Poll: How do you pronounce "plugh"?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

A game that I'm writing has a rhyme-riddle in it.
One of my beta testers has had difficulty solving
it because she thought "plugh" was pronounced with a
hard "gh" and sounded like "plug". I had always
assumed that it should be pronounced "plew".

The pronunciation is sort of critical to solving the
puzzle, so I'm wondering if there is general consensus
on how to say it or is my puzzle unfair?

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

"Paul Drallos" <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote in message
newsPydnSfwqPnaIcbfRVn-hQ@comcast.com...
> A game that I'm writing has a rhyme-riddle in it.
> One of my beta testers has had difficulty solving
> it because she thought "plugh" was pronounced with a
> hard "gh" and sounded like "plug". I had always
> assumed that it should be pronounced "plew".
>
> The pronunciation is sort of critical to solving the
> puzzle, so I'm wondering if there is general consensus
> on how to say it or is my puzzle unfair?

I don't know the real answer, but I've always pronounced it with a G, and a
really short "ha". Long U like "oo" -- turns out to be "ploogha" for me.

--- Mike.

 

[pj]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Mike Snyder wrote:
> "Paul Drallos" <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote in message
> newsPydnSfwqPnaIcbfRVn-hQ@comcast.com...
> > A game that I'm writing has a rhyme-riddle in it.
> > One of my beta testers has had difficulty solving
> > it because she thought "plugh" was pronounced with a
> > hard "gh" and sounded like "plug". I had always
> > assumed that it should be pronounced "plew".
> >
> > The pronunciation is sort of critical to solving the
> > puzzle, so I'm wondering if there is general consensus
> > on how to say it or is my puzzle unfair?
>
> I don't know the real answer, but I've always pronounced it with a G,
and a
> really short "ha". Long U like "oo" -- turns out to be "ploogha" for
me.
>
> --- Mike.

Hi: I always have said "plug" with a silent H, but my memory led to an
ancient post by Don Woods on the subject. See the link below:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.int-fiction/browse_frm/thread/80d16d89b9f129d8/75b6243cbe038006?q=Don+Woods+plugh&rnum=1#75b6243cbe038006

If Don Woods thinks that it's "ploog", then I guess I can't argue with
that. Unless Crowther shows up on this thread to provide an even more
definitive answer.

PJ

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 08:17:46 -0400, Paul Drallos said to the parser:

> A game that I'm writing has a rhyme-riddle in it. One of my beta testers
> has had difficulty solving it because she thought "plugh" was pronounced
> with a hard "gh" and sounded like "plug". I had always assumed that it
> should be pronounced "plew".
>
> The pronunciation is sort of critical to solving the puzzle, so I'm
> wondering if there is general consensus on how to say it or is my puzzle
> unfair?

Seeing that:
Hugh == hew

therefore, in my mind,
plugh = plew

and has since I first saw it ~ 1983.


Michael

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Most importantly, I presumed in my riddle
that "plugh" rhymed with "true". Is that
likely to cause problems?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

"Michael Coyne" <coyneAT@mtsDOT.net> wrote in message
newsan.2005.04.12.14.08.39.344000@mtsDOT.net...
> Seeing that:
> Hugh == hew
>
> therefore, in my mind,
> plugh = plew
>
> and has since I first saw it ~ 1983.
>
>
as oppose to cough and enough

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 12:17:46 GMT, Paul Drallos scrawled:

> A game that I'm writing has a rhyme-riddle in it.
> One of my beta testers has had difficulty solving
> it because she thought "plugh" was pronounced with a
> hard "gh" and sounded like "plug". I had always
> assumed that it should be pronounced "plew".
>
> The pronunciation is sort of critical to solving the
> puzzle, so I'm wondering if there is general consensus
> on how to say it or is my puzzle unfair?
>
> Thanks

Hmm, well I've pronounced it as "plew", "pluff" (as the f in cough, but
that's obscure) and "pluhh", as in the way that I often pronounce "ugh!"

--
http://www.rexx.co.uk

To email me, visit the site.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 08:17:46 -0400, Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote:
> A game that I'm writing has a rhyme-riddle in it.
> One of my beta testers has had difficulty solving
> it because she thought "plugh" was pronounced with a
> hard "gh" and sounded like "plug". I had always
> assumed that it should be pronounced "plew".
>

I pronounce it "ploog".


--
------------------------
Mark Jeffrey Tilford
tilford@ugcs.caltech.edu

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Paul Drallos wrote in news:IqadncbJXvxCScbfRVn-vg@comcast.com:

> Most importantly, I presumed in my riddle
> that "plugh" rhymed with "true". Is that
> likely to cause problems?

For me, it would. I can't think of a way to describe how I read it
that would make sense for an English speaking person (sort of like
the Swedish "plugg" - like the English "plug", but with more "u").

Rikard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Here, Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote:
> Most importantly, I presumed in my riddle
> that "plugh" rhymed with "true". Is that
> likely to cause problems?

I'd never get that. I pronounce "plugh" with a short "u" (as in
"plug"), and then a soft uvular "gh" sound that doesn't occur in
normal English. (Like the end of "Bach", except voiced.)

I think any presumption about how people pronounce it is going to fall
flat.

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
I'm still thinking about what to put in this space.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Andrew Plotkin wrote:

>
> I think any presumption about how people pronounce it is going to fall
> flat.
>

Yes. It looks like there is enough variation on this that
I had better redesign my riddle.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:36:15 GMT, REH scrawled:

> "Michael Coyne" <coyneAT@mtsDOT.net> wrote in message
> newsan.2005.04.12.14.08.39.344000@mtsDOT.net...
>> Seeing that:
>> Hugh == hew
>>
>> therefore, in my mind,
>> plugh = plew
>>
>> and has since I first saw it ~ 1983.
>>
>>
> as oppose to cough and enough
>
>

Ghoti and chips!

