# cthulhu **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027 "2003-04-16T05:27:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/21 "2003-04-18T05:26:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Art Vandelay, Architect \* > \*\*Hijack alert! > I just have to ask, but why is Cthulhu always singled out to identify the Old Ones of Lovecraft’s stories? \*\* Because I am so damn cool, I make all those other terrors from time and space look like raw garbage. (Of course, they already looked pretty disgusting, even without comparing them to me, but still…) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\* > I find it fun to worship Cthulhu, but I know he’s a fictional character. I’m an atheist, but I still feel the need to pray every now and then, so sometimes I’ll say something like ‘Oh great Cthulhu, please make that policeman pass me, grant me this and I will sacrifice to you 100 virgins when you make me Emperor of the World.’ For something like making a light change or traffic clear up, it might be less virgins. Started out as a joke, now it’s more of a conditioned response because, hey, sometimes Cthulhu grants my wishes. 8^) I hate to admit that I have not kept track of how many virgins I have promised Cthulhu, but I figure if I am Emperor of the World I can sacrifice 10,000 or so and that should cover it, as I don’t make that promise very often. \*\* It is actually 11,250 virgins that you have promised me, human, and if you do ever become the Emperor of your kind, I intend to hold you to your promise. Also, I prefer Japanese schoolgirls - hey \*\* I do have tentacles. \*\* 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/22 "2003-04-18T05:32:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*Cthulhu exists, and he’s [ready for summer!](http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=TYVHP010&variation=&lg=1) \*\* I saw one of these before…thought it was a Pocket Dragon. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/23 "2003-04-18T05:49:10Z")
Am I the only one who likes Lovecraft’s essay “ibid.”? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/24 "2003-04-18T06:43:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Pages and pages, mind you, that never specifically say what makes it so horrible and indescribable. Because, you know, it’s also indescribable. \*\* I have to confess, the first time I read _Mountains of Madness_ I was waiting and waiting and waiting, cause he was really building it up. And then it was like yer kid brother jumping out of the closet and yelling “Boo!” Pretty much all Lovecraft is like that, actually. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/25 "2003-04-18T11:53:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*Cthulhu exists, and he’s [ready for summer!](http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=TYVHP010&variation=&lg=1) \*\* YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Why didn’t anyone tell me about this one sooner!?! Just ordered mine from a different website. Now all my other Cthulhus will have another driving buddy in the car, though it is kind of weird having a Santa Cthulhu in the back seat in April. ---
**Author:** ![Wyld\_Stallyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Wyld\_Stallyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyld_Stallyn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/26 "2003-04-18T15:49:57Z")
This thread is of a quite singular, cyclopean, and eldritch _geometry_. Sorry, my HPL books get kinda wyld with the italicisation, especially when describing the geometry of certain things. Back to the OP, I don’t think the _idea_ of Cthulhu and the “Old Ones” is all that crazy (i.e. great beings that existed before humans, etc.), at least not any more crazy than any other religion. For full disclosure, I’ll mention that I’m what people refer to nowadays as a “bad Catholic”; in truth, I can’t remember the last time I attended a mass. ---
**Author:** ![Wyld\_Stallyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Wyld\_Stallyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyld_Stallyn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/27 "2003-04-18T15:57:39Z")
ah, also, that website indicates that “Summer Fun Cthulhu” is sold out (or _has_ sold out:dubious: ) Anyways, is this permanent, or will we at one point in the future be able to buy a little piece of mayhem for ourselves again? ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/28 "2003-04-18T16:41:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\*Am I the only one who likes Lovecraft’s essay “ibid.”? \*\* I don’t know if I’ve read it. Got a link? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/29 "2003-04-18T17:30:06Z")
I think it’s still under copyright, so I can’t link to the story. I believe you can find it if you google for the H. P. Lovecraft Library. As you know, ibid. is an abbreviation often found in footnotes, which you use when you’re citing a source you’ve just previously cited. Lovecraft came across an essay written by a student who didn’t know that, so the student wrote “…as Ibid says in his famous Lives of the Poets.” So, taking that line as his theme, he wrote an biography of Ibid, who’s best known for his work"Lives of the Poets" ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/30 "2003-11-09T22:24:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Art Vandelay, Architect \* > \*\*Hijack alert! > Why not call them the Dunwich Horrors, or the Azazothians, or N’yarlathotopians, or the Innsmouth Shadows? It’s nothing against the great tentacled one per say, but ‘he’ only appeared in one story IIRC, and don’t remember Lovecraft ever identifying ‘him’ as being in any leadership role. \*\* Well, it’s not named after the crawling chaos because it’s far to hard to easily spell or pronouce his name(I still can’t pronouce it to save my life). Cthulhu is far easier in comparison ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/31 "2003-11-09T22:46:37Z")
[pointless hijack]Any other opera users spend about five minutes trying to figure out if there are any pentagram/pentacle mouse macros on that “Summer Fun Cthulhu” page?[/PHJ] ---
**Author:** ![MMI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@MMI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMI)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/32 "2003-11-10T01:02:21Z")
Honey, do you think this dress makes me look squamous? Not at all dear, not the least bit rugose either. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/33 "2003-11-10T09:11:51Z")
No, dear, that dress doesn’t make you looks squamous. It’s your cyclopean TENTACLES that make you look squamous! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/34 "2003-11-10T09:18:50Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mnecromicon.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mnecromicon.html) ---
**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 10, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/35 "2003-11-10T12:34:55Z")
Well, for one thing, Cthulhu is one of the few deities to actually make a personal appearance in any of Lovecraft’s stories. Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, He who is not to be Named, and so on are spoken about, but almost never seen. Cthulhu appeared in one of HPL’s most famous stories, and actually got to rip some stuff apart. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/36 "2003-11-10T15:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \* > \*\*_adds pages upon pages on just how horrible and scary this thing is and man, you won’t believe it, but it is both horrible AND scary…_ \*\* Of course, you also forget the 15 pages in **front** of his post describing the fascinating architecture of the town he was driving through previous to the eldritch forest in terms his intended would not be likely to understand or enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027/37 "2003-11-10T17:02:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Art Vandelay, Architect \* > \*\*Hijack alert! > > I just have to ask, but why is Cthulhu always singled out to identify the Old Ones of Lovecraft’s stories? Everything from the title of this thread to my age-old copy of the AD&D ‘Dieties & Demi-Gods’ always singles out Cthulhu. (The Dieties & Demi-God chapter on them refers to “the Cthulhu mythos” rather than Lovecraft mythos, which might be more appropriate. \*\* Blame August Derleth. Lovecraft never really gave an overall name to the mythos he (and others) invented; the Hastur mythos or the Yog-Sothoth mythos would have been equally valid. After Lovecraft’s death, fellow writer August Derleth took it upon himself to keep Lovecraft’s fiction and the mythos alive. While opinions vary on Derleth’s own writings and contributions to the mythos, it is probable that most people would never have heard of Lovecraft if it were not for his efforts in keeping his stories in print. (IIRC he founded Arkham House publishing for the purpose of continuing to print Lovecraft’s stories.) It was Derleth who started calling Lovecraft’s work the “Cthulhu Mythos”. Since he was the one pushing and publishing Lovecraft, the name stuck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cthulhu/169027.md?page=1)