"How do you pronounce Chimera?" Topic

CHIM – er – uh
SHIM – er – uh
KYE – mehr – uh
kye – MEHR – uh
etc.

KYE-mehr-uh

kye – MEHR – uh

CHIM – er – uh or kye – MEHR – uh, depending on who I'm talking to.

Some folks think of it as if it is an English word (CHIM as in chimney, etc…), so if you say kye-MEHR-uh they can't see how that pronunciation works.

Dictionary.com says ky-MIR-uh, I see…

Since college I've always pronounced it as ki-mir-ah.

Classics geek here, I go for the Attic Greek = KHI-mai-ra

I've always pronounced is KYE-merh-uh

Well, not really, I used to pronounce it CHIM-er-uh a long time ago.

Cheese Burgah

What'd you call me?

I am Chimera.

Editor's got it right, but I'm betting most of us pronounce it as Kye-mehr-uh. Sort of an accent thing I'm betting. We Americans can't pronounce anything correctly after all. ;)

"Some folks think of it as if it is an English word (CHIM as in chimney, etc…), so if you say kye-MEHR-uh they can't see how that pronunciation works."

I find this a lot with people…not just with "Chimera", but with other simple words…. It's mind boggling. Thankfully, I can't remember the exact words butchered but back in highschool, I remember there was this one senior who was so illiterate that the way he'd pronounce any word longer than six letters when reading out loud made me want to beat him with a dictionary. Even worse, the teacher wouldn't correct him! AND IT WAS ENGLISH CLASS! ENGLISH! In the US we basically take 13 years of required school with 13 years of required English and still there are illiterates because we can't just tell people "You're wrong." and then explain to them why they are! My brain, it aches because it cannot understand why there is such a simple solution, but no one uses it?!

Anyways…. /Endrant

Wolfprophet

and all the children are above average.

as Garrison Keillor sez

kye – MEHR – uh, but only after I learned better from anime. When I was young and I had never heard anyone else use the word I called it a CHIM – er – uh. (god forbid words in the english language might actually be pronounced consistently.)

Usually I call them "TARGET PRACTICE" for my support weapons and assault troops.

The GW product – Chim-er-ah.

The mythologic monster – Ky-meer-ah

Easy way to avoid confusion, unless you are playing in an extreme 'counts-as' type game.

It's pronounced "throat warbler mangrove".

I was just discussing this with an 11yr old this afternoon… he insisted it was chim (as in chimney) era (like span of time). I favored kye-MER-ah… but didn't push it.

I think when I was a kid I pronounced it 'Shim-er-uh', but it wasn't exactly a spoken word which came up very often apart from in the context of D&D. In books you just read it.

These days I know better. kye-mir-uh.

I know it's wrong but I think Shim-er-uh seems to express the idea of an "idle or wild fantasy' (Chambers) rather well.

How do most people pronounce "Charisma"?

Cheese Burgah

No it's Cheese Barger

KYE – mehr – uh

Throat Warbler Mangrove, or Ar-kee-op-ter-iks.

Classics geek here, too, so

Greek pronunciation = KHI-mai-ra

Latin pronunciation = khi-MAE-ra

The English pronunciation is derived from the Latin.

"It's a mythological creature. I can call it what I want".-the Great Kraken Debate.

Correctly.

The British and the Americans are one people seperated by a common language. We also adopt foriegn words into English pronounciation. Sometimes we change the spelling, and sometimes not.

Usually I call them "TARGET PRACTICE" for my support weapons and assault troops.

Nice.

I just say "here boy" and toss him a Greek.

TVR

SHIM – er – uh

shim-shiminny, shim shimminy, shim, shim sheroo!

KYE – mehr – uh

or

KYE – mehr – a

The Chimera chillingly chased the charming chimpanzee Charles.

I only looked at this thread to see the sarcastic responses …

Cheese Burgah

Well done, sir! :)

The (pitch) accent on the ancient Greek word is on the first syllable; the nearest most modern English speakers can get to reflecting that is to stress that syllable. Still sounds weird to me, though (I'm in the kye-MEE-rah camp, and probably too old to change, or want to).

And now, in spite of myself, I'm kind of curious how the self-confessed Classics geeks pronounce e.g. 'Odysseus', where the accent is on the 'u'.

Pfff. When confronted with an exotic word to pronounce, always put the tonic stress in an unexpected place. You might be right, and even if you put the emPHAsis on the wrong syllABLe, you will probably baffle your interlocutor into acceptance if you do it with sufficient confidence.

All the best,

John.

An excellent suggestion, John. Thanks. I think I've heard it in action, now you mention it…

Ben

Ki (short I, as in "hit, bit or ") – mair-uh or something similar.

I've known people who pronounced it "Chim" (as in chimney)-era (time period) – but they also pronounced Gauss as "gorse" (a bramble or thicket).