# Cthulhu: Education wanted **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677 "2003-10-31T16:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/21 "2003-11-01T04:09:01Z")
You spit loudly and then add a “lu” sound to the end. Atleast, that’s how _I_ do it. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/22 "2003-11-01T04:57:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjk \* > \*\*Yes, read all of those stories. > > Meanwhile, [here](http://www.geocities.com/metallicmessiah/gif/cthulhu2.gif)’s a more accurate picture, from H.P. himself. \*\* Umm, those Geocities “not available” pages look nothing like me. And \*\* BluMoon \*\*, the tongue of man cannot accurately render my true name; a gutteral C’thuul-hu is the closest you are going to get. ---
**Author:** ![Spacegirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Spacegirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spacegirl)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/23 "2003-11-01T07:10:40Z")
Well thanks guys (gals?)! Next time, I’ll spit! ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/24 "2003-11-01T07:26:40Z")
Anyone else ever ponder the fact that Zoidberg from Futurama bears a slight resemblence to Cthulhu? We already know that one of the animators on Futurama is a (Closet?)Lovecraft fan, since a Yithen was shown in one of the episodes(when Leela was going to marry the fake cyclops). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/25 "2003-11-01T09:28:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BluMoon \* > \*\*Can somebody please educate me on how to pronounce Cthulhu? \*\* Why, just like it’s spelled, of course. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/26 "2003-11-01T11:03:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HPL \* > \*\*Anyone else ever ponder the fact that Zoidberg from Futurama bears a slight resemblence to Cthulhu? > \*\* Thats not true. Zoidberg is red, whilst I am greenish(at least to how you humans perceive my visage) in coloration. ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/27 "2003-11-01T12:17:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aasna \* > \*\*You spit loudly and then add a “lu” sound to the end. > \*\* Grrrr. _wipes monitor_ ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/28 "2003-11-01T16:10:45Z")
Lovecraft said the best human approximation was a guttural “clulu”. ---
**Author:** ![hebesphenomegacorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@hebesphenomegacorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hebesphenomegacorona)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/29 "2003-11-01T16:58:51Z")
Well,what other powers does he have besides drive people insane by them looking at him? Earthquakes?Can he shoot lasers from his eyes? Do his tentacles have Cyanide in them? ---
**Author:** ![joshmaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a587f6/32.png) [@joshmaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joshmaker)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/30 "2003-11-01T17:22:43Z")
I don’t know much about Lovecraft, but I understand he wrote a lot of stories with many evil old ones and elder gods. Anyone know why Cthulhu become the most famous / popular of the Lovecraftian monsters? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/31 "2003-11-01T17:55:08Z")
Posted by **joshmaker:** > [@](#): > > Anyone know why Cthulhu become the most famous / popular of the Lovecraftian monsters? Probably because the whole fictional universe Lovecraft created, and to which so many other contemporary _Weird Tales_ writers made their contributions, was known as the “Cthulhu Mythos.” But why it is called that, I cannot say. It could as easily have been called the “Yog-Sothoth Mythos” or the "Hast ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/32 "2003-11-01T18:25:40Z")
Funny this should come up. I run the reference department at a public library. Last week one of my staffers asked me about a book she had been asked to get through inter-library loan, The Necronomicon. I nearly hurt myself laughing. It gets better: She then told me about the patron telling her about the “myth” of this book being created by H.P. Lovecraft. “The origional was written in blood, I saw it in this movie Army of Darkness”. Was one of the quotes. ``` After being unable to aquire a copy (of one of the many knockoff versions), I told the staffer to tell our budding cultist that the only copy we could find was in the library of Miskatonic University, in Arkham Mass, and that they won't allow inter-library loans on that title. ``` 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/33 "2003-11-01T19:38:04Z")
