The Unpronounceable: Difference between revisions

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'''Policeman''': Talk understandably, don't mumble into your beard!

'''Bicyclist''': ''(pulls down fake beard)'' Wrdlbrmpfd.

'''Policeman''': [[The Comically Serious|What a stupid name!]] Get away!

'''Bicyclist''': ''(while leaving)'' Oh, by the way, officer -- my sister wants me to tell you soem greetings!

'''Policeman''': Your sister? But I don't know your sister at all!

'''Bicyclist''': You don't? She's such a short, dumpy one...

'''Policeman''': No, I don't know your sister -- what's her name?

'''Bicyclist''': Her name is also Wrdlbrmpfd... }}

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* In [[Larry Niven]]'s ''Warlock'' series, the eponymous character's real name was made unpronounceable on purpose. His parents summoned a demon who could pronounce things no human could say, had the demon name the boy, then trapped the demon into a tattoo on his back with a geas to protect the boy from harm if ever released. The idea was that knowing someone's real name gave you power over them, but you had to pronounce the name to use it.

* In ''[[Hard to Be A God]]'' by [[Strugatsky Brothers]], people from Earth are working undercover on another planet, inhabited by humanoids resembling Terrans very closely. One of them works as shaman to a tribal leader, whose name has ''45'' syllables.

* In [[Anne McCaffrey]] and [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[The Ship Who]] Searched'', one of the graduate students Tia and Alex are taking to their archeological dig is a plantlike alien who goes by "Fred".

* In [[Anne McCaffrey]] and [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[The Ship Who...]] Searched'', one of the graduate students Tia and Alex are taking to their archeological dig is a plantlike alien who goes by "Fred".

{{quote|"Very few humans would be able to reproduce his real name. His vocal organ is a vibrating membrane in the top of his head. He does human speech just fine, but we can't manage his." }}

* In Anne McCaffrey's "Talent" series, an alien race called the Mrdini, whose names do not contain vowels, like "Prtglm".

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* In Gordon Korman's ''Nose Pickers from Outer Space'', we are introduced to Stanley Mflxnys, an alien from Pan (a so-called "Pant", pl. "Pants"). He looks just like a person, but he eats paper, and has a computer inside his head where a person's brain would be (his real brains are behind his knees).

* In Jeff VanderMeer's ''[[Ambergris]]'' books, the Graycaps have a language consisting largely of clicks and whistles, and is so complicated that for longest time people were arguing if they really had a language at all. In ''[[Ambergris|Finch]]'' it's mentioned that their name for themselves is Fanaarcensitii—or as close as you can get with Roman letters.

* ''[[~~The Riddle Master of Hed|~~The Riddle-Master of Hed]]'' trilogy by [[Patricia A. McKillip|Patricia McKillip]] has a famous wizard referred to only as "Iff of the Unpronounceable Name" (it is later revealed that his name needed to be ''sung'', and even then it took a while to figure out the tune).

* ''[[The Riddle-Master of Hed]]'' trilogy by [[Patricia A. McKillip|Patricia McKillip]] has a famous wizard referred to only as "Iff of the Unpronounceable Name" (it is later revealed that his name needed to be ''sung'', and even then it took a while to figure out the tune).

* [[Alastair Reynolds]] tends to name his transhuman characters in this fashion. Many Conjoiners in his ''Revelation Space'' universe have names consisting of "a string of interiorised qualia" only comprehensible within Conjoiner [[Hive Mind|collective consciousness]]. Those who have to interact with baseline humans tend to use one-word approximations—a Conjoiner girl whose name represents a particular atmospheric phenomenon found rarely in the upper layers of certain gas giants is known to her human captors as Weather.

** And the Slashers in the standalone novel ''Century Rain'' have full names which include strange, musical trilling noises, thanks to their modified larynxes.

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== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* In one episode of ''[[Star Trek: The ~~Original Series|Star Trek the~~ Original Series]]'', Spock claimed that his family name was unpronounceable by humans; in a different episode, his human mother said she could do so, but only "after a fashion, and after many years of practice". (The actress who played his mother, however, [[Word of God|once told conventioneers]] that "Spock" was his surname. His real first name? Harold. OK, he's half-human.)

