View Full Version : Pronouncing 'Acererak'
Thread title basically sums up the question. I find myself stumbling over the demilich's name pretty constantly, and when I do manage to include all of the syllables, I end up sounding like I've got a pretty thick, slurred accent.
Is it 'Uh-kurr-urr-ak?'?
dsmiles
2010-10-31, 04:12 PM
Don't expect much response. I don't think anyone else can say it either.
Personally, I think the first syllable is more like the A sound in "apple."
thompur
2010-10-31, 04:13 PM
I always pronounced it "ah-SEHR-ur-ak".
We usually use "Ass-sir-RARE-ack"
SurlySeraph
2010-10-31, 04:16 PM
I always pronounced it "ah-SEHR-ur-ak".
This is what I go with. I doubt there's an official answer, though.
Dr Bwaa
2010-10-31, 04:19 PM
I've always assumed it was obvious. I guess not, given that no one else has said my pronunciation yet. My group says "ace-er-AIR-ak."
WinceRind
2010-10-31, 04:19 PM
Thread title basically sums up the question. I find myself stumbling over the demilich's name pretty constantly, and when I do manage to include all of the syllables, I end up sounding like I've got a pretty thick, slurred accent.
Is it 'Uh-kurr-urr-ak?'?
I say it this way:
A-see-re-rakh, with emphasis on the first a.
Moriato
2010-10-31, 04:19 PM
Acer E-rack?
Ace Re-rack?
Acre E-rake?
Just call him Bob
Unrest
2010-10-31, 04:20 PM
/ə'særəræk/ ? Second /æ/ longer than the first, and making these trilling r's helps add more menacing quality? (In normal language, try saying "a certain rack" replacing "tain" with a reduced vowel like "eh")
Just a blind guess.
arguskos
2010-10-31, 04:21 PM
This is what I go with. I doubt there's an official answer, though.
A-ha, and you'd be wrong! There is an official answer, or as close as it gets, in the Dragon Compendium (yet another reason to love that book). It's given as "a-SER-ur-@k". The @ symbol is like the "a" in "Fat".
Greensleeve
2010-10-31, 04:21 PM
Acer E-rack?
Ace Re-rack?
Acre E-rake?
Just call him Bob
Bob it is! :smallbiggrin:
We usually use "Ass-sir-RARE-ack"
I agree mostly with Rixx: Ass-ser-RARE-ack
Logalmier
2010-10-31, 04:25 PM
/ə'særəræk/ ? Second /æ/ longer than the first, and making these trilling r's helps add more menacing quality? (In normal language, try saying "a certain rack" replacing "tain" with a reduced vowel like "eh")
I have no idea what you just said.:smallamused:
I go with Ass-ser-ruh-rak.
Swordguy
2010-10-31, 04:27 PM
I know of at least a few TSR employees (Jon Pickens, Kim Mohan) who pronounced it:
Eh - SEHR - ur - rack
According to Jon, the first syllable could be switched out, depending on the regional dialect of the speaker, for
Ah - SEHR - ur - rack
Either was considered correct. This is consistent with a Dragon Magazine I recall, though not the offhanded issue number.
EDIT: And there we go! Compendium instead of Magazine, but still...
BobTheDog
2010-10-31, 04:43 PM
Acer E-rack?
Ace Re-rack?
Acre E-rake?
Just call him Bob
Bob it is! :smallbiggrin:
Hey, I resent that! :smallannoyed:
Being Brazilian makes it very easy to pronouce Acererak, though I doubt it sounds anything near what you USAers would use...
SurlySeraph
2010-10-31, 04:54 PM
I'm surprised no one's suggested pronouncing it "Aw-sheet-ruhn-AW-ay" yet.
Dr Bwaa
2010-10-31, 04:58 PM
/ə'særəræk/ ? Second /æ/ longer than the first, and making these trilling r's helps add more menacing quality?
This is interesting. I kind of like it, but I can't make it flow with the front-stress though :smallfrown: On the other hand, trying to did lead me to an entertaining pronunciation with all hard consonants: /əkə'rəræk/ ("uh-KURR-ur-ak")
I'm surprised no one's suggested pronouncing it "Aw-sheet-ruhn-AW-ay" yet.
