Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! How do you pronounce...?

This is the official thread to debate how to pronounce the names of your favorite Legion characters and their planets!

Personally, I favor:

Gim = sounds like "Jim"
Thom = sounds link "Tom"
Jan = sounds like "yawn"
Ayla = rhymes with "Layla"
Tinya = like "Tina" with a 'y'

Here's one that always fuels debates.

Is it Dark'seed' or Dark'side'?

I tend to favor:

Gim = sounds like "Jim"
Thom = sounds like "Tom"
Jan = sounds like "Jan" (as in Jan Brady)
Ayla = rhymes with "Layla"
Tinya = like it sounds (TIN'/ya)

I imagine since the cartoon, most people favor "Dark' SIDE" (isn't that how they said it in "Superfriends" too?)-- I used to think "Dark'seed" until "Cosmic Odyssey" when Orion said something like, "I tend to see the DARK SIDE of things..."

Here's my barbaric southern interpretations:

Gim = sounds like "Jim"
Thom = sounds like "Tom"
Jan = sounds like "Jan" (soft-g)
Ayla = rhymes with "Layla"
Tinya = like "Tin-ya"

and Darkseid = sounds like "dark side", natch.

I'll echo Star Boy on the pronounciations.

But this got me thinking, you could even have the "y" in Tinya & Ayla a separate syllable - as in Tin-ee-a or A-ee-la. I prefer the more simple interpretations, though.

Here's another: is it TAS-mia or Tas-MI-a? Or something else?

Aside from noting my always saying "Ayla" as EYE-luh, I'll note an amusing sidebar:

Sidne Gail Ward's "Legion of Super-Gamblers" is a get-together each Summer in Las Vegas for a long fan weekend. She's said that one of the most amusing (or jarring) aspects of that event is to have other Legion fans in close proximity ... and to have them pronounce the Legionnaires' names, without a second thought, in ways YOU would have never thought to do.

Why do you think I've missed that soiree myself? {rueful smile}

I've always thought it was TAS-mi-a, myself.

Gim = sounds like Gim, hard 'g'
Thom = sounds like Thom, 'th' sound
Jan = sounds like Jan, soft 'g'
Ayla = rhymes with "Layla"
Tinya = like Tina, silent 'y'
Darkseid = Dark"side"
Tasmia = TAS-mia

Perhaps it's Taze-my-yeah and Dark-sea-id

Somebody had to do it, but I gotta agree with Greybird...

Ayla = EYE-luh

the rest...

Gim = Jim
Garth = Garth
Thom = Tom
Jan = Jan (like the Brady)
Darkseid = Dark Side (like the force)
Tinya = TIN-yuh
Tasmia = Taz-MEE-ah
Querl = Squirrel but without the S
Bgtzl = Big-TIZ-el

I can't remember Gates' proper name right now, but that probably needs a little discussion too (and his home planet Vryga or something like that).

Gim = sounds like "Chester"
Thom = sounds link "Grover"
Jan = sounds like "Winston"
Ayla = rhymes with "Hortence"
Tinya = like "Penelope"

Grey, I think we are the only ones who think EYE-la. Maybe we're just more enlightened. ;-)

Jack Kirby allegedly pronounced it "Dark Side." He seems to have deliberately chosen a German-looking spelling ("seid" could be pronounced either "zide" or "zite").

As for two of the others, I favor the hard "g" for "Gim" and "Eye-la."

Gates' real name, as I recall, is T'jullk M'rasz. I suspect one probably needs a bug-like mouth to pronounce it correctly. (It probably has a few "clicks" we can't make.) But a humanized guess would be "tah-JOOLK more-AZZ" [or "more ass," if you're so inclined].)

I picked up "Brawl" for Braal from the neat little DC Direct skit they used to have on the DC page.

I'll never accept Why-nath, however.

Do that many people really say "TIN-ya" rather than "TEEN-ya"? I'm shocked!

I always pronounce Tasmia 'Taz-myuh', with a really quick second/third syllables to almost rhyme with 'Tin-yuh'.

And for Querl (Brainy, since he's never called this anymore), Quer (as in query)- el. And I know what else that sounds like, but I didn't as a 9 or 10 year old, so there.

TN

How about Cham? Sure we know how to pronounce 'chameleon', but what about the nickname?

I've always pronounced it 'sham', but the pronunciation of the root word would imply 'cam' or 'cum' or, literally taken 'cham'.

So which is it?

'Cum-eleon'???!!!

Maybe that's the dreaded third 'living weapon' of Durla.

TN

Sounds like a porno waiting to be made!

It just seems awkward to me to say "Kam" or, worse, "Come." So, I've always said "Sham," as well.

Nice to hear someone else says "sham". It's embarassing...the root of the whole thing is that I didn't know how 'chameleon' was pronounced when I was a kid first picking up the Legion. I thought the word was said like 'SHAM-a-lon' based largely on evreyone calling him Cham. It was an eye-opener when I realized how the word should be said, but I stuck with saying 'sham' for the nickname.

Gim = hard "G"
Thom = sounds like "Tom"
Jan = rhymes with jam
Ayla = "Eye-la"
Tinya = like "Tina" with a 'y'
Cham = Cam
Darkseid = Darkseed

I looked it up in encyclopedia galactica, you can all go home now.

I've been collecting the Legion for about 23 years now, and until very recently, I always pronounced it "Dark...seed". Although it always sounded "right" to me, I've been recently corrected.

Queer-El, huh? What would Kara say? Too bad it doesn't stand up to gradeschool humor, I actually really like that for the pronunciation. Query-- that'd be appropriate for Brainy! I always read it as sounding like Squirrel myself, though...

And I'm surprised after Apartheid, people didn't start proncing it "Dark-SATE"... It's always been DarkSIDE for me.

Lou-OR-new, SAY-loo, AY-la, TAZ-me-uh, Jim Allen, Kam or Kuh-MEAL-yun...

toeMAYtoe...