* In one episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'', Spock claimed that his family name was unpronounceable by humans; in a different episode, his human mother said she could do so, but only "after a fashion, and after many years of practice". (The actress who played his mother, however, [[Word of God|once told conventioneers]] that "Spock" was his surname. His real first name? Harold. OK, he's half-human.)

** Story editor D.C. Fontana wrote a letter to a Trek fanzine saying that an English approximation of Spock's family name was "Xtmprsqzntwlfb", and much early fanfic ran with it.

** In ''[[Star Trek: The ~~Motion Picture|Star Trek the~~ Motion Picture]]'', the Vulcan Master—speaking in the Vulcan language—pronounces his name as "Spoch" (with a long "o" followed by the "ch" sound in "chutzpah"). Maybe when Spock told Kirk that "you wouldn't be able to pronounce it", he meant that Iowa-born Kirk never learned how to make a "ch" sound properly.

** In ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'', the Vulcan Master—speaking in the Vulcan language—pronounces his name as "Spoch" (with a long "o" followed by the "ch" sound in "chutzpah"). Maybe when Spock told Kirk that "you wouldn't be able to pronounce it", he meant that Iowa-born Kirk never learned how to make a "ch" sound properly.

** In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' New Frontier books, the main character changes his name from M'k'n'zy to Mackenzie to make it easier to pronounce. His brother keeps the name Dn'dai.

*** He doesn't change it, the guy at Starfleet Academy registration refused to learn how to pronounce and spell it properly. He arbitrarily assigned Mac the name of Mackenzie Calhoun (Calhoun was the name of his tribe, "M'k'n'zy of Calhoun") to avoid having to figure out the real name.

* Another Star Trek example, in ''[[Star Trek: ~~Enterprise|Star Trek~~ Enterprise]]'' its stated that the names of Xindi Insectoids get longer as they age, making them harder to pronounce.

* Another Star Trek example, in ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' its stated that the names of Xindi Insectoids get longer as they age, making them harder to pronounce.

* ''[[The Fast Show]]'' featured a spoof of ''The Untouchables'' called "The Unpronounceables", in which both the mobsters and "good guys" struggle with each other's long and complicated names.

* From ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', and taken by a political person in real life, Mr. Tarquin fim-tim-lim-bim-win-bim-lim-bus-stop-f'tang-f'tang-olé-biscuitbarrel.

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* The mermaid in ''[[Sanctuary]]'' has a name, but Will and Henry consider it unpronounceable, and have instead christened her Sally.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Xander and Spike are tracking a demon that's poisoned Buffy when it suddenly leaps out at them.

{{quote|'''Spike:''' [[Oh Crap|Oh, balls!]] You didn't say the thing was a Glarghk Guhl Kashma'nik.

'''Xander:''' That's 'cause I can't say Glarma-- ''(demon [[Talk to the Fist|hits him]])'' }}

* [[Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger]] seems to be toying with this, giving names like Shibuyaseitakaawadachisouhidenagaaburamushi to the [[Monster of the Week]], and a villain whose name is written as "©Na"(subverted in that it's pronounced Marushina/ Malseena).

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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* The Tau from ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' are said to have names effectively unpronounceable in Imperial Gothic, the humans' lingua franca of the setting. This is somewhat ironic as far as the symbolism is concerned, considering that the Tau are the idealists of the setting and are mostly immune to its [[Cosmic Horror]] menaces.

* The Tau from ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' are said to have names effectively unpronounceable in Imperial Gothic, the humans' lingua franca of the setting. This is somewhat ironic as far as the symbolism is concerned, considering that the Tau are the idealists of the setting and are mostly immune to its [[Cosmic Horror]] menaces.

** Tau lanquage however isn't nearly as hard to prnounce as some other examples. It is however quite different from the human lanquage, consisting of long flowing series of syllables. An example of a Tau name would be Shas'O Vior'La O'Kais Mont'Yr O'Shovah (meaning Commander Farsight, the skilled and the bloodied, of the sept Vior'La).

** Also in 40K, there are several examples of Daemon names in the style of Lovecraft—so much so that, on the GW website, there is a Daemon name generator that strings together random syllables to form names such as Yyeaag'gaeffthlgzaaq'ffdhppccdhergzbhyyiieduii.