--
http://www.rexx.co.uk

To email me, visit the site.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

"Rexx Magnus" <trashcan@uk2.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9636A93DF9103rexxdeansaund@130.133.1.4...
> On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:36:15 GMT, REH scrawled:
>
> > "Michael Coyne" <coyneAT@mtsDOT.net> wrote in message
> > newsan.2005.04.12.14.08.39.344000@mtsDOT.net...
> >> Seeing that:
> >> Hugh == hew
> >>
> >> therefore, in my mind,
> >> plugh = plew
> >>
> >> and has since I first saw it ~ 1983.
> >>
> >>
> > as oppose to cough and enough
> >
> >
>
> Ghoti and chips!
>
Fish and chips?

gh from enough
o from women
ti from action

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Paul Drallos wrote:
> A game that I'm writing has a rhyme-riddle in it.
> One of my beta testers has had difficulty solving
> it because she thought "plugh" was pronounced with a
> hard "gh" and sounded like "plug". I had always
> assumed that it should be pronounced "plew".

Having not come across the word before, I'd have thought it sounded
like "plug".

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

How about if I use "foo" instead of "plugh"?
Does everybody agree that "foo" rhymes with "true" or "grue"?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:37:07 -0400, Paul Drallos said to the parser:

> How about if I use "foo" instead of "plugh"? Does everybody agree that
> "foo" rhymes with "true" or "grue"?

I think you mean 'fugh'.


Michael

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:07:26 -0500, Michael Coyne said to the parser:

> On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:37:07 -0400, Paul Drallos said to the parser:
>
>> How about if I use "foo" instead of "plugh"? Does everybody agree that
>> "foo" rhymes with "true" or "grue"?
>
> I think you mean 'fugh'.

Oh fugh, I forgot to add the : ), so here it is : )


Michael

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> Here, Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote:
>
>> Most importantly, I presumed in my riddle that "plugh" rhymed with
>> "true". Is that likely to cause problems?
>
> I'd never get that. I pronounce "plugh" with a short "u" (as in
> "plug"), and then a soft uvular "gh" sound that doesn't occur in
> normal English. (Like the end of "Bach", except voiced.)

Would that be as voiced in the original Klingon version?

<grin>,
Jon Ripley
--
http://jonripley.com/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

"Jon Ripley" <news@jonripley.com> wrote in message
news:97T6e.57939$C12.23126@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> > Here, Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Most importantly, I presumed in my riddle that "plugh" rhymed with
> >> "true". Is that likely to cause problems?
> >
> > I'd never get that. I pronounce "plugh" with a short "u" (as in
> > "plug"), and then a soft uvular "gh" sound that doesn't occur in
> > normal English. (Like the end of "Bach", except voiced.)
>
> Would that be as voiced in the original Klingon version?
>
> <grin>,
> Jon Ripley
> --
Oh my God! Not while I'm drinking coffee!!!

That was funny.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Here, Jon Ripley <news@jonripley.com> wrote:
> Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> > Here, Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Most importantly, I presumed in my riddle that "plugh" rhymed with
> >> "true". Is that likely to cause problems?
> >
> > I'd never get that. I pronounce "plugh" with a short "u" (as in
> > "plug"), and then a soft uvular "gh" sound that doesn't occur in
> > normal English. (Like the end of "Bach", except voiced.)
>
> Would that be as voiced in the original Klingon version?

I said "soft", not "spraying the monitor".

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
I'm still thinking about what to put in this space.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

In article <slrnd5njag.nsc.tilford@ralph.earthlink.net>,
Mark J. Tilford <tilford@ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:
>I pronounce it "ploog".

Same here -- because that's the way a roomful of Advent-urers pronounced it
when I played Advent about 25 years ago. I don't think anyone had any
connection with Woods or Crowther -- probably everybody copied the first
person to say it out loud.
--
"Yo' ideas need to be thinked befo' they are say'd" - Ian Lamb, age 3.5
http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~dalamb/ qucis->cs to reply (it's a long story...)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Why don't you just put a pronunciation guide for it elsewhere in the
game? Like have there be a dictionary somewhere, where you can look up
words, and the words have the phonetic spelling next to them, and plugh
is one of the words? Just a thought.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Here, Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote:
> How about if I use "foo" instead of "plugh"?
> Does everybody agree that "foo" rhymes with "true" or "grue"?

Works for me. But I am beginning to fear this riddle.

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
I'm still thinking about what to put in this space.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Paul Drallos wrote in news:nO-dnbw70MLSrMHfRVn-tQ@comcast.com:

> How about if I use "foo" instead of "plugh"?
> Does everybody agree that "foo" rhymes with "true" or "grue"?

No. I'm not a native speaker so I may be pronouncing it wrong, but
if I am then there are probably others that are wrong too, so maybe
it doesn't matter that it's wrong. I still wouldn't get it.

I rhyme "you" with "true" and "grue", but pronounce "foo" with a
different sound. (I'm not going to describe the sounds. I tried
and it got uncomprehensive. Even more so than usual.)

Rikard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Paul Drallos wrote in news:nO-dnbw70MLSrMHfRVn-tQ@comcast.com:

> How about if I use "foo" instead of "plugh"?
> Does everybody agree that "foo" rhymes with "true" or "grue"?

It works if I read it in the voice of an owl.
"Yoo should not stay in the dark! Hoo! For there lurks a groo! Hoo!"