# Dear Chewbacca **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720 "2010-06-10T23:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/21 "2010-06-11T12:45:41Z")
Heh, like “Lou Rawl’s Lawyer” - I can totally hear Chewie sayin’ that. And shit. There’s an SNL skit in there somewhere. Haven’t seen you in a bit, \*\*Kapowz \*\*- how they hangin’? ---
**Author:** ![moldybread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@moldybread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldybread)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/22 "2010-06-11T13:31:21Z")
How Chewy got his name. There was once a man named Bacca, He was strolling along a sidewalk one day when… ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/23 "2010-06-11T13:32:49Z")
I’ll move this from MPSIMS to Cafe Society and let those mods deal with the inanity and shit. Oh wait… **twickster** , MPSIMS/Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/24 "2010-06-11T13:35:09Z")
I don’t care what you smell; just get in there. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/25 "2010-06-11T13:36:11Z")
And stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/26 "2010-06-11T14:44:28Z")
I suspect that Chewbacca is responsible for most cattle mutilations. And shit. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/27 "2010-06-11T17:03:28Z")
Hmm… it would seem that if another species that can pronounce the name is responsible for giving Wookies their names, that it would suggest a “pet/owner” type of relationship. For example, my cats could never pronounce anything close to “Ashes” or “Orion” or “Tishiba.” And if they had the mental capacity to name each other, would probably name each other something like “mrowr-hiss.” Among humans, we have variations in different languages (Sean for John), but both are pronounceable among humans. It’s not that you’d translate one language and substitute the name John for every Sean you’d see, you’d just continue to say “Sean.” So, I doubt that “Chewbacca” is just a translation of something a Wookie could say. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/28 "2010-06-11T17:11:07Z")
I think Han and Chewie just picked names for each other that each could pronounce. Han called Chewie “Chewie” and Chewie called Han “Rarrwr” Now the question is why did Han pick “Chewbacca?” Maybe that’s a word a different species used as a common name. Or maybe Han decided to name Chewie after the first thing he saw, a can of chewing tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/29 "2010-06-11T17:29:20Z")
In that case, which has been my contention actually, we don’t really know the Wookie’s name. We only know what others call him. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/30 "2010-06-11T17:31:08Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > In that case, which has been my contention actually, we don’t really know the Wookie’s name. We only know what others call him. Yeah, I should have acknowledged I was basically agreeing with you. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/31 "2010-06-11T17:31:19Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I think Han and Chewie just picked names for each other that each could pronounce. Han called Chewie “Chewie” and Chewie called Han “Rarrwr” > > Now the question is why did Han pick “Chewbacca?” Maybe that’s a word a different species used as a common name. Or maybe Han decided to name Chewie after the first thing he saw, a can of chewing tobacco. Given that Yoda calls Chewbacca, or a Wookie who looks like Chewbacca, Chewbacca, long before the events of _Star Wars_, it seems unlikely that Han coined the name. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/32 "2010-06-11T17:36:07Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Given that Yoda calls Chewbacca, or a Wookie who looks like Chewbacca, Chewbacca, long before the events of _Star Wars_, it seems unlikely that Han coined the name. Ok, it was Yoda who found the can of chewing tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/33 "2010-06-11T17:37:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Of course, that doesn’t explain the other, equally weird Wookiee names from Lucas’ universe: Attichituck, Mallatobuck, Lumpawaroo. On the other hand, these appear in the despised and rejected _Star Wars Holiday Special_, so maybe we can all agree that these things never existed and never will exist. I loved the fact that Attichitcuk (Chewbacca’s father) was nicknamed “Itchy”, and Lumpawaroo (Chewbacca’s son) was nicknamed “Lumpy”. Chewie, Itchy, Lumpy…sounds like symptoms of a skin disorder, or something. And shit. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/34 "2010-06-11T17:39:03Z")
OP is off his meds. Or on them, I dunno… ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/35 "2010-06-11T17:51:15Z")
so where did they get Wookie(s) from? "There once was a wookie from Oz And shit. when’s the next poetry workshop? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/36 "2010-06-11T17:52:24Z")
Ever notice how Han Solo can understand everything Chewbacca says? That’s because he’s made the effort to learn Wookiee, wherein every grunt and growl corresponds to a human-pronounceable syllable. “Rowr” = "Chew; “aalllll” = “bac”; “aaaazzz” = “ca” “Rowryaalllllaaaazzz” = “Chewbacca” It’s all very simple, really. And shit. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/37 "2010-06-11T17:53:55Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > It’s not that you’d translate one language and substitute the name John for every Sean you’d see, you’d just continue to say “Sean.” So, I doubt that “Chewbacca” is just a translation of something a Wookie could say. I’m reminded that in American Sign Language, which doesn’t follow the syntax of spoken American English, rather than fingerspelling a person’s name every time they’re referred to, which is difficult and disrupts the flow of conversation, simple name signs are created, usually something associated with the first letter of the person’s name. So in a sense, the name is “translated” into ASL and that translation is used thereafter. So with Han and Chewie, Han _understands_ Wookiee but doesn’t speak it, and conversely, Chewbacca _understands_ Han’s language (Standard/English/whatever it’s called in that galaxy far far away) but doesn’t speak it. So it’s possible that Han does indeed translate Chewie’s Wookiee name into its Standard counterpart, which is Chewbacca, because he (and other humanoids) _can’t_ say it in Wookiee. And shit. Did I just go off on a languages tangent in a Super Kaplowzer thread and shit? ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/38 "2010-06-11T17:55:01Z")
I still think Chewbacca is just an idiot [savant](http://www.somethingawful.com/d/fashion-swat/halloween-swat.php?page=11). Really does make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/39 "2010-06-11T18:10:52Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > I got so fucking sick at the one with the wannabe-rasta-idiot,I started talking back to the movie and got kicked out. Maybe they explained it in the one with the whimperlings or some shit. Where do live? I would love to see Star Wars on the big screen. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720/40 "2010-06-11T18:27:48Z")
So who is the “wannabe-rasta-idiot”? Nien Nunb? > **[Nien Nunb](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nien_Nunb)** > > Only you could have smuggled an entire rescue craft under the Empire's noses.Princess Leia Organa, to Nien Nunb Nien Nunb was a Sullustan male arms dealer and smuggler who joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War.... That’s the same movie as the one with the “whimperlings”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-chewbacca/542720.md?page=3)