How do you say Melee?

[cWg | Konka]

mee-lay

 

[Fetzenfisch]

There are two correct ways to pronounce it. It depends on whether you follow the British English or American English pronunciation.
http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/tomato
http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/melee

finally someone with a valid source. Thanks and /thread.
Its the Brit version for me. Its closer to the original and doesnt sound as stupid as maylay

 

[Dyme]

I used to say Me - lee, because that's how you write it and due to my Germanness I tend to pronounce things the way they are written.

Guess I'll start using Meh-lay. The french version sounds more like meh-lee (or Meelie if you are German ) though.

 

[General BrEeZy]

may-lay is how i've known it. i've heard me-lee in super smash bros of course, but thats it.

 

[t3h br0th3r]

May-Lay, cause i live in AMERICA!

 

[ThisIsSnake]

Both ways are correct. U.S. English say May-Lay. U.K. English say Me-Lee.

See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/melee

I'm British and I say may-lay
Also may-lay, I'm pretty sure, is correct, if we're talking about pronouncing it the way the French do, because it's spelled 'mélée' and the accents over the e makes an 'ay' sound

Exactly, that's how the French say it, we're British so we go ahead and don't do that. I pronounce it meh-lay.

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

I used to say Me Lee also until someone told me the correct pronunciation.

ITS FRENCH: mêlée is the actual spelling. So the correct way to say it grammatically is may-lay

If it was spelt like that in English then I would say it like that but it's just "melee" without the accents where it seems completely illlogical to say "may-lay". I think I'll just stick with "punch in the face".

 

[dolgion]

Unbelievable that this thread got to 8 pages
Also, a poll should've been added

I say it May-Lay though in french i guess it'd be muh-leie

 

[ThisIsSnake]

Meh - Lay
but I'm from the north of england so I say everything incorrectly.

Nowai, British English is pretty much the original English. It's Meh-lay.

He's referring to the fact that he's from the north. By modern standards he's right that the north deviates from RP the most, but RP in itself is much newer than many northern dialects.

He's spot on with his "melee" though".

Same, and I'm a Yorkshireman.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

May-lay, may-le, mah-lay, and mah-le, rather interchangably, sort of how some people say Drow Darow or Darew

 

[Lokithrsourcerer]

me-lee
mel-ay
may-lay
mu-lay

all perfectly acceptable

you are going wrong if u pronounce it ban-an-a-s

 

[Nobby]

My pet Frenchman pronounces it Meh Lay or mel-ay, and that's how I've pronounced it ever since I took up Warhammer.

As in "crap, my fire warriors are in meh lay with Kharn the betrayer..."

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Isn't this whole thing pretty much dependant on whether it's spelt with the accents or not? Given that 'melee' is derived from the French word 'mêlée' then it's entirely possible that several or all of us a right. Toss be to dictionaries, pronounciation and accents should not be confined by such rules. Look at it like this:

Melee:
'Meh-Lee'

Mêlée:
'May-Lay'

You can't assume that because it has origins within the French language that it would be identially translated to English speakers. Look at some of the bastardisation that has been committed in America and they speak the same language.

Sometimes shit just happens to words.

 

[conflictofinterests]

I used to say Me Lee also until someone told me the correct pronunciation.

ITS FRENCH: mêlée is the actual spelling. So the correct way to say it grammatically is may-lay

I like this guy.

Anyways, from a linguistic anthropological standpoint, any way that it is pronounced, understood, and agreed upon is the correct way to say it in whatever group of people understands and agrees upon it.

You say you say to-may-toe, I say, to-mah-toe, some guy in Georgia says pomidori, apparently.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I usually vary it from May-leh and Me-lee.

Whichever comes to first I say it

 

[Xero Scythe]

May-Lay.

It's stupid, but then again, it's french. Bordeaux which looks like it should be pronounced "Bored-ee-ooh-x is really pronounced Bor-d'oh. The french hate letters, apparently, despite their love of the unused letters. On the other hand, Bordeaux sounds incredibly sexy, so I wouldn't mind if my GF was named that.

Oh, confused thoughts and rambling fingers!

eaux is usually pronounced as "oh" or "euo"

Yeah, I just included the d for the Simpsons reference and because it sounds like how it is actually pronounced in a way most people here should know.

 

[Wondermint13]

Erm.. kinda like 'Mellay' something like that..

 

[Zergadooful]

May-lay or May-lee. It's different every time.

 

[Cmwissy]

May-lay or Mee-lee. Depending on how I feel.