# Watership Down proununciation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312 "2011-06-04T15:57:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/21 "2011-06-09T16:24:15Z")
Ah this is the thread for me. So “El Ahrairah”. Is it “Ell Er Aye Rah?” “Ell Er Air Ah?” Something else? ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/22 "2011-06-09T16:30:33Z")
I always pronounced it as “lee” but I speak American, not English, so take that for what it’s worth. 😃 Someday I’m going to buy a black Volkswagon Rabbit and get personalized plates that say “Inle”. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/23 "2011-06-09T18:01:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I heard somewhere of a Volkswagen Rabbit with the license plate “hrududu”. … … OMG, I think I need to reconsider my license plate. For it is indeed a VW Rabbit. 😃 Sadly, it’s silver, else I’d totally steal **Marlitharn’s** idea. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/24 "2011-06-10T01:48:26Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > Ah this is the thread for me. > > So “El Ahrairah”. Is it “Ell Er Aye Rah?” “Ell Er Air Ah?” > > Something else? In the movie (the original animated one) it was el-ah-RAY Rah (as if the ray and the rah were separate words). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/25 "2011-06-10T03:10:14Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > OMG, I think I need to reconsider my license plate. For it is indeed a VW Rabbit. 😃 Sadly, it’s silver, else I’d totally steal **Marlitharn’s** idea. See if you can get SLVRWEED past the license plate censors 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/26 "2011-06-10T04:14:55Z")
Did anybody ever see the [TV miniseries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down_%28TV_series%29)? I was wondering if it was any good. It’s much longer than the movie. For that matter, did anybody ever read [Tales From Watership Down](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Watership_Down)? _Shardik_ was optioned long ago for a film and even for a stage play but to my knowledge neither ever came into being. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/27 "2011-06-10T04:20:55Z")
I don’t know if Richard Adams owns an interest, but there is a [Watership Down Pub](http://watershipdowninn.info/) in the town where he lives and close to where the story is set. Their menu implies they don’t serve rabbit, but lettuce might be on the menu. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/28 "2011-06-10T06:00:32Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Did anybody ever see the [TV miniseries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down_%28TV_series%29)? I was wondering if it was any good. It’s much longer than the movie. For that matter, did anybody ever read [Tales From Watership Down](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Watership_Down)? > > _Shardik_ was optioned long ago for a film and even for a stage play but to my knowledge neither ever came into being. I like Tales. It’s short stories; some are about the Watership warren after the war with Efrafra, some are El-arairah stories that were mentioned but never told in the original novel, and a couple are stories the rabbits tell about themselves. It’s a nice follow-up. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/29 "2011-06-10T06:10:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I heard somewhere of a Volkswagen Rabbit with the license plate “hrududu”. That’s awesome. I have VW Jetta. While not a Rabbit, it makes me want to get a similar vanity plate. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/30 "2011-06-10T06:14:59Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > Ah this is the thread for me. > > So “El Ahrairah”. Is it “Ell Er Aye Rah?” “Ell Er Air Ah?” > > Something else? I’ve always pronounced it the latter. More like, “El Ar Rare Uh.” But I could be wrong. I read it in my youth, and again as an adult. It’s one of my favorite stories of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/31 "2011-06-10T10:48:22Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > Ah this is the thread for me. > > So “El Ahrairah”. Is it “Ell Er Aye Rah?” “Ell Er Air Ah?” > > Something else? I assume you need to articulate the “hrair” in there. That’s what makes him the “Prince with a Thousand Enemies.” So, I assumed something like, Ella-Hrair-Rah. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/32 "2011-06-10T14:07:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I heard somewhere of a Volkswagen Rabbit with the license plate “hrududu”. I saw a car with that plate here in Gainesville about 20 years ago (don’t recall if it was a Rabbit, though). I later found out that Richard Adams had been Writer-in-Residence at the university here. Cool! However the timing is wrong for me to pretend it might have been his car… ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/33 "2011-06-10T18:45:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Did anybody ever see the [TV miniseries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down_%28TV_series%29)? I was wondering if it was any good. Absolutely fucking horrible. The characters are Disneyfied to a vomit-inducing degree (particularly Pipkin, who is made into a “cute” young boy rabbit who gets into comical misadventures). I couldn’t watch the whole thing, but I am given to understand that later episodes involve rabbits who can cast magic and that Woundwort has some sort of Heel Face Turn and decides that everyone should get along and be friends or some wretched shit like that. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/34 "2011-06-10T20:58:03Z")
[QUOTE=Myrnalene] I couldn’t watch the whole thing, but I am given to understand that later episodes involve rabbits who can cast magic and that Woundwort has some sort of Heel Face Turn and decides that everyone should get along and be friends or some wretched shit like that. [/QUOTE] I hope that’s wrong. One of my favorite moments in the book was Woundwort attacking the dog when last seen. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/35 "2011-06-10T21:24:31Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I hope that’s wrong. One of my favorite moments in the book was Woundwort attacking the dog when last seen. Ah, yes. From memory: “Come back, you fools! Dog’s aren’t dangerous!” ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/36 "2011-06-11T00:06:43Z")
It has always been my intention to have a dog named Rowsby Woof. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312/37 "2011-06-11T01:28:37Z")
Had to wade in to note that my first wife used to call me El Hraka-Rah. She was funny that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watership-down-proununciation/584312.md?page=1)