Pronunciation Police! (was Re: Spelling Police)

[find_sam at hotmail.com]

Amy Z wrote:
> One day we're all going to meet at a convention and then we're 
going to find out who pronounces Voldemort, Cadogan, Bartemius, 
Animagus etc., correctly (i.e., the same way we do).

Firstly, I can't wait til that convention (finally, a chance to bully 
everyone into reading my HP/Britney Spears crossover!). Secondly, I 
completely agree with the pronouncing words 'correctly'! 
  
Haggridd wrote:
> What is everyone's opinion on the following?
> animagus- definitely should have a hard "g" and the third syllable 
should NOT rhyme with May.

I disagree; I pronounce 'Animagus' with a soft "g". My middle 
syllable, however, does not rhyme with "May". The middle "a" is 
pronounced similarly to the "a" in "arm".

> bezoar-  Dale says it to rhyme with bourgeois-- UGH!  Should be 
first syllable accented, "BEE zore"

I'd never come across this word (I think) before HP, so I really have 
no idea how to pronounce it; having said that, I definitely agree 
that it doesn't rhyme with bourgeois. I pronounce it 'be-zore', with 
an accent on the second syllable. The 'e' in the 'be', BTW, is 'e' as 
in 'educate'.

> Durmstrang- say it as if it was German which it is rhymes with poor 
> long.

I pronounce Durmstrang very phoenetically (sp?): Derm-strang. That 
sounds *extremely* Australian with my accent (Australian, obv), and 
is probably not correct (if we assume that that way JKR pronounces 
these words is correct). 
 
> Enervate- four syllables; Latin vowel sounds
> Obliviate- four syllables. Latin values to the vowels

I never really thought about this, but it makes sense that these 
words with Latin roots (I think, knowing nothing about Latin) would 
be pronounced this way.

> Rubeus-  Dale accents second syllable, which rhymes with day; Fry 
accents first syllable, second syllable rhymes with bee.  I vote for 
Fry's pronunciation.

I pronounce it: roo-bay-us. 

I also pronounce Voldemort with a silent 'T'; whenever I say this in 
front of my friends they look at me as if I am stupid. As I'm the one 
in my circle of friends who's been reading HP the longest (actually 
I'm the one who introduced HP to all my friends... JKR should be 
paying me a commission!) I'm also the (very smug) authority on how to 
pronounce Hermione correctly.

Sam, who was kidding about the HP/Britney crossover.