# Melee is pronunced may-lay, not mee-lee. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 26, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-is-pronunced-may-lay-not-mee-lee/252348 "2004-06-26T20:17:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-is-pronunced-may-lay-not-mee-lee/252348/41 "2004-06-28T22:51:30Z")
> [@](#): > > I mispronounced chimera for years, until Mission: Impossible 2. I pronounced it with a hard “ch” and so it rhymed with shimmer-a. There is a company that makes movie lighting called Chimera, but usually pronounced with the ‘ch’ sound. I’ve always hoped they were going with a ‘lights=shimmering’ aspect relationship and meant ‘sh’, rather than being to stupid to know how to pronounce it. It still pisses me off and I call them Ki-mera anyway. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-is-pronunced-may-lay-not-mee-lee/252348/42 "2004-06-29T23:20:05Z")
> [@bughunter](#): > > And there are still more pronucniation controversies in Dungeons and Dragons: > > Is _deity_ pronounced “dee’ it ee” or “day’ it ee?” > > Is _THAC0_ pronounced “thack’ oh” or “thack’ ze\*\*’\*\* row?” > > And how the fuck do you pronounce Baatezu and Ta’anari? > > (and which are devils and which demons?) I always said Thay-co, but I never played 2nd ed. We have a running joke in our group because we got hit with a “porticulls” trap. We all looked at each other for a while and finally I said “oohhhhh… portcullis!”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-is-pronunced-may-lay-not-mee-lee/252348.md?page=2)