{"id":127939,"date":"2015-09-10T10:39:25","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T16:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/10\/of-all-the-sins-of-arrow.html"},"modified":"2015-09-11T19:22:18","modified_gmt":"2015-09-12T01:22:18","slug":"of-all-the-sins-of-arrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/10\/of-all-the-sins-of-arrow.html","title":{"rendered":"Of all the sins of &quot;Arrow&quot;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I can critique it for its force-grown interpersonal conflicts.  I can slam it for fight choreography that depends way too much on high misses. I can express frustration over how everyone turns to the most nonsensical secret-keeping answer to every difficult situation. I can roll my eyes at the soap opera tropes that would have been right at home on <i>All My Children.<\/i> I can &#8212;<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; well, I can forgive it everything except this: that R&#39;as al-Ghul&#39;s name is pronounced, not incorrectly, but <i>inconsistently.<\/i>  <\/p>\n<p>[Note: I am halfway through watching S.3. No spoilers, please.]<\/p>\n<p>The name means &quot;Head of the Demon&quot; in Arabic. Properly[<b>] the first part of the name is pronounced &quot;Raysh&quot;. And <\/b><b><i>some<\/i><\/b><b> of the characters do just that.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Others pronounce it &quot;Rass&quot; or &quot;Rahs&quot;. Which is incorrect[<\/b>], but frequently encountered in the general population (and in a lot of media).<\/p>\n<p>But when two people <i>in the same conversation<\/i> are pronouncing it in <i>two different ways<\/i> &#8230; it just makes me tear my hair out. People don&#39;t do that. They&#39;d say, &quot;Oh, is that how you pronounce it?&quot; Or get into an argument or duel over the authoritative way the name of the leader of the Assassin&#39;s Guild should be pronounced. Or something. It makes no sense.[**]<\/p>\n<p>Yes, I know, it&#39;s a trivial thing to get irked at. But, hey, that&#39;s what geekery and nerditude are all about.<\/p>\n<p>[<b>] I believe that &quot;Raysh&quot; is correct. Wikipedia agrees with me. <\/b><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.comicvine.com\/forums\/gen-discussion-1\/how-to-pronounce-ras-al-ghul-657604\/\">http:\/\/www.comicvine.com\/forums\/gen-discussion-1\/how-to-pronounce-ras-al-ghul-657604\/<\/a><\/b><b> does not, at least somewhat. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>[*<\/b>] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/arrow\/comments\/2r29by\/no_spoilers_whats_with_the_inconsistent\/\">https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/arrow\/comments\/2r29by\/no_spoilers_whats_with_the_inconsistent\/<\/a> is another good discussion of the question, with some very interesting citations going back to Denny O&#39;Neil, who created the character.<\/p>\n<p>The article mentions that the producers have been asked this question and have stated the dual pronunciation is done intentionally, both in a meta fashion (since fandom disagrees about it) and in an in-story fashion (the people who say &quot;Raysh&quot; are League insiders, the ones who say &quot;Rass&quot; aren&#39;t).<\/p>\n<p>That&#39;s clever, except (a) Merlyn, a former League member, very clearly says &quot;Rass,&quot; and (b) plenty of people are <i>still having those conversations with mixed pronunciations,<\/i> and someone would say <i>something.<\/i> That&#39;s where my frustration lies.<\/p>\n<p>See also:<br \/>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NO7_cTXSps8\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NO7_cTXSps8<\/a> <br \/>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nqwx2XFb1fQ\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nqwx2XFb1fQ<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div style='text-align:center'><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/photos\/101083456815352083930\/albums\/6192919090230197057\/6192919091551415106'><img src='https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-OM6BsQ91cdM\/VfGrGi6oK0I\/AAAAAAADYV8\/MI2M44CBAZs\/1484586-ra_s_al_ghul_02%255B1%255D.jpg?imgmax=660' style='max-width:650px;' \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style='text-align:center'>\n<a href='' style='width:50px;height:50px;display:inline-block;background-size:cover;background-image:url();'><\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n<p><span style='font-size:small;'><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+DaveHill47\/posts\/3A68DMKQZm5'>View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I can critique it for its force-grown interpersonal conflicts. I can slam it for fight choreography that depends way too much on high misses. I can express frustration over how everyone turns to the most nonsensical secret-keeping answer to every difficult situation. I can roll my eyes at the soap opera tropes that would have &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/10\/of-all-the-sins-of-arrow.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Of all the sins of &quot;Arrow&quot;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,11,852,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-media-comics","category-dc-cinematic-univese","category-writing-and-language"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/1484586-ra_s_al_ghul_025B15D.jpgimgmax=660.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51737,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/14\/why-is-quinoa-pronounced-like-it-is.html","url_meta":{"origin":127939,"position":0},"title":"Why is &quot;quinoa&quot; pronounced like it is?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 14-Jul-15 11:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Which, properly, is \"KEEN-wah\" (or \"keen-WAH\"). So why the French-sounding pronunciation?Thereby hangs an interesting tale, including the probably-never-imagined question of how quinoa and jerky are related. Why is Quinoa Pronounced As Though It Were French? Quinoa. Photo credit Christian Guthier The shibbolethic (is that a word? It should be!) pronunciation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11680,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/19\/you_learn_something_new_e.html","url_meta":{"origin":127939,"position":1},"title":"You learn something new every bloody day","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 19-Jul-07 6:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"Ichor is pronounced with a long I?\u00a0 I'll be damned, apparently so.\u00a0 I always thought it was pronounced with a short I, like, well, \"icky.\"\u00a0 It's not a word I...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gaming&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8012,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/06\/29\/you_learn_somet.html","url_meta":{"origin":127939,"position":2},"title":"You learn something new every day","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-Jun-05 1:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Such that \"gill\" (the unit of measurement, a quarter of a pint or 4 oz.) is pronounced like Jack's water-fetching companion, not like the fish part....","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Potpourri&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3032,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/08\/21\/next_up_tomayto.html","url_meta":{"origin":127939,"position":3},"title":"Next up: TomAYtoe vs. TomAHtoe","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 21-Aug-02 6:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"State Fair attendees in Missouri have voted 3-1 that the state's name should be pronounced MissourEE, instead of MissourUH. Just thought you'd want to know....","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Potpourri&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1090,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/17\/the_irony_gods.html","url_meta":{"origin":127939,"position":4},"title":"The Irony Gods Strike Again","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Oct-01 7:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Off driving to dinner tonight, I was caught on traffic on the Schuykill (pronounced \"Skoo-kill\") Expressway and fumbled around on the radio, looking for NPR. Found it. It's Pledge Week...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Media Moguls&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Media Moguls","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-moguls"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1299,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/01\/29\/would_someone_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":127939,"position":5},"title":"Would someone tell That Man &#8230;","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 29-Jan-02 7:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"... that \"nuclear\" is pronounced NOO-KLEE-YER. Or even, if you're a bit pedantic, NYOO-KLEE-YER. Not NOO-KYOO-LER. It's a nucleus that's split, not a nuculus. Of course, Jimmy Carter, himself a...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Fourth Estate&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127959,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127939\/revisions\/127959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}