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Frenth Alunril
2014-12-04, 09:46 PM
Out of curiosity, when speaking the word Drow, does it rhyme with throw or brow?

J-H
2014-12-04, 11:01 PM
In BG2, it rhymed with brow or now.

Kitten Champion
2014-12-04, 11:11 PM
In BG2, it rhymed with brow or now.

Same with the audiobook I listened to. (http://youtu.be/tO0v807hJP8?t=2m35s)

NecroRebel
2014-12-04, 11:12 PM
Most of the CRPGs that I've played had spoken dialogue with the word pronounce it to rhyme with brow, cow, now, sow, or bow, and not like no, snow, sow, or bow :smalltongue:

Wikipedia's article gives both pronunciations, though, and suggests that the etymology might have been derived from an alternative spelling of troll, "trow," thus suggesting the dro- should be pronounced similar to the tro- in "troll." I remember reading someplace that Gygax had pronounced it to rhyme with snow, but some of the other early players and designers decided to pronounce it to rhyme with cow to annoy him.

VincentTakeda
2014-12-04, 11:59 PM
Even if it wasnt intended by the designer, I'll never be able to convince myself to pronounce it like snow.

It's like the gif with hard or soft g... it'll always be a hard g for me no matter what the creator thinks.

Yora
2014-12-05, 02:14 AM
I think it was said very early to be like "cow".

And gif is of couse only gif, because it means "graphics interchange format" and not "giraffic interchange file". Seems the crator just does not know how an acronym works.

Totema
2014-12-05, 05:50 AM
I read somewhere that seemed credible that Gygax didn't really care either way. (Could be wrong or oversimplifying this.) I prefer the "-ow" pronunciation myself, the "-oh" pronunciation seems odd to me.

Gracht Grabmaw
2014-12-05, 06:46 AM
Rhymes with crow, not with bough.
A diphtong following two consonants just sounds and feels awkward, like you're trying to speak with a mouth full of gum. The simple -oh just sounds much crisper and better.

Tarlek Flamehai
2014-12-05, 07:19 AM
First edition sources provided the cow rhyme, not the snow rhyme. In the Unearthed Arcana IIRC.

Killer Angel
2014-12-05, 07:24 AM
Rhymes with crow,

That's the way I always imagined it. +1

Lord Torath
2014-12-05, 08:51 AM
Rhymes with bow.


What? :smallwink:

Okay, but seriously, I've rhymed it with snow, ever since I was 8-9 years old and first found my older brother's copy of D3 Vault of the Drow. I've been trying to switch to cow since playing BG II, but I just can't do it.

Jay R
2014-12-05, 10:07 AM
Neither.

It's pronounced dro', in which the final sound is similar to a glottal stop, but is physically impossible for a human throat, or a male one. That's why they look down on us.

Pronounce it any way you like. All human (or male) pronunciations are equally offensive to them.

S_Dalsgaard
2014-12-05, 10:13 AM
I always thought it was supposed to rhyme with snow, but not having English as my first language, that isn't the first pronunciation mistake I've made (and probably not the last either).

I have been playing on/off since the mid-eighties and it was only a couple of years ago, that I realized it is pronounced PA-la-din and not pa-LA-din. at least I learned some 20 years ago, that the "c" in scimitar wasn't pronounced as a "k".

Esprit15
2014-12-05, 10:18 AM
I always pronounced it as rhyming with now.

Loxagn
2014-12-05, 10:24 AM
I came to this thread expecting some sort of tale about an Underdark snowball fight.

You, sir, have disappointed me.

VincentTakeda
2014-12-05, 10:37 AM
If I were to pronounce it drow like snow, I'd expect to have left off the w. It would be spelled dro.
And every time I said it, I'd be thinking about homer simpson... So your people.... They're called D'oh!?
Rhymes with Emo.

Khedrac
2014-12-05, 10:59 AM
Perhaps some Drow pronounce it one way and others the other? They fight enough it's actually quite plausible...

Alternatively both pronunciations could be valid (like for "scone").

Personally I have always used the now/cow form (since about 1985).

One thought as for the opinion of the originator:
Both Tolkein's Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings have a guide to Elvish pronunciation.
Both use Celeborn as the example for the letter "C".
One specifies soft, the other hard - he obviously changed his mind at some point...

Jay R
2014-12-05, 12:34 PM
One thought as for the opinion of the originator:
Both Tolkein's Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings have a guide to Elvish pronunciation.
Both use Celeborn as the example for the letter "C".
One specifies soft, the other hard - he obviously changed his mind at some point...

Not in my copies. Both give a hard "c".

Lord of the Rings: C always has the value of k even before e and i: celeb 'silver' should be pronounce keleb.

Silmarillion: C always has the value of k, never of s; thus Celeborn is 'Keleborn', not 'Seleborn'.

Altair_the_Vexed
2014-12-05, 01:11 PM
...
Wikipedia's article gives both pronunciations, though, and suggests that the etymology might have been derived from an alternative spelling of troll, "trow," thus suggesting the dro- should be pronounced similar to the tro- in "troll." ...

"Trow" are the trolls of Shetland, IIRC - but that just leads to another pronunciation issue: how do you pronounce "troll"? To rhyme with "roll" or "moll"?

