A friend recently had a picture of Cthulhuas his facebook photo. And then I saw him at his house and asked him to pronounce it…I apparently butchered it, so some help would be nice? How the heck do you pronounce Cthulhu?
kuh-thoo-loo
You don’t, you damned fool! Madness is the very least you risk by invoking that dread and ancient name!
More to the point (and thankfully), you can’t - pronouncing That Name requires depraved and eldritch organs of speech that homo sapiens doesn’t possess. “Kah-thoo-loo” is about as close as we can get. Still closer than it’s prudent to get, I would point out.
Generally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkGqJqvWOUs
But Lovecraft said the language of the Old Ones wasn’t really translatable/meant for human tongue.
Also, what they said above lol.
Interesting. I say it without the schwah in the first syllable, so it’s Kthoo-loo. Not that I have ever really found occasion to say this word.
Among the first times I read the name, I somehow swapped the t and the h, and it came out in my head as “Cha-too-loo”.
Even realizing that it’s wrong, I haven’t changed it. The hard Ch at the start makes it sound harsher and nastier to me, and I like it that way.
Very similar to what my friend said :dubious: …
Per Wikipedia, Lovecraft’s pronunciation was something close to “Klooloo”, although that doesn’t seem to have caught on.
One of the film/TV adaptations of Lovecraft had what I consider the best pronunciation. Wish I could remember which one, but it was pronounced with different emphasis: Kut-hool-hoo. (Where maybe the Kut would be better as K’t).
But for everyday usage, most fans will pronounce it Kah-thoo-loo.
Smart friend! I’m glad people are making sure their friends are Cthulhu-aware.
Remember: Friends don’t let friends invoke the names of the Elder Gods.
I’ve always assumed ‘Kuthew-lou’ Three sounds, two syllables. The first pronounced like ‘thew,’ with a hard K in front.
The real question is, how do you pronounce "ia ia!’?
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Now I REALLY wanna play Arkham Horror . . .
I believe it’s “eee-yah, eee-yah” - that’s how it was pronounced in Dagon, at any rate. (Great, underrated movie, btw).
And ftaghn is “fah-tah-gan”, with a slight emphasis on the middle syllable of obscene and alien space.
AAAAAAGblblbrblrblghquackquackpthhhhhlblblblblblburble…
I pronounce the second H
For which offense, you will be eaten last.
Throatwarblermangrove.
A hard but barely pronounced “keh” noise followed quickly by Thew-loo. Say it all together quickly. I blame Icelandic for teaching me new and interesting ways to string together phenomes.
Note: Reward offered for online source to order one of those shirts.
Really? To me ‘Cha-too-loo’ sounds like either some kind of online messaging program, or a latin dance night that’s accidentally missing the first two 'cha-'s.
But of course, my human brain may well have been warped by exposure to unspeakable horrors that man cannot comprehend. After all, it is not the sounds itself but the mental emanations that the Old Ones perceive, even in their deathless sleep. It is dangerous even to meditate on the names that must not be spoken.
Try pronouncing it “Hastur Hastur Hastur!” - the louder the better.