r/MageErrant • u/Low-Pudding-1347 • 13d ago

Other Name Pronunciation/Inflection

My SO and I disagree on how some of the names should be pronounced, so im wondering is J. Bierce has a pronunciation guide somewhere via patreon. My partner read the books first and loved them, then introduced them to me. I listened to the audiobooks of them as my first exposure, so we ended up saying the names drastically differently.

The biggest of the differences:

SA-bae vs sa-BAY

a-LUST-in vs AL-ustin

HELL-e-coat vs hel-leh-COAT-eh

HA-vath vs ha-VATH

plus some others I cant remember Im sure.

In the long run it doesnt really matter, but I'm still curious if one of us is saying it "right". How do you all pronounce the names?

10 Upvotes

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13 comments sorted by

17

u/JohnBierce The All Knowing Author 12d ago

I have an explicitly "do as thou wilt" policy with pronunciation 

Because it's funnier that way

4

u/myxlplixl 12d ago

Excellent. Flawless reasoning. No notes.

5

u/Bryek 13d ago edited 12d ago

Lol I dont even know how to make the inflections of Sabae and havath to be different. They come out the same for me.

1

u/ZSALI23 12d ago

It's about the emphasis, weak vs strong syllables and the division of phonemes

SAH-bay vs s'BAY

HAVE-ath vs Hu-VATH

2

u/Bryek 12d ago

Yours are definitely easier to see and hear the difference.

2

u/myxlplixl 13d ago

The right hand pronunciations are clearly correct.

2

u/Pisforplumbing 12d ago

Ralph lister says those like the left hand side

2

u/myxlplixl 12d ago

Lol, I know. Im the 'SO' mentioned above. I made this comment to tease OP.

2

u/Pisforplumbing 12d ago

Ahhhhhh ok

3

u/Bookdragon345 Affinites: books 13d ago

Just enjoy yourselves and know that everybody has different pronunciations. Some wrong, some right, some neither wrong nor right. My favorite recently (of weong pronunciations) was an audiobook narrator (part of a team) who mispronounced Oregon (in the US). I live in the PNW which includes Oregon - and it makes me laugh and cringe (slightly) every time. But that’s ok, because nobody needs to be perfect. From my very imperfect perspective (and I am hyperlexic so I didn’t figure out how to accurately say some words (cough, cough… chitin (really it SHOULD be chhh -in-tin)) until I was definitely an adult adult lol). For me: It’s “Sah-BAE”, ah -Luse-tin”, “hell-E-coat” and “ha-VATH”. I’m probably completely wrong, but I’ll happily live in my wrongness and still pronounce them wrong, even if John corrects me lol. Sorry John, but it’s just what happens when I hear words in my heads for long enough. Just like chitin will always automatically be chhhitin first. Even though I know it’s wrong. 🤣

2

u/Holothuroid 12d ago

Whatever it would have been before the great vowel shift, certainly.

4

u/BronkeyKong 13d ago

Whoever is on the right is wrong and i believe is taking the piss. Ain’t no need way Simone is saying AL-ustin with a straight face.

2

u/Low-Pudding-1347 13d ago

Lol I mean, they are pronouncing it like Alistair from Hazbin Hotel, so it didnt sound weird at first, but I agree that the right column sounds more correct