(Un)Inspired
2014-12-05, 01:22 PM
I always thought it was pronounced Melnibonean

VincentTakeda
2014-12-05, 02:00 PM
Oh no. Another instance where I will forever disagree with published material... Celeborn will always be an s with me.
Its in my soul!!!

Slipperychicken
2014-12-05, 02:35 PM
I came to this thread expecting some sort of tale about an Underdark snowball fight.

You, sir, have disappointed me.

Personally, I expected it to be about white drow, or some quirk about underdark adaptation which would lead to the Drow enjoying or benefiting from snow.

Jay R
2014-12-05, 05:40 PM
Personally, I expected it to be about white drow, or some quirk about underdark adaptation which would lead to the Drow enjoying or benefiting from snow.

No, no, no. It's just missing a hyphen. We're talking about drow-like snow, which is dark and falls underground.

VincentTakeda
2014-12-05, 07:44 PM
Does drow snow rhyme with plow?

How now do drow plough when it snows underground? Does It furrough the drow's brow to have snow to plough?

If the drow answers this question with a 'no'... will my ears hear him say 'now'?

Kitten Champion
2014-12-05, 11:09 PM
I came to this thread expecting some sort of tale about an Underdark snowball fight.

You, sir, have disappointed me.

I actually had the same thought.

One of my settings had albino Snow Drow, who worship and serve an ageless and mad druidic deity who laughs merrily as he sicks his many giant carnivorous caribou to impale and eat children during the winter solstice when his powers are at their height and he's freed from his icy prison to roam the world for one night -- or so goes the legend. Throughout the northern lands people protect themselves by providing offerings of food and wine as a sacrament, planting a new tree upon fertile ground near their stead, and singing ancient songs of warding throughout the night.

123456789blaaa
2014-12-06, 12:14 AM
I actually had the same thought.

One of my settings had albino Snow Drow, who worship and serve an ageless and mad druidic deity who laughs merrily as he sicks his many giant carnivorous caribou to impale and eat children during the winter solstice when his powers are at their height and he's freed from his icy prison to roam the world for one night -- or so goes the legend. Throughout the northern lands people protect themselves by providing offerings of food and wine as a sacrament, planting a new tree upon fertile ground near their stead, and singing ancient songs of warding throughout the night.

I see what you did there.

On a semi-related note, I feel that moose are underrepresented in fantasy settings. Anyone with me?

LibraryOgre
2014-12-06, 12:17 AM
Drow, oddly enough, rhymes with svirfneblin. :smallbiggrin:

DigoDragon
2014-12-06, 12:30 AM
Rhymes with bow.

*Snerk* :D

I pronounce Drow as it would rhyme with cow. Many years back the group I was with had one player who liked to pronounce it the other way, and we'd have fun In-character bantering about how the word was pronounced. Usually as we're slaughtering them. :smalltongue:



I came to this thread expecting some sort of tale about an Underdark snowball fight.

LOL, okay glad it wasn't just me. XD

Kitten Champion
2014-12-06, 12:31 AM
On a semi-related note, I feel that moose are underrepresented in fantasy settings. Anyone with me?

True. polar bears and walruses get most of the glory.

LibraryOgre
2014-12-06, 12:36 AM
I see what you did there.

On a semi-related note, I feel that moose are underrepresented in fantasy settings. Anyone with me?

Quest for Glory (http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Moose) made them major characters.

Anonymouswizard
2014-12-06, 07:22 AM
I came to this thread expecting some sort of tale about an Underdark snowball fight.

You, sir, have disappointed me.

Yep, the real question here is, do Drow know the true meaning of Christmas?

And I pronounce it to rhyme with how, not with hoe.

Hyena
2014-12-06, 07:32 AM
Oddly, in russian translation and gaming tradition "drow" is pronounced like "snow" and never like anything else.

Jay R
2014-12-06, 09:49 AM
Yep, the real question here is, do Drow know the true meaning of Christmas?

And I pronounce it to rhyme with how, not with hoe.

"Christmou"?

Anonymouswizard
2014-12-06, 10:01 AM
"Christmou"?

Well Christmao is just a better pronunciation :smalltongue:

hymer
2014-12-07, 06:45 AM
The source (which is as good as it gets): 1993 'A Grand Tour of the Realms', authored by Ed Greenwood himself and Jeff Grubb. Page 9, under 'Dark Elves'.
The quote:


drow (pronounced to rhyme with now or how)

S_Dalsgaard
2014-12-08, 02:30 AM
The source (which is as good as it gets): 1993 'A Grand Tour of the Realms', authored by Ed Greenwood himself and Jeff Grubb. Page 9, under 'Dark Elves'.
The quote:

Dammit. Now I have to begin pronouncing now and how differently :-(

Jay R
2014-12-08, 02:28 PM
Dammit. Now I have to begin pronouncing now and how differently :-(

Now, you don't. You just need to spell them differently. You should have now difficulty remembering the new spelling for "now". The spelling for "how" will come up less often - only when you how your garden.

VincentTakeda
2014-12-08, 05:50 PM
or when you blau your nause... which is german and pronounced like krause: 'krowzie!!!'