How do you pronounce Xykon?

[Thorcrest]

Exactly what it says in the title, I've been on these forums for a while now and seen this type of thread for Elan, which I maintain is pronounced EH-lan, not EE-lin or EE-lan, but I digress, but I have never seen one for Xykon... so how do you guys pronounce it? I have always pronounced it z-EYE-kon. Has Rich ever mentioned this? It is just a very odd name what with having the letter X and all which is not very common in English, especially for starting names! Yes, some names start with X... Xavier, for instance.

[Kuldace]

It's pronounced with an X sound, not a Z.

[Bloogle]

It's pronounced with an X sound, not a Z.

Well so far it's two against one for z-EYE-con :smallcool:

[ThePhantasm]

It's pronounced with an X sound, not a Z.

(Assuming you are serious) "Z" is the X sound when X is at the beginning of a word.

[chionophile]

z-EYE-kon? This looks like you're saying the letter "z" then the words eye and con (zee-EYE-kon?). Is this accurate?

It's just ZY-kon. ZY rhymes with eye. Like xylophone, with a -kon instead of a -lophone.

[Thorcrest]

I had originally wrote it out in that manner chionophile, but I felt that it might be confused and pronounced ZEE, so I changed it. I am not a master of pheonetic writing, but that was my intention (Not zee-EYE-kon).

Besides we all know Z is pronounced Zed :smalltongue:

Kuldace, how exactly would you pronouce it as then? EX-ikon? Much like lexicon without the L?

[Chaos rising]

In Start of Darkness Righteye calls Xykon "Zykon". Xykon then tells him his name starts with an x and Righteye responds "wait, how did you know I used a Z?" This seems to indicate that it's pronounces as Zykon would be even though it's spelled Xykon.

[DaveMcW]

Click the "Important/Reoccuring/FAQ Threads or Notices" thread, and scroll down to "Could the Giant give us a pronounce guide?".

[Thorcrest]

Well would you look at that... funny that I hadn't seen it before! hehe :smallredface:

[factotum]

I don't pronounce it as Zykon, but it's rather hard to describe how I *do* pronounce it--there's a kind of catch to it that makes it sound subtly different. The X sound comes more from the back of my mouth than the Z does.

[xyzchyx]

I don't pronounce it as Zykon, but it's rather hard to describe how I *do* pronounce it--there's a kind of catch to it that makes it sound subtly different. The X sound comes more from the back of my mouth than the Z does.This would imply that you are pronouncing his name incorrectly. While I won't dispute that sometimes an X can sound like that, it's quite clear that the X in Xykon is actually supposed to be pronounced exactly the same as the X in Xylophone - which is the same sound often indicated by the letter Z.

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

I'm glad that when I saw this thread, the most recent response was by "xyzchyx." Now it's by Veishuh?It'suhhTyhjyys or whatever.

[Themrys]

(Assuming you are serious) "Z" is the X sound when X is at the beginning of a word.

Good to know. For some reason I always thought it was a Ks -sound. :smalleek:

[MoonCat]

I looked in the FAQ, I don't see this. Is there a new FAQ?

[Thorcrest]

It's the stickied thread in this forum, not the actual FAQ for the website.

[MoonCat]

It's the stickied thread in this forum, not the actual FAQ for the website.

Ohh, thank you!

[Flame of Anor]

I know, "it's not the word, it's his name", but naming a character with the same ... string of letters as make up a common word, and then expecting people not to pronounce it the same way *as* the word?

What next - "This is my fighter Tough, pronounced 'Towg'." ?

This is how I feel about Elan's name. :smallsigh:

[nilocrulesu]

I always pronounced it ekcs-euh-kon

[CletusMusashi]

It's pronounced "Crownhead McBoneypants."
Redcloak is pronounced "Xchyxeghqueghch."

[NerfTW]

it's pronounces as Zykon would be even though it's spelled Xykon.


It's not "even though". That's how you pronounce an X at the beginning of a word in American English. Just like Xylophone, Xenophobe, Xerox, Xanadu, etc.