Well, it’s important to note that Cthulhu isn’t just a big ugly monster. He is a God. That is to say, Cthulhu is powerful to the point where the line between “huge and monstrous” and “godlike” become a little blurred. Simply looking at him would likely drive you insane. The whole idea here, the idea that’s supposed to scare you, is this: We believe in a God who is, in most of our minds, a tall, old man with a beard who loves us. Cthulhu is a God who knows and understands and cares about us the same way you know and understand about termites in your woodwork. And would, if he could, react in about the same way that you would to those termites. Well, maybe not exactly. You wouldn’t EAT the termites, but you get the idea. God is, in the Cthulhu Mythos, not a benevolent old man who made us in His image. He is, in fact, a giant frigging squid monster who broadcasts telepathic madness, and he doesn’t love you at all. And the Other Gods are just as horrible, if not worse. In Lovecraft’s day, this was a pretty revolutionary idea, literature-wise, which largely accounts for the fact that most of the stuff he wrote is still in print. His prose was pretty thick – not easily accessible to people used to Stephen King or Tom Clancy – but his ideas, when you get a grip on them, can be remarkably creepy. The Deep Ones were, in the literature, a race of fishlike anthropoids that worship Cthulhu. They also, for reasons unclear, wish to interbreed with human beings. They accomplished this by tempting small, isolated fishing communities into casting aside their religions in favor of the Deep Ones’ religion, by providing gold and good fishing. …of course, there’s a price to pay. You get to let the nice fish folks marry into your family, and your grandchildren might look a little strange, but, hey… (the recent film “Dagon” is based on a Lovecraft story about the Deep Ones, and while it’s a loose adaptation, it captures the general flavor and feel pretty nicely.) Lovecraft remarked that a sort of thickly pronounced “cluh-luh” was as close as human tongues could come to pronouncing “Cthulhu.” Us fanboys, on the other hand, in order to avoid spitting in each others’ faces, simply pronounce it “kuh-THOO-loo,” and be done with it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/34 "2003-11-01T21:09:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DreadCthulhu \* > \*\*Thats not true. Zoidberg is red, whilst I am greenish(at least to how you humans perceive my visage) in coloration. \*\* But you both have tentacles on your face. That and zoidberg’s people did enslave humanity at one point. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/35 "2003-11-01T21:12:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hebesphenomegacorona \* > \*\*Well,what other powers does he have besides drive people insane by them looking at him? > > Earthquakes?Can he shoot lasers from his eyes? Do his tentacles have Cyanide in them? \*\* If he can drive everyone insane just from his mental broadcasts, why does he need anything else? Oh, he’s also unkillable. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/36 "2003-11-01T21:36:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sweetums \* > \*\*Funny this should come up. I run the reference department at a public library. Last week one of my staffers asked me about a book she had been asked to get through inter-library loan, The Necronomicon. I nearly hurt myself laughing. It gets better: > > She then told me about the patron telling her about the “myth” of this book being created by H.P. Lovecraft. “The origional was written in blood, I saw it in this movie Army of Darkness”. Was one of the quotes. > > ``` > After being unable to aquire a copy (of one of the many knockoff versions), I told the staffer to tell our budding cultist that the only copy we could find was in the library of Miskatonic University, in Arkham Mass, and that they won't allow inter-library loans on that title. > > ``` > > 😃 \*\* Actually, according to “the Dunwich Horror”, the following locations have copies: University of Buenos Ayres Widener Library at Harvard Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris British Museum(presumably in London) ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/37 "2003-11-01T23:46:23Z")
True HPL, however these are real libraries in real places. I gave an imaginary location for an imaginary book. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/38 "2003-11-02T00:12:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sweetums \* > \*\*True HPL, however these are real libraries in real places. I gave an imaginary location for an imaginary book. \*\* Good point. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/39 "2003-11-02T00:20:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HPL \* > \*\*If he can drive everyone insane just from his mental broadcasts, why does he need anything else? > > Oh, he’s also unkillable. \*\* There is a role-playing game called “Call of Cthulhu” (very well done, btw) and in one of the supplements there’s a FAQ. In the FAQ, one of the questions is: Q: What happens if you drop a nuke on Cthulhu? And the answer goes something like: A: Well, there’s a big kaboom, and when the dust clears, Cthulhu’s gone. For about 3 minutes. Then he’s back, only now he’s radioactive and _pissed_. Q: Wait. He can’t be killed?! Then what do players _do_ if they meet Cthulhu? A: Run. Or die with dignity. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677/40 "2003-11-02T01:50:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wang-Ka \* > **He is a God.** Really? **Taanstafl** said he was an alien early on in this thread. And who is this Yog-Sothoth everyone keeps mentioning? A Deep One? Another equally powerful alien? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu-education-wanted/210677.md?page=3)