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* There is a horselike race in ''[[Fading Suns]]'', whose members' names can look like "Aluuuraloooraaaa" or "[long, fading whistle]". The creators cared enough to avert [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] and point out several races (this one as well as bird- and bugpeople) have their voice apparatus working differently than that of primates.

* Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game: The Earthbound Immortals all have weird names. ''Ccapac Apu'' and ''Ccarayhua'' deserves a mention.

* ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons|Dragons.]]'' Crack open ''Races of The Dragon'' or ''The Draconomicon'' and you will see that damn near everything that flies and breathes fire or some other breath weapon in those books will have a name that is nigh unpronounceable. Most non-dragons tend to use a nickname or [[Reporting Names]] for them.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons|Dragons.]]'' Crack open ''Races of The Dragon'' or ''The Draconomicon'' and you will see that damn near everything that flies and breathes fire or some other breath weapon in those books will have a name that is nigh unpronounceable. Most non-dragons tend to use a nickname or [[Reporting Names]] for them.

** R.A. Salvatore's ''Sellswords'' series has the dragon colloquially known as Hephaestus. His real name is Velcuthimmorhar.

*** Also by R.A. Salvatore, [[The Legend of Drizzt|Drizzt Do'Urden]] [[Try to Fit That on A Business Card|of D'aermon Na'shez'baernon]]. It seems not even Salvatore himself is entirely sure how to pronounce it. (For the record, it's officially "Drist".)

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*** The same book has the red dragon Mistinarperadnacles. This has been known to be mangled out-of-universe into something like "mister nerple-dinkles".

** See also ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' and ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', below.

* This is the logical conclusion of pre-recording equipment era Black Spiral Dancers in [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]. The Book of the Wyrm states that BSDs are named after the first sound they make after they exit the [[Mind Screw|Black]] [[Go Mad ~~From~~ the Revelation|Spiral]] [[Eldritch Location|Labyrinth]]. Since this was usually a pained, guttural and utterly insane [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|howl, sigh, scream, or giggle]], somebody best to have been listening ''really'' closely, otherwise the "name" would be lost as soon as it was uttered. Even then....

* This is the logical conclusion of pre-recording equipment era Black Spiral Dancers in [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]. The Book of the Wyrm states that BSDs are named after the first sound they make after they exit the [[Mind Screw|Black]] [[Go Mad from the Revelation|Spiral]] [[Eldritch Location|Labyrinth]]. Since this was usually a pained, guttural and utterly insane [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|howl, sigh, scream, or giggle]], somebody best to have been listening ''really'' closely, otherwise the "name" would be lost as soon as it was uttered. Even then....

* The alien race the Kyz, described in the [[Role Playing Game]] supplement ''[[GURPS]] International Super Teams'', have a language which is partially verbal and partially projective empathy, making not only their names but their entire language impossible to pronounce for anyone lacking the proper psionic gifts.

* The alien race the Kyz, described in the [[Role-Playing Game]] supplement ''[[GURPS]] International Super Teams'', have a language which is partially verbal and partially projective empathy, making not only their names but their entire language impossible to pronounce for anyone lacking the proper psionic gifts.

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* One area in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' is named the Temple of Uggalepih, sometimes referred to by fans as the Temple of Unpronounceable. Also, the area simply known as Pso'Xja.

** FFXI uses tab to complete words for auto-translation. Various hard to spell/remember or hard to pronounce things are often shortened by writing out the "tab". For instance, a body armour called Pahluwan Khazagand simply being referred to as "Pahltab body".

* Dragons in games based on ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' seem to often have very long, [[Punctuation Shaker]] names. Frequently they get a much, much shorter name that are probably something they picked up to make communication easier.

* Dragons in games based on ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' seem to often have very long, [[Punctuation Shaker]] names. Frequently they get a much, much shorter name that are probably something they picked up to make communication easier.

** ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' had Thaxll'ssylia and Nizidramanii'yt.

** ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' featured Akulastraxas and the Guardian White Dragon, or Ma'fel'no'sei'kedeh'naar.

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* The ''[[Digimon]]'' games feature a character named Moon=Millenniummon. Yes, that's an equals symbol.

** Although considering that equals symbols are basically equivalent to showy hyphens in Japanese, this trope only kicks into effect for non-Japanese audiences. For instance, the American book ''[[Catch-22]]'' is often referred to in Japanese as "キャッチ=22".