There really shouldn't be any debate on this. Besides Rich's statements, that's how English says it's pronounced.

[yldenfrei]

I don't pronounce it as Zykon, but it's rather hard to describe how I *do* pronounce it--there's a kind of catch to it that makes it sound subtly different. The X sound comes more from the back of my mouth than the Z does.

Same here. I pronounce it ksy-kon. The k though slightly muted is still audible.

[Detrinex]

Z-eye-con is how I roll.

[HalfTangible]

I pronounce it Zai-Kon

[Bleak Ink]

Exactly what it says in the title, I've been on these forums for a while now and seen this type of thread for Elan, which I maintain is pronounced EH-lan, not EE-lin or EE-lan, but I digress, but I have never seen one for Xykon... so how do you guys pronounce it? I have always pronounced it z-EYE-kon. Has Rich ever mentioned this? It is just a very odd name what with having the letter X and all which is not very common in English, especially for starting names! Yes, some names start with X... Xavier, for instance.

You and I do the same with both names: "Eh-lan" and "Zy (like eye) -kon". Now, another question is, how do you personally pronounce Haley? I've always said "Hail-ee" and always will, but I heard a guy on Youtube say "Hal-ee", which intrigues me. :smallconfused:

[Thorcrest]

I've always pronounced Haley as HAY-lee, which is likely the same, or at least very similar, to your way of pronouncing it.

[rewinn]

Everyone knows "X" stands for the unknown.

So the proper pronunciation is TheUnknownykon.

[CletusMusashi]

Or, alternately, X can be ANYTHING! His name might very well be Marimba Flapjack Cantaloupe Gerbil Why-ya-kay-uk-o-en-nuh.

[LuPuWei]

Kuldace, how exactly would you pronouce it as then? EX-ikon? Much like lexicon without the L?

Sacrebleu! Le Xykon vient!

[aldeayeah]

I pronounce it shee-CONN.

Comes naturally as a Galician.

[Firemeier]

Besides we all know Z is pronounced Zed

Who's Zed?

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead.

On the topic at hand: I tend to switch between zy-kon and the germanified version ksy-kon.

[Thorcrest]

Who's Zed?

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead.


Maybe it's the fact that I only got three hours of sleep last night, but I don't get the spoiler, so I can only assume you are serious.

It was a joke as Americans pronounce it Zee, and Canadians, such as myself, use the British pronounciation of Zed.

[Goosefarble]

Huh, I didn't know Canadians said Zed like we do in Britain. And I really aught to, since my girlfriend's Canadian.

Anyway. I say ZYE-kon. I kind of thought everyone did this. Haley I say HAY-lee, Elan I say "Ell-ann" or "Ell-un", to me Ee-lin sounds ridiculous. The only other one I had problems with was Zz'dtri, oh, and Sabine, but that's only because for the first 100 strips she was in I thought she was called Sabrine. Because I am a moron.

One thing I do wonder though, is how do you pronounce O-chul? I say O (as in ScOtt) tshul, but I wonder if it's meant to be Oh-tshul, Oh-kul, or... something I haven't even thought of.

[Rev_Rev]

Zi-kon, with a long i like eye. Also I call Elan el-len, but my mom says it should be ee-lan. :smallconfused:

[nilocrulesu]

Maybe it's the fact that I only got three hours of sleep last night, but I don't get the spoiler, so I can only assume you are serious.

It was a joke as Americans pronounce it Zee, and Canadians, such as myself, use the British pronounciation of Zed.

I'm canadian, and I always pronounced it zee.

[LuPuWei]

Maybe it's the fact that I only got three hours of sleep last night, but I don't get the spoiler, so I can only assume you are serious.

It was a joke as Americans pronounce it Zee, and Canadians, such as myself, use the British pronounciation of Zed.

That was a reference to
Pulp Fiction.

[SPoD]

One thing I do wonder though, is how do you pronounce O-chul? I say O (as in ScOtt) tshul, but I wonder if it's meant to be Oh-tshul, Oh-kul, or... something I haven't even thought of.

