny.

 

[Huw]

Guenhwyvar - Drizzt's black panther - is one that I struggle with.

It's Guinevere, as in Arthur's queen. Gwenhwyfar is her Welsh name - Welsh "f" is pronounced "v".

The one that always gets me is "geas". I know it's meant to rime with "geese", but I just can't take it seriously when it does. I settle for "gee-uhs".

 

[Shoe]

I have in the past and still do quit often say Die-Rad instead of Dryad, but that is a gaming word. My wife swears i pronounce Measure wrong...I say Mey-shure...is that wrong?

 

[Stormonu]

Guenhwyvar - Drizzt's black panther - is one that I struggle with.

Ah, that's simple enough when you realize it's a variant on Gwenevere - King Arthur's wife.

Frankly*, I blame the French for the state of the english language - all those words that sound nothing like their spelt, such as coup de grace (koo day graw, NOT koop dee grayc), hors d'oeuvre (ore durves NOT whore de owe vures), melee (may lay NOT me lee) and so on.


* ironic, I think, since the Franks were forebearers of the French....

 

[AeroDm]

My two main D&D vocabulary stories:
The Good
My vocabulary was always years ahead of others in elementary school. Words like melee just blew teacher's minds and, once, in high school, a biology teacher spent a class pronouncing scion "ski-on" until my D&D group very politely corrected her and explained what it was due to our knowledge of the Deities and Demigods book.

The Bad
Little kids really struggle with Tarasque. We spent a few years saying "tara-skway." We also were utterly defeated by Proficiencies and called the "pro-fishin-see-en-sees." We added extra syllables so we just couldn't handle that large a word that young.

 

[steeldragons]

LOL! Great thread idea!!!! No, you are not the only village idiot!

I had, perhaps, less trouble than others...having two teaching parents (or rather parents who taught/had educational backgrounds and professions).

I had a dictionary from a relatively young age...and when things came up I didn't know, I went to the dictionary...pronunciations and definitions right there fer ya! The ooooold modules and books often had indexes with words that might be "new" to players. They were a great help, also! But for definition, not often pronunciation.

Of the ones listed already, I was calling a dais (DAY-is) a "DAYS" for a rather long time. Can kiiiinda get by with that if you say it fast enough. lol. But spelling it wrong...allll of the time. Thank the gods for spellchecks.

TO THIS DAY when I read "melee", my mind tells me "mee-lee" even though I have for decades understood that it is a french word [in which I was once fluent].

I do not know when it was I actually found out that a Chimera was not a "CHIM-er-ah" ["ch" like "branch"] but a "kai-MER-ah". Mighta been in college by then.

Of ones that were not listed already, I had a bloody hard time, well into my high school years (at which point I was already playing for about 5 or 6 years), understanding that a "seneschal" was a "SEN-esh-ahl" and not a "sen-EK-shal"...prolly some latent dyslexia in there for some reason.

 

[Morrus]

One I hear all the tme:

Coup de grace does not rhyme with the "gras" in Mardis Gras. It's a totally different word. It has a solid "ss" sound at the end. "Coop de grass".

You can hear a Frenchman saying it on the wikipedia page here (in that example, you can't even hear the "de").

[Edit - I see someone beat me to it! And yes, I agree it's anoying when people gleefully correct your pronunciation of it as "it's graa, actually". No, it is not!]

 

[Morrus]

Frankly*, I blame the French for the state of the english language - all those words that sound nothing like their spelt, such as coup de grace (koo day graw, NOT koop dee grayc)

That'll be wrong. It's "coop de grass". See my above post.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Frankly*, I blame the French for the state of the english language ...

Well, the Norman French, and their roots certainly have a lot to answer for on the state of English. But let's not leave out Latin, Greek, Welsh, and the various Germanic languages, either. Welsh is particular rough. My wife and I gave our daughter the middle name Llewellyn, and we still have to stop at times and concentrate to say it correctly. ("Lou Ellen" is close, but misses the mark.)

I have the same problem as the OP. I read a lot more than I speak, and thus I get words in my head a certain way, and then never get them out again. My gaming group has vast fun with this, especially since my usual DMing gig gives me lots of chances to mess up. I think on some of the words, they've given up.

It also doesn't help any that my Dad is one of those characters that likes to deliberately butcher words, similar to the Marx brothers. He's said "anoymous" for "unanimous" so long that he has to think before using either correctly. Grow up with that while reading D&D, and it rubs off on you.

 

[The Red King]

The one that always gets me is when someone says "The point is mute."

Thats when I say: "If it is mute then why do I still hear it?"

That never is as funny to the group as it is to me.