* ''[[~~Runescape~~]]'' has the [[Eyes Do Not Belong There|Stalkers]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]] from attempts to pronounce names like Lakhrahnaz, Khighorahk, Ihlakhizan and Haasghenahk. At least the last one, Shukarhazh, is a bit more pronouncable, but mostly limited to people who speak languages that are pronounced exactly as they are spelled (Finnish, Latin etc.). Much amusement can also be had with the inevitable [[Black Speech|guttural sounds]] involved in such K-heavy names.

* ''[[RuneScape]]'' has the [[Eyes Do Not Belong There|Stalkers]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]] from attempts to pronounce names like Lakhrahnaz, Khighorahk, Ihlakhizan and Haasghenahk. At least the last one, Shukarhazh, is a bit more pronouncable, but mostly limited to people who speak languages that are pronounced exactly as they are spelled (Finnish, Latin etc.). Much amusement can also be had with the inevitable [[Black Speech|guttural sounds]] involved in such K-heavy names.

* One of the game's in Capcom's 1940's series of shoot em ups is called "19XX". So, is that "Nineteen Hundreds", "Nineteen ekks ekks", "19 variable variable", "Sometime in the 1900's"...?

* Nrvnqsr Chaos from ''[[Tsukihime]]''. Someone needed to buy that vampire some vowels.<ref>It's actually Greek ''neron kaisar'' ("Nero the Emperor") as spelled out in Hebrew letters, which in Hebrew numerology add up to [[Number of the Beast|666]].</ref>

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* C'thulu, in the [http://youtu.be/-DsgZ4JXXB8 first episode] of the [[YouTube]] series "Calls for C'thulu", refuses to help a caller pronounce his name.

{{quote|'''Cthulu:''' Have you got nine tongues? Is your mouth eight feet wide? It's an alien language. Give it up. Your little skinflap of a mouth can't handle it.}}

* In ''[[Pay Me Bug]]'', one character is named "Ktkt'tkkt'kktt'tkkk'tktk'ttkt'tkkk'kktt'kktk'tk" ("Ktk" for short).

* In ''[[Pay Me, Bug!]]'', one character is named "Ktkt'tkkt'kktt'tkkk'tktk'ttkt'tkkk'kktt'kktk'tk" ("Ktk" for short).

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Subverted in the Disney version of ''[[Hercules (~~Disney~~ film)|Hercules]]'', where several characters have halfway-unpronouncable Greek names like Philoctetes, and say, "Just call me Phil for short".

* Subverted in the Disney version of ''[[Hercules (1997 film)||Hercules]]'', where several characters have halfway-unpronouncable Greek names like Philoctetes, and say, "Just call me Phil for short".

* Subverted in the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean In Love", when an old acquaintance of Zoidberg's refers to him as "Dr. (unintelligible slurping/gurgling noise)."

{{quote|'''Fry''': Is that how you say "Zoidberg"? ''(The man runs off, crying.)''

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'''Homer''': What was that?

'''Qtoktok''': Oh. We call that Wrrrkp Gwrkkagkh Kkkakakhakgkkoighr. Sorry, fishbone in my throat. We call that earthquake. }}

* Parodied in ''[[Freakazoid]]!''. In trying to track down a Cthulhu-like monster, Cosgrove says he can't pronounce their next destination. Prof. Jones, however, finds 'Romania' easy to say.

* Parodied in ''[[Freakazoid!]]!''. In trying to track down a Cthulhu-like monster, Cosgrove says he can't pronounce their next destination. Prof. Jones, however, finds 'Romania' easy to say.

* Also parodied in ''[[Spliced]]''. The name of the species of bird Lord Wingus Eternum belongs to can't be pronounced; it has to be expressed as a laser dance show.

* Toys for [[Toy Story|Buzz Lightyear's]] nemesis Zurg said his home planet was Xrghthung. But in ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'', it's just "Planet Z".

* Toys for [[Toy Story (franchise)||Buzz Lightyear's]] nemesis Zurg said his home planet was Xrghthung. But in ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'', it's just "Planet Z".

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[[Category:Cosmic Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

~~[[Category~~:~~The~~ Unpronounceable]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]