I pronounce it "OH-tchewl." As in, first syllable rhymes with "go" and the second syllable rhymes with "mule".

[veti]

As a native British English speaker, I'd go with "ksy-kon", with a slight stress on the first syllable.

"Haley", I've always assumed to be a variant spelling of "Hayley", which is a fairly common female name where I come from. Pronounced "Hay-li". Though I've just realised that "Haley" may be a boy's name (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haley_Joel_Osment), which could be a clue to Haley's big secret...

"O-Chul" would be "O" as in "hole", followed by "chul" to rhyme with "bull".

And "MitD", it goes without saying, would be pronounced "Cholmondeley-Featherstone".

[Herald Alberich]

Though I've just realised that "Haley" may be a boy's name (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haley_Joel_Osment), which could be a clue to Haley's big secret...

If that was the secret, Elan would know it by now.

[veti]

If that was the secret, Elan would know it by now.

1. Not necessarily, if Haley is a transsexual. But...
2. ... maybe he does.

[Nimrod's Son]

As a native British English speaker, I'd go with "ksy-kon", with a slight stress on the first syllable.
"I'd go with" sounds a little like you're recommending that others should do the same, when in fact the correct answer is this:


It's not "even though". That's how you pronounce an X at the beginning of a word in American English. Just like Xylophone, Xenophobe, Xerox, Xanadu, etc.

There really shouldn't be any debate on this. Besides Rich's statements, that's how English says it's pronounced.
Even though he said "American English" there, it's just as true for British English too. No one in Britain says "ksylophone" or "ksenophobe", they use the Z sound.

Plus the fact that (in SoD) on separate occasions both Right-Eye and Lirian pronounce his name with a Z instead of an X, and Xykon haughtily corrects them on their spelling. There really can't be any doubt about it: the one and only correct answer to the question is ZY-kon (or 'zaɪ-kɒn if we're going by the IPA).

[CletusMusashi]

You know, I thought this was a silly thread at the beginning.
The "Ks" thing has me wondering, though.
Professor Xavion may well have pronounced it Ksavion. In fact, I actually always wondered whether not he pronounces it Eksavion, using Marvel English, rather than American, British, Canadian, or Discworld. Xykon certainly caught onto the the fact that it was pronounced with an X quickly enough.
Is it possible that Xykon started out calling himself Ksykon and, as he tired of all the annoying confusion that followed he simply started de-emphasizing the first K? Interestingly, when I read him and my brain puts in the usual Jack Nicholson voice that it asigns to him, Zykon works better. But with the Darth Vader reverb, Ksykon actually sounds better.

[veti]

Even though he said "American English" there, it's just as true for British English too. No one in Britain says "ksylophone" or "ksenophobe", they use the Z sound.

That's - mostly true, but not entirely. Britain - like anywhere else, I suspect - has its fair share of pedants who take pride in pronouncing an 'x' differently from a 'z', even at the beginning of a word. You wouldn't notice the difference unless you're listening for it, but it does happen.

You can hear it, just about, in Patrick Stewart's pronunciation of 'Xavier' (and thanks to CletusMusashi for bringing that to mind).

[factotum]

Even though he said "American English" there, it's just as true for British English too. No one in Britain says "ksylophone" or "ksenophobe", they use the Z sound.


No one? Thanks for keeping me straight there, I was under the impression I was born and bred in the UK, but only now (40 years later) do I find out I was wrong all along! I really must find out where I come from now that I know I'm not British... :smallannoyed:

[doodthedud]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4992

I was sad to discover it is in fact NOT "eh-lan"

Everything else I got right :D

[Nimrod's Son]

No one? Thanks for keeping me straight there, I was under the impression I was born and bred in the UK, but only now (40 years later) do I find out I was wrong all along! I really must find out where I come from now that I know I'm not British... :smallannoyed:
:smallsigh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech

[Dr.Epic]

With an "x" and not "z" as seen in SoD.