That would be a fair bit more appropriate, wouldn't it?
Cahokia
2010-10-31, 05:12 PM
I personally go with ah-SEHR-err-ack.
Logalmier
2010-10-31, 05:15 PM
Aw-sheet-ruhn-AW-ay
Gesundheit.
Sometimes I feel that WoTC really needs to come out with a pronunciation guide sourcebook...
Starbuck_II
2010-10-31, 05:16 PM
Thread title basically sums up the question. I find myself stumbling over the demilich's name pretty constantly, and when I do manage to include all of the syllables, I end up sounding like I've got a pretty thick, slurred accent.
Is it 'Uh-kurr-urr-ak?'?
"Ass-re-rak" is how I do it naturally.
tahu88810
2010-10-31, 05:16 PM
"Ah-cur-err-rah-ck"
Fax Celestis
2010-10-31, 05:17 PM
"Acer-ee-rack."
Elfin
2010-10-31, 05:20 PM
I always pronounced it "ah-SEHR-ur-ak".
This is how I pronounce it as well.
Heliomance
2010-10-31, 05:21 PM
I pronounce it a'-SERR-err-ack
Mando Knight
2010-10-31, 05:22 PM
I know of at least a few TSR employees (Jon Pickens, Kim Mohan) who pronounced it:
Eh - SEHR - ur - rack
According to Jon, the first syllable could be switched out, depending on the regional dialect of the speaker, for
Ah - SEHR - ur - rack
Either was considered correct. This is consistent with a Dragon Magazine I recall, though not the offhanded issue number.
EDIT: And there we go! Compendium instead of Magazine, but still...
Huh. My gut instinct on pronouncing it was "right."
JBento
2010-10-31, 05:26 PM
My group just calls it "that sadistic bastard", though sometimes we pronounce that as "AH (as in apple)-TCHE-REH-RAHK"
Morph Bark
2010-10-31, 05:29 PM
I've always gone with "ah-SEY-REH-rak".
A c before an e is spoke like an s, after all.
Lord_Gareth
2010-10-31, 05:30 PM
I pronounce it, "You see a floating skull."
dsmiles
2010-10-31, 05:30 PM
"Aw-sheet-ruhn-AW-ay"
My new personal pronunciation. :smalltongue:
Unrest
2010-10-31, 05:34 PM
My group just calls it "that sadistic bastard", though sometimes we pronounce that as "AH (as in apple)-TCHE-REH-RAHK"
Ah, like an Italian "CH" next to "e"? I had it while playing Ragnarok Online, and pronounced the name of a mob "so-lah-cheh" (simply Solace) just for the heck of it. Then forgot to pronounce it properly during a confusing crossfire, and got the whole party killed because they didn't get what they were supposed to look out for.
The Glyphstone
2010-10-31, 06:07 PM
Ah-cer-ak. The second "er" is silent.:smallbiggrin:
Roland St. Jude
2010-10-31, 06:15 PM
Throatwobbler mangrove.
Ah-cer-ak. The second "er" is silent.:smallbiggrin:
Actually, I also treat the second "r" as silent.
"Ass-er-ack" or "Az-er-ack" (emphasis on the first syllable either way)
The Glyphstone
2010-10-31, 06:17 PM
Throatwobbler mangrove.
Actually, I also treat the second "r" as silent.
"Ass-er-ack" or "Az-er-ack" (emphasis on the first syllable either way)
Studies show: 2/2 moderators agree, WotC is bad at names!:smalltongue:
arguskos
2010-10-31, 06:20 PM
I continue to lulz at how I actually posted the official expected pronunciation, and people apparently just ignored it. :smallbiggrin:
Personally, I like that one. Makes the name appropriately unnatural and torturous to say.
Private-Prinny
2010-10-31, 06:20 PM
I've always pronounced it uh-SEH-rur-ack.
dsmiles
2010-10-31, 06:50 PM
Studies show: 2/2 moderators agree, WotC is bad at names!:smalltongue:
We needed to do a study to figure this out?
