# How do you pronounce "Qwlghm"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722 "2004-09-23T18:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/21 "2004-09-24T14:46:16Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The name means nothing to me Me neither. I think Quilig-hum would be what I’d come up with were I to try to say it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/22 "2004-09-24T19:30:32Z")
Well, it’s not Welsh. In the Baroque Cycle and in _Cryptonomicon,_ Stephenson indicates that the Qwlghmians are \*\*pre-\*\*Celtic, like the Picts in Scotland, or the Firbolgs in Ireland, or the Basques in Spain. The name, of course, obviously has been crafted to be unpronounceable. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/23 "2004-09-24T20:04:09Z")
Meaningless, but not unpronouncible. If they’re pre-celtic, then a mix of celtic languages seems appropriate - the best combination seems to be ‘cool-im’, the first syllable working from Welsh and using the same vowel as ‘book’, the second vagulely Irish/Gaelic, taking the ‘gh’ as a vowel. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/24 "2004-09-24T20:55:03Z")
I always just assumed it was a loose phlegmmy throat-clearing sound, which is also how I’ve always pronounced “Ralph Houk”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/25 "2004-09-24T22:26:40Z")
[quL\Gm=] I like velar fricatives. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/26 "2004-09-24T22:47:15Z")
Mostly I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/27 "2004-09-24T23:05:51Z")
“Colm,” like the actor Colm Meany. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/28 "2004-09-24T23:45:26Z")
One thing is clear, the name we are given is written in the Roman alphabet. Therefore the spelling we have is post-Celtic since the Romans came to Britain after the Celts. It seems pretty clear that some of the letters are not pronounced in the manner that English speakers would pronounce them. Most likely the ‘q’ and the ‘w’ represent different sounds and the ‘h’ is either syllabic or represents an entirely different sound. (or perhaps ‘h’ is intended to modify the ‘g’, in whcih case the above comments apply to the m). I like **yBeayf** ’s analysis since I think you can find those pronunciations in actual languages in the world. One thing, **yBeayf** gives ‘gh’ the value of a voiced uvular fricative, I think it might be a velar fricative since this is the way ‘gh’ used to be pronounced in English. It seems like they might have followed the English in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/29 "2004-09-24T23:49:08Z")
> [@sjc](#): > > One thing is clear, … the spelling we have is post-Celtic since the Romans came to Britain after the Celts. That’s an astonishing claim. You really suggest that the Romans obliterated every element of Celtic culture from britain? (And if so, how do you explain the survival of non-British cultures?) ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/30 "2004-09-25T01:02:59Z")
I found the pronounciation on that Wikipedia thing a while ago. I’m not going to search for the link now, but Stephenson said that it’s something like a click followed by a swallowing noise, but since only native born Qwghlmians can make those sounds, English speakers say it something like “Taggum.” ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/31 "2004-09-25T01:04:30Z")
> [@](#): > > According to Stephenson (from a booksigning Q&A), Qwghlm is pronounced somewhat like a Bushman-style tongue-click (the Q) followed by a glottal swallowing sound. Unable or unwilling to follow such linguistic acrobatics, Englishmen tend to pronounce it, roughly, as Taggum. Yep, there it is. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/32 "2004-09-25T01:04:40Z")
It’s pronounced “etaoin shrdlu”. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/33 "2004-09-26T00:17:32Z")
Probably not much help, but I once had a question about “Qhythsontyd” and this post may be a start. ---
**Author:** ![HeidiKM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/87869e/32.png) [@HeidiKM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeidiKM)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/34 "2016-05-25T22:01:16Z")
As others above have mentioned, according to Neal Stephenson himself – captured here on audio – the pronunciation by English-speakers would be “TAG-um” https://embeds.audioboom.com/posts/71520/embed/v4 The two narrators of the Baroque Cycle audiobooks, however, didn’t seem to get the message, because they both pronounce it “Tuh-GOOM.” (I think the narrator who read Cryptonomicon may have gotten it right, but I can’t verify that right now.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/35 "2016-05-26T00:50:22Z")
> [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](#): > > No, no, it’s Raymond Luxury Yacht! No, it’s _spelled_ Raymond Luxury-Yacht. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/36 "2016-05-26T01:59:11Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > I’ve pronounced it like so: > > Q - unvoiced uvular plosive (like classical Arabic qaf) > W - as in Welsh (same vowel as English “book”) > L - like the end of English “bull” > GH - like Arabic ghayn, a voiced uvular fricative > M - like in English > > Two syllables, with “w” being the first vowel and “m” serving as a sonorant, in place of a vowel (like the first sound of “Mbeki”). This. T’was a time when my mornings were spent telemarketing to the UK. Other people, mostly from Chicago’s South Side, where words are pronounced as God intended, were totally fucked when calling Wales. I’d shortcut it as “Cool-gum” and nobody would complain, being amazed that a Yank got that close. But between when the phone connected and I had to ask for Mr Qwlghm I often had less than a second to work it out. Not fun. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/37 "2016-05-26T02:32:18Z")
Qualm ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/38 "2016-05-26T08:24:36Z")
Gollum, gollum. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/39 "2016-05-26T08:25:56Z")
Just be warned that the most common mispronouncement is also the most dire insult in the entire language. ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-qwlghm/265722/40 "2016-05-26T11:26:28Z")
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