[Themrys]

No one? Thanks for keeping me straight there, I was under the impression I was born and bred in the UK, but only now (40 years later) do I find out I was wrong all along! I really must find out where I come from now that I know I'm not British... :smallannoyed:

Maybe you are German?
:smallbiggrin:

However, it is a relief that there are British who pronounce it the same way I always assumed it was pronounced. I can live with sounding like a British pedant. Just as long as I don't sound like a clueless foreigner...

[weckar]

It's not "even though". That's how you pronounce an X at the beginning of a word in American English. Just like Xylophone, Xenophobe, Xerox, Xanadu, etc.

There really shouldn't be any debate on this. Besides Rich's statements, that's how English says it's pronounced.

Though there's no indication the name is in fact English, so your point is moot.

[pinwiz]

Though there's no indication the name is in fact English, so your point is moot.

Except for the writer of the comic is American and he speaks English, and has confirmed the American pronunciation of Xykon, you're right he has no point.

[doodthedud]

Except for the writer of the comic is American and he speaks English, and has confirmed the American pronunciation of Xykon, your right he has no point.

You just made my list of people on this forum who are sensible.

[aart lover]

it's pronounced "Zykon". when an X is a the beginning of a word it is said like a Z

[Sylthia]

I pronounced it rhyming with icon and the x as a z sound as in zip. Though technically, it's spelled Xykon, but pronounced "Throat-wobbler Mangrove".

[Kish]

I pronounce it exactly how it's spelled.

[Tydude]

Am I the only one who pronounces it "Ecks-Eye-Con"? As in, actually saying the letter "X", making it a three syllable word. That's the same way I say "Xylophone", by saying "X" at the beginning. I realize it's wrong, but I want to know if I'm the only one doing this.

[Sylthia]

I wasn't 100% sure about the x being a z sound, and thought it might be Ek-zeye-kon, along the lines of Xavier being Ek-zay-vee-er, but SoD shows that people pronounce it Zykon.

[LuPuWei]

Ekswaikayoen. That's how its pronounced.

(Of course then Ekswaikayoen is pronounced Eekayesdublyuayaikayaywaioweeyen and so ad infinitum...)

[Mr. Snuggles]

Every time I see it, I want to mentally say "shykon" because the way that I see X has been changed by learning Chinese. Pinyin "X" sounds sort of like "sh" but you move your mouth in a different way (a way we don't have in English, which makes it tricky). In Pinyin (the pronunciation of the Chinese characters using the Latin alphabet) the letters X, Q, and Z are very common, compared to English where they're quite rare.

[SaintRidley]

It's pronounced Xykon.

[Cazaril]

I say ZAI-kahn.

[Gilmiril]

I'm canadian, and I always pronounced it zee.
I'm Canadian, and I always pronounce it 'zed'. But that may be a generational thing; my elementary-school-aged kids pronounce it 'zee', and I need to punish them until they get it right. :smallwink:

[Swordpriest]

ZY-kon.

Not only is it the only correct pronunciation by the rules of our language, but it's also a heck of a lot easier to say it that way -- and that alone would be enough to prompt me to say it that way.

[Gandariel]

i've always pronunced this:

C (as in Core)
SY (as in pSYchology)
Kon
CSYKON

[WoolenSocks]

I'm canadian, and I always pronounced it zee.

:smalleek: Blasphemy! You, sir, are a bad Canadian!




...

:smallwink:

[rewinn]

I'm Canadian, and I always pronounce it 'zed'. But that may be a generational thing; my elementary-school-aged kids pronounce it 'zee', and I need to punish them until they get it right. :smallwink:

In Canadian, isn't it pronounced "zYkon eh?" :smalltongue:

[aart lover]

I'm Canadian, and I always pronounce it 'zed'. But that may be a generational thing; my elementary-school-aged kids pronounce it 'zee', and I need to punish them until they get it right. :smallwink:

you canadians and your darn accents:smallbiggrin:

[Gege32]

Cy-kon?:smalltongue: