I simply presumed that the desert and the sandworms were enforcing whatever spiritual rule required the Maitlands to not leave the house for 100 years.
“Beetlejuice” is astronomer slang for Betelgeuse. Pre-Hitchhiker’s guide, it goes way back.
Well, Saturn the Greco Roman god has come to be associated with the passage of time, as well as death in some representations : he was a harvest god, carried a scythe. Then Jupiter sent him to the realm of the damned, Tartarus, where he became the ruler. That’s close enough to the Grim Reaper, yeah ? So there’s that link at least.
He also cut his father’s tonker off, there’s your giant worm connection !
That got me, too. Acronym Finder says it’s internet slang for “for what it’s worth,” but that would be FWIW. Either it means “for what it’s forth,” or else it’s a typo that caught on for who knows what reason (FWKWR).
What exactly was Beetlejuice in his past life? Some sort of demented clown?
I seem to recall their saying that Beetlejuice was alive during the Black Death, and since he was once an official in the afterlife bureaucracy he presumably died by suicide, but they don’t really get into it.
CheeseDonkey has not posted or been active in four years. I doubt he’ll see your post.
CheeseDonkey…
CheeseDonkey
:eek:
Check out all his OPs–dude was all over the place!
I always figured that the guy regularly posted while under the effects of recreational herbs. 
I thought we were summoning him…
Considering that Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star with variable output, that must make life there uncomfortable.
I know I was pronouncing it “Beetlejuice” years before the movie came out. I don’t know if it’s because of the movie but I realized it ought to be pronounced “Bet-el-juice”.
Not exactly like “juice”; change the “c” to a “z” or “za” (jooza?)
twas worth a shot…
He’s probably still in the waiting room.
Maybe Bet-el-gooz with a hard z?
What is a hard z?
The (English) dictionary pronunciation is ˈbɛtəldʒuːz or ˈbɛtɛlʒœz, or ˈbiː-
Even among Arabic dialects, pronunciation of the “jeem” may vary, but as far as I know a “z” is (in the case of Arabic) a “z”.
“The traditional name Betelgeuse is derived from the Arabic إبط الجوزاء Ibṭ al-Jauzā’, meaning “the underarm of Orion”” AKA, Armpit.