It's pronounced "blaggard"? By whom? I've never heard/seen this word in anything other than DnD contexts so I guess it's rather outdated. I'll keep using "black guard".
"Blaggard" sounds like what I would have considered a perfectly fine English name, back when I hadn't yet learned English... for something like Captain Blaggard of the Flayed Widow, Scourge of the Seven Seas... :P
It's pronounced "blaggard"? By whom? I've never heard/seen this word in anything other than DnD contexts so I guess it's rather outdated. I'll keep using "black guard".
By )as I mentioned) George Bernard Shaw et al, it's the original spelling of blaggard, obviously the phonetic spelling became more de rigueur.
Perhaps it might be worth asking over at Candlekeep? or on the WoTC boards? I know the class goes beyond Forgotten Realms but there's probably someone there who would know for certain.
It's pronounced "blaggard"? By whom? I've never heard/seen this word in anything other than DnD contexts so I guess it's rather outdated. I'll keep using "black guard".
It's not as if it is a new word that people are only just now working out how to pronounce. It has fallen out of usage to the extent that people see it as new.
Jake Thackray used it in his song It Was Only a Gypsy "A ragged, shaggy, blackguard of a didecai."
Here we are citing sparse examples - proof if anything, that is has fallen out of usage.
@CoM_Solaufein in the recent interview with Greenwood I think he said he it was a handy trick to explain different people's interpretations of unfamiliar words.
@Moomintroll I don't like that guy too much... He couldn't use his spine to stand up for his world when they decided to blow it up. Ruined everything in my opinion...
Seriously though... the realms WITHOUT A TRUE UNDERDARK?! And NETHERIL COMES BACK?! Oh, and NO MORE BLOOD WAR?! Not to mention MAGES DON'T WORK ANYMORE?!?!?! And this is among countless IDIOTIC decisions... WHAT THE CRAP WERE THEY THINKING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Edit: I think I just accidentally switched the focus of the debate here...
I didn't know that. How could he? Those fools at WotC destroyed such an awesome game world. I don't recognize 4E or its lameness they did to the Forgotten Realms setting like the Spellplague nonsense. I'll stick with 2E and 3E books and settings. Mystra lives! Eilistraee lives! Long live the Realms!
As a student of English, let me weigh in on this blackguard/blaggard debate.
It is clear that the original pronunciation of "blackguard" was most likely the same as the two root words, black-guard. As language evolved (or devolved) we became lazy in our pronunciation and it developed into "blaggard" simply because it was easier to say. Blaggard became the accepted pronunciation for an extended period of time, and then finally the word cycled out of use.
Now we have resurrected the word into a modern usage, and we are wondering how to pronounce it. If, in the modern age, we prefer "black-guard" to "blaggard" then it is probably no different from the origins of the word "blaggard" and I find no fault with either pronunciation of it. We have reinvented it, and are therefore not in the wrong if we use the even older original pronunciation of the word. If you prefer "blaggard" then that's fine and well, but I wouldn't presume to "correct" others on its pronunciation.
As a student of English, let me weigh in on this blackguard/blaggard debate.
It is clear that the original pronunciation of "blackguard" was most likely the same as the two root words, black-guard. As language evolved (or devolved) we became lazy in our pronunciation and it developed into "blaggard" simply because it was easier to say. Blaggard became the accepted pronunciation for an extended period of time, and then finally the word cycled out of use.
Now we have resurrected the word into a modern usage, and we are wondering how to pronounce it. If, in the modern age, we prefer "black-guard" to "blaggard" then it is probably no different from the origins of the word "blaggard" and I find no fault with either pronunciation of it. We have reinvented it, and are therefore not in the wrong if we use the even older original pronunciation of the word. If you prefer "blaggard" then that's fine and well, but I wouldn't presume to "correct" others on its pronunciation.
If your assumption were true, then that would be a reasonable viewpoint. However, your assumption has made an ass of u, but not, thankfully, me. The word blackguard may have fallen out of use in some quarters, but I can say that I for one was aware of the word some time before it was used by D&D. And that's why I know how it's pronounced.
Why did I know it? Well it is used in classic literature, e.g. by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "There, you low blackguard, that will teach you to be impertinent to a lady." from Beyond the City. Here you can see it in context: http://doyle.thefreelibrary.com/Beyond-the-City/1-1#blackguard
It's not the only use I can assure you. All we are seeing here is a word that is outside most people's vocabularies, because their education is somewhat lacking. Not their fault, it's the way English is taught these days. Language does lose words over time, and perhaps we should be thankful to D&D for rescuing blackguard, but that's no reason to revert to an older form of pronunciation.
Personally I view it as the "lazy" way to say the word, that's the basic crux of my argument. You don't need to be confrontational about it. I like to envision words sometimes in their original state, before hundreds of years of linguistic laziness has brought them to another state. Either way it's a moot point, and the word will be pronounced however our present generations remember it. If that sounds awful to you... that's how the word came to sound the way it does now.
Edit: I began looking around the web to see if I could find anything interesting about the origins of this word and how it came to be pronounced "blaggard" as the common pronunciation (Merriam-Webster claims there is a less common "black-guard" pronunciation in addition to the common one). While it seems the answer is lost to history, here is a link of mild interest: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bla3.htm
Comments
Perhaps it might be worth asking over at Candlekeep? or on the WoTC boards? I know the class goes beyond Forgotten Realms but there's probably someone there who would know for certain.
Jake Thackray used it in his song It Was Only a Gypsy
"A ragged, shaggy, blackguard of a didecai."
Here we are citing sparse examples - proof if anything, that is has fallen out of usage.
Edit: I think I just accidentally switched the focus of the debate here...
It is clear that the original pronunciation of "blackguard" was most likely the same as the two root words, black-guard. As language evolved (or devolved) we became lazy in our pronunciation and it developed into "blaggard" simply because it was easier to say. Blaggard became the accepted pronunciation for an extended period of time, and then finally the word cycled out of use.
Now we have resurrected the word into a modern usage, and we are wondering how to pronounce it. If, in the modern age, we prefer "black-guard" to "blaggard" then it is probably no different from the origins of the word "blaggard" and I find no fault with either pronunciation of it. We have reinvented it, and are therefore not in the wrong if we use the even older original pronunciation of the word. If you prefer "blaggard" then that's fine and well, but I wouldn't presume to "correct" others on its pronunciation.
Why did I know it? Well it is used in classic literature, e.g. by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "There, you low blackguard, that will teach you to be impertinent to a lady." from Beyond the City. Here you can see it in context: http://doyle.thefreelibrary.com/Beyond-the-City/1-1#blackguard
It's not the only use I can assure you. All we are seeing here is a word that is outside most people's vocabularies, because their education is somewhat lacking. Not their fault, it's the way English is taught these days. Language does lose words over time, and perhaps we should be thankful to D&D for rescuing blackguard, but that's no reason to revert to an older form of pronunciation.
Thank god the game gets it right.
Edit: I began looking around the web to see if I could find anything interesting about the origins of this word and how it came to be pronounced "blaggard" as the common pronunciation (Merriam-Webster claims there is a less common "black-guard" pronunciation in addition to the common one). While it seems the answer is lost to history, here is a link of mild interest: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bla3.htm