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The original name is written as "アーボ" - "Ābo" - reverse the character order and you get "ボア" - "Boa" (the horizontal line is known as the long vowel mark, so it
by Tade0 6y ago
The original name is written as "アーボ" - "Ābo" - reverse the character order and you get "ボア" - "Boa" (the horizontal line is known as the long vowel mark, so it can be omitted).
- daveFNbuck 6y agoBut then the Japanese for Arbok is "アーボック" according to [1], but reversing the character order doesn't quite result in cobra. Does this have a different hidden meaning, or are people supposed to insert the r sound and reverse it like it's in English? [1] https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Arbok_(Pok%C3%A9mon) https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Arbok_(Pok%C3%A9mon)
- jkhdigital 6y agoRight, that's my point--Arbok seems to be a phoneticization of the reversed English word, but interpreting Arbo as Boa is reversing the phoneticized word i.e. the operations are applied in reverse. Maybe they were just playing fast and loose with the naming patterns XD
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- wk_end 6y agoIt’s possible - though maybe a stretch? - that the “ku” is supposed to allude to “-kun”, a Japanese suffix kind of akin to “Jr.” in English. Which would make this whole thing a pretty intricate and impressive multilingual pun.