The Glyphstone
2010-10-31, 06:52 PM
We needed to do a study to figure this out?
No, but now it's official.
herrhauptmann
2010-10-31, 07:25 PM
Gesundheit.
Sometimes I feel that WoTC really needs to come out with a pronunciation guide sourcebook...
NO! BAD IDEA!!
It'll be another 40 dollar book they'll expect us to purchase just cuz they published it. Never mind just how useful/less it actually is.
AslanCross
2010-10-31, 07:35 PM
I always pronounced it "ah-SEHR-ur-ak".
This is the pronunciation I use.
dsmiles
2010-10-31, 07:37 PM
NO! BAD IDEA!!
It'll be another 40 dollar book they'll expect us to purchase just cuz they published it. Never mind just how useful/less it actually is.
Just because they build it, doesn't mean you have to come.
herrhauptmann
2010-10-31, 08:09 PM
Haven't bought any books in over a year. Have hardly even read the new ones in a year and a half. Some compulsion for the full set is not an issue, I just don't like how it feels they're expecting me to keep buying books, even if I'm happy with what I've got.
And I don't know the details, but it sounds a little like this 4.4 nonsense minimizes or invalidates (at least partially) most of what I've learned regarding 4E. Not that it matters, I'd rather poke my eyes out than play a game with any of the 4E players that I do know in town.
Oh yes,
Ass-er-rack
Ah-sir-rack
Beelzebub1111
2010-10-31, 08:13 PM
Ahs-ruh-RAAK
Thurbane
2010-10-31, 08:33 PM
One of the old, old issues of Dragon had a D&D pronounciation guide...can't remember if Acererak was in it or not...
DragonOfUndeath
2010-10-31, 08:38 PM
i pronounce it ace-ur-rack
RandomLunatic
2010-10-31, 08:44 PM
Ah-sehr-e-rack.
Or tee-pee-kay for short.
Amiel
2010-10-31, 08:46 PM
I usually pronounce it as "ohce-ri-rock"
Valameer
2010-10-31, 09:08 PM
Kudos to the people actually trying to get that second R in there. I never could.
Ass-ur-rack.
My players sometimes call him by his impolite 'nickname' when he comes up though :smallannoyed:.
Rhuadin
2010-10-31, 09:15 PM
I was at PAX, where the WotC staff pronounced it as AE-ser-ack.
It was for a spelling bee.
Xefas
2010-10-31, 09:26 PM
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad91/bluejanus/AcererakPronounciationGuide.png
Dr Bwaa
2010-10-31, 10:36 PM
holy moly it's Dexter. O_O
Lhurgyof
2010-10-31, 10:40 PM
I pronounce it as such:
A-ser-er-rack With a long A.
Keld Denar
2010-11-01, 04:31 AM
See, I always thought of him as kinda a pervert, you know, the kinda lich that takes levels in Voyeristic Seer from BoEF.
That would mean his name is pronounced: "Ah See Her Rack"
dsmiles
2010-11-01, 04:51 AM
See, I always thought of him as kinda a pervert, you know, the kinda lich that takes levels in Voyeristic Seer from BoEF.
That would mean his name is pronounced: "Ah See Her Rack"
You, sir, win the thread.
Since I'm Bulgarian i have no trouble reading it without the fancy-smancy English pronounciation you guys have beaten into your heads. I read it as
A (like in apple, not Adrian)
ser (like in seraph)
er (pretty sure there's only one way to pronounce er)
ak (with a clear ck sound, not a gurgligh ch like in chisel)
one word - Acererak.
Eldan
2010-11-01, 07:34 AM
Like that Myth, but with a different first "A". can't think of an english word with a normal "a" now, so let's just say "a as in the word Duck".
Hooray for languages with sensible and consistent pronunciation rules.
My group just calls it "that sadistic bastard", though sometimes we pronounce that as "AH (as in apple)-TCHE-REH-RAHK"
I support this one. But with the fuzzy nature of the english language and completely made up words, who knows? :smallbiggrin:
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