• DLSantini@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    This was me as a 7 year-old, reading The Hobbit and LotR. 33 years, and many rereads later, I still pronounce Gollum as golem and Smaug as smog.

    • irreticent@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      “[…] I still pronounce […] Smaug as smog.”

      Wait, what? I can’t remember when it was pronounced in the movies and I also (mentally) pronounce it as ‘Smog.’ It has never come up in IRL conversation so I don’t know how it’s actually pronounced.

      Does anyone have a clip/timestamp on a video to show how it’s actually pronounced? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the movies.

      • Arrkk@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It’s /smawg/, it should sort of feel like the name doesn’t fit me your mouth properly, English phonotactics doesn’t allow for gliding from W to G without a vowel in between.