The Pfhorums

I've heard some people argue that the p in "Pfhor" is silent, and I've heard some argue that it is pronounced. I personally believe the P is phonetic, not silent. The main reason is because its an alien word. Lets put aside the assumption that all alien words sound weird, and consider that the name was translated by a computer, from a language that does not use english letters. When foreign words are introduced to the english language, they are spelled depending on the corresponding alphabet. For example, French words use the same alphabet as english, so it makes sense to add french words to the english vocabulary with their original spelling, to avoid confusion, especially for translators. You know the words I mean, like bourgeois, which is apparently pronounced "boo-shua". But when we introduce words to the english language that come from other languages that use a different alphabet, like Japanese, the words are spelled phonetically. Take the name Suzuki, for example. It is pronounced exactly as spelled. There is no silent p at the beginning (Psuzuki), because we have no reason to put it there, the Japanese alphabet is different from ours, and provides no indication that a silent p should be there (and never would).

Pfhor is translated from a foreign language that uses a foreign alphabet. There is no reason for the english spelling to be anything but phonetic, because the Pfhor language is different from ours. There is no original spelling to preserve for the sake of avoiding confusion as there would be with a french name. I believe the result is that the "p" in Pfhor is pronounced.

Bungie seemed to have a thing for hard to pronounce names in Marathon, so pronouncing the "p" would follow that trend.

It's pronounced "four." If it weren't, all of the puns in the level titles in Marathon 1 wouldn't have made sense.

The topic was also made already. But really, it's not that hard to figure out. Unpfhorgiven? Eupfhoria? Pfhor Your Eyes Only? Think about it.

Yeah...I had trouble figuring out the search function.

Yes, the puns do require a similarity, but I don't think they make any less sense when pronounced with the "p". I always assumed the "p" was phonetic, and still laughed at the puns.

Two plus two equals puh-four? No, that doesn't make sense.

What's this "puh" crap?

German has a "pf" sound that is probably a combination of what you guys are imagining; for example, the word Pflanze ("plant"). The "p" essentially serves as a stop just before the "f" and therefore doesn't really make its own noise. Try saying "Pfhor" by forming the "p" with your lips and then skipping right to the "f."

ipfapfunami

W wrote:ipfapfunami

Ah, infamy. It's like fame... only, in me.

Jjaro- Like "jggarro"
Mjolnir- "Meh-sjoel-ner"
Sphit- "Sfit"
Pfhor- Four, but beginning with my lips shaped as I would say the beginning of "pie."
W'rkncacnter- Don't ask

Jjaro-jarow
Mjolnir- Mee-yol-neer
Spht- sfit
Pfhor- Four
W'rkncacnter- Werkancter

{Jjaro, Mjolnir, S'pht, Pfhor, W'rkncacnter} - law-kh

Deja Vu
Don't make topics that already exist. Someone posted in it not too long ago. So, surely you would have saw it in "view new posts".
This is why we have a topic searchbar at the bottom of the page and a google search bar at the top.
This is also one of the reasons nameless was banned. I'd hate to see another member go, please refrain from doing so.

I used to pronounce it "Puh-for". A friend of mine says it's pronounced "For". I try to pronounce it "Pfor". Or is it "For"?
S'pht: Sfit
Jjarro: Jaro or Jiero

RyokoTK wrote:The topic was also made already.

logan wrote:Deja Vu
Don't make topics that already exist.

Don't make posts that already exist.

For what it's worth, probably not much, I think Pfhorrest gave the best pronounciation guide for Phfor. To wit:

It an affricative sound made by combining a unvoiced, unaspirated, bilabial plosive ('p') with an an unvoiced, aspirated, labiodental fricative ('fh'). And though any normal english speaker's first reaction to 'pfh' is to see two 'f' 'f' sounds back to back, in fact the 'h' doesn't have anything do do with the 'p', instead the 'h' that indicates the 'f' sound is heavily aspirated.

Pfhorrest's exercise is a good one. Another good, normal-english-language way to get a handle on it is to say the phrase 'top form'. The sound made by combining the end of the first word with the beginning of the second is the sound in 'pfhor'.

But, you know, you can say any way you want to, really.

Personally I think puns are funnier if you have to stretch your mind around them a bit. Like the credits at the end of NPR's Car Talk. My personal favorite of their current staff are: Ike and Zeke Learly, their windshield wiper replacement team.

Now if you want a word that's hard to analyze phonetically, and even harder to explain in plain English, you've got W'rknacnter. The way I do that in my own mind is seriously ominous.

