Knights & Knaves Alehouse

"Iuz about to go to the store"

"Iuzers are Liuzers."

I usually pronounce "drow" like "ow" and "Iuz" like "Ai-uze", and in my youthful bloom regarded anything else as something invented by "those silly Americans".

Nowadays, I suspect that pronunciation is more about "belonging to a group" or "demonstrating superiority" than it is about concern for the correct usage, which is variably attested at best. I do not like to use the term "drow", nor really "dark elf", as the former is too milieu specific and the latter suggests the existence of "dark" versions of everything else, which was something I envisioned in my early teens ("dark dwarves", "dark halflings", "dark humans", hey maybe "light orcs"... wait this is stupid!). For the last ten years or so I have contended myself with "elves", possibly with a regional or political description equivalent to what is used of humans to denote affiliation of some sort.

What about melee?

I say "may-lay" not "mealy" or "muh-lay"

DungeonDork wrote:What about melee?

I say "may-lay" not "mealy" or "muh-lay"

Well, that's an actual word, not something Gygax made up. May-lay (or muh-lay if you're a Francophile) it is. Mealy is what we said as kids, but we were stupid.

T. Foster wrote:

DungeonDork wrote:What about melee?

I say "may-lay" not "mealy" or "muh-lay"

Well, that's an actual word, not something Gygax made up. May-lay (or muh-lay if you're a Francophile) it is. Mealy is what we said as kids, but we were stupid.

When people say mealy, it makes me flinch.

Foster: "(or muh-lay if you're a Francophile)"

Is that legal outside of Amsterdam?

DungeonDork wrote:When people say mealy, it makes me flinch.

Talk about exposing your weaknesses. Hey guys, if you ever get in a pistol duel with DungeonDork, just mispronounce melee as he's drawing.

blackprinceofmuncie wrote:

DungeonDork wrote:When people say mealy, it makes me flinch.

Talk about exposing your weaknesses. Hey guys, if you ever get in a pistol duel with DungeonDork, just mispronounce melee as he's drawing.

My only other weakness is free beer.

That one I pronounce "meh-lee", which appears to be correct by this foreign pronunciation guide, though the voice in question does so with more sex appeal.

Being a Texan, I should probably bow out of any further discussion regarding pronunciations.

No, really. Hollywood.

When it was decided that D&D needed an animated cartoon for diaper dumpers, or a movie, or a TV show or a Mediawhatthehellever, and that Gary Gygax had to be the one to go out west and press the flesh, or "have" meetings or whatever they did in Hollywood back then (besides copious amounts of cocaine, that is), is when the football got fumbled in the red zone.

"Hey, everything's going great the way we're doing it. You know, we could do even better if the only guy left here at TSR with half a brain will just leave to go party in Hollywood for a while!"

That's akin to, "Hey, the Saints have a great season going. Let's ship Brees off, after mid-season game #8, to play for the Madrid Dragons, and then the Europeans can see what an awesome quarterback he is. Wait. How come the Saints' season just went down the crapper in week 9?"

You gotta ask how the ball got dropped about anything regarding TSR of '81+?

You technically can say it as "mell-ee" but only as as a dialect because of the ties to "medley".

However, its great to say MAY-LAY. Because if you say it as MAY-LAY, or the even more MELL-EE or MELL-AY it tends to deflate the gut impression "whiz-pow" of spinning weaponry and projects it into something effeminate sounding: "AY" or bland: "EH" etc

Being a Texan, I should probably bow out of any further discussion regarding pronunciations.

Texas?

Only two things come from Texas....

WHAT?

I was gonna say Willie and Lefty...

Just kidding!

I say "maylay" because it goes with waylay.

Waylayed in a melee? Ya don't say!

T. Foster wrote: Mealy is what we said as kids, but we were stupid.

Yeah, same here. Fortunately, I got smarter as I got older.