This line pops up a few times in the Discworld books, and my husband and I like to quote it to each other. The problem is that we can’t figure out how to pronounce “pune.” Pun? Poon? Pyoon?
I assume “poon” as being closest to “pun.” Like “dune” and “dun.”
I’d agree. It’s “pun”, with a redundant “e”, to make it look as authentically Middle Ages-style Discworld as possible.
See also “gonne”.
It’s a made up word and you own the book so the word is now yours. You can pronounce it any way you want to. Isn’t that neat?
I myself would pronounce it ala Peter Sellers. “Where is your pyuhn?” or something like that. Like I say, it’s your word, so enjoy it.
I think it’s pronounced ‘pee-yoon’. It’s the sort of silliness that Pratchett himself would chuckle about, especially since people won’t know how to pronounce it.
I agree with *Ice Wolf, Prachett’s having a bit of fun with Middle Ages writing styles. Just like when he uses the fancy “f” that looks like the letter '“S” in the double “ss” letter combo in words like “trespass” or "permission"on signs, notes, or letters.
Isn’t it easier to play on grass? I always found it difficult to run around on someone’s breath, unless it’s really cold out.
[hijack arr matey] He sometimes does this with non-doubled s’s too, as shown by the copy of Macbeth I got him to sign, which is now inscribed “Best wifhef W. Shakefpear” [/hijack arr matey]
Maybe he’s writing about Pune (or Poona), India?
I found this thread while googling the exact phrasing, and I felt it important to point out that, per the lspace wiki, the “pune” is named after Jean-Paul Pune who founded the Ankh-Morpork Fools’ Guild, in case anyone else stumbles across this thread somehow.
Probably the discworld audiobooks could provide an authoritative pronunciation, assuming they’re consistent with it.
Just listened to the audiobook of Met at Arms (here) and narrator Nigel Planer says “pyoon”, before 2:40.
This is a common British pronunciation of the word, while the American pronunciation is commonly without the y.
What I meant was that June is typically pronounced with a y in British English and without a y in American English.
Eh? Am I being whooshed? June rhymes with Moon round these parts.
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Maybe he meant dune which Americans render as “doon” and the rest of the English speaking world pronounce properly.
Sorry about getting that wrong. The word “dune” is pronounced like “June” in some British accents. It’s pronounced without the “y” sound in it in American accents.