Wasn't there already a topic about this some time ago? Not that I would condone digging through the archives and reviving old threads...

My 10 cents: Considering the Pfhor are a different species, they probably have a vocal plethora quite different from ours, so 'Pfhor' is probably a grunt or noise that sounds different in their tongue, but since we cannot pronounce it properly, we have coined the pronounciation as "Four." Kind of like how we give animals sounds Anomatopoeas like Moo and Meow, sort of.

Elderman wrote:Now if you want a word that's hard to analyze phonetically, and even harder to explain in plain English, you've got W'rknacnter.

Now why dont you just pronounce it like you write it? Thats how i do it (be it with the weird english r).

btw i think its W'rknCacnter.

I was convinced until now that mjolnir was pronounced "ma hol nyeer"
But I can't find any evidence for that, everywhere just says myol nir

irons wrote:German has a "pf" sound that is probably a combination of what you guys are imagining; for example, the word Pflanze ("plant"). The "p" essentially serves as a stop just before the "f" and therefore doesn't really make its own noise. Try saying "Pfhor" by forming the "p" with your lips and then skipping right to the "f."

completely. I still don't get why pfhor provides such a problem for people. Given that pf words do exist, and are pronounced exactly how they look. audible, with no space.

Now why dont you just pronounce it like you write it?

Because it's hard to pronounce "W'rkn" without any vowels.

Both r and n are sonorant consonants, so it's quite easy to make them syllabic nuclei. W, too, for that matter, if the apostrophe is to be taken as a stop.

I'm lazy and pronounce it with only five syllables: "Wr-kn-ca-cn-ter"

Treellama wrote:Both r and n are sonorant consonants, so it's quite easy to make them syllabic nuclei. W, too, for that matter, if the apostrophe is to be taken as a stop.

I'm lazy and pronounce it with only five syllables: "Wr-kn-ca-cn-ter"

Do you say the 'k' and the 'c' differently? My thing with W'rkncacnter is that you have to make a bunch of arbitrary decisions, no matter what.

I start with a sort of rumbling noise.

Elderman wrote:Do you say the 'k' and the 'c' differently? My thing with W'rkncacnter is that you have to make a bunch of arbitrary decisions, no matter what.

I start with a sort of rumbling noise.

Apple's text-to-speech synthesizer says "wrr knn kaa knn trr", where "aa" is like the "a" in "bat".

logan wrote:Deja Vu
Don't make topics that already exist. Someone posted in it not too long ago. So, surely you would have saw it in "view new posts".
This is why we have a topic searchbar at the bottom of the page and a google search bar at the top.
This is also one of the reasons nameless was banned. I'd hate to see another member go, please refrain from doing so.

Spoiler:

Or that tyrant Ryoko will be send you to the depths of the banned members group.

I tried your search function, but all I got were those wiki-style entries, no threads. It probably has something to do with the forum layout making the built-in search less obvious than the Marathon search, and not having any label to discern the two.

Also, thats a stupid reason to ban someone, especially since its not against the official rules.

ANYWAY, Mjolnir is pretty well established, considering it was Thor's hammer (or something like that), so there certainly is a proper pronunciation. I believe its "myol-neer".

As for W'rkncacnter, I guess I'd say "werkin cackin tair". Though honestly, I'm just going to avoid ever saying that one from now on.

I still think it doesn't make sense to put a silent P at the beginning of an alien word when there's no reason. I contend that the most logical way to pronounce Pfhor is...well, exactly as its spelled, I can't really spell it phonteically any better. No "puh", and no silent p.

Whenever I glance at W'rkncacnter. I want to read it W'rkcaster then kick myself for doing it.
I can spell it off the top of my head but for some reason...I don't know.

Paragon wrote:I tried your search function, but all I got were those wiki-style entries, no threads.

I'm kind of amazed that we even have this search function in place of the forum searcher. See, the search field near the toppish-left of every page (under "Welcome!") is for a bunch of Marathon sites through Google. If you want the real search (which, in my opinion, should be where the Google search is...), look at the upper-right corner and click on "Search." It's among links called "Blogs," "Gallery," "Calendar," "Members," and "Help."

Also, thats a stupid reason to ban someone, especially since its not against the official rules.

Nameless made an art out of asking questions he didn't need to, things like "WHERES FORG MANAL!!" when he had been around for about a year. Unlike you, he actually knew where the real search was (he was here before the dumb Google search was added). In short, Nameless was an idiot. He's the only guy I've seen banned for asking stupid questions.