Doku or DOOKOO?

[Brandon Jones]

Ok what's the deal with this pronunciation? The whole time on the EP II DVD I hear Lucas keep saying "Dough-ku" and throughout the film they pronounce it "Doo-ku." So which is it? I much prefer the way Lucas pronounces it, as it sounds less silly.

The proper pronunciation is "Dough-ku", but he is known as Dookie to his friends.

[Chaos Mage]

This is a very confusing issue, and I have wondered the same thing many times. At first, I was convinced that it was Doo-koo, because of the way it is spelled and the fact that that is how every character in the movie pronounces it. I thought it was pretty clear and obvious.

UNTIL Mr. George Lucas, creator of the character AND his name, repeatedly calls him Dough-koo. At that point I figured, well, if anyone would know then it would be HIM.

UNTIL, I heard another section of the DVD where I heard Mr. Lucas pronounce it as Doo-koo! What the...???

I don't know what to think anymore. If it really is Dough-koo, then it should be spelled Doku, with only one "O" but with the way the name is spelled it really seems like it should be Doo-koo...... I give up.

I'm just going to call him Darth Tyranus.

And no, I'm not sure how to pronounce that either.

[Alfonso Casal]

I'm just going to call him Darth Tyranus.

And no, I'm not sure how to pronounce that either.

Darth Tih-ran-us, Darth Tie-ran-us, Darth Tee-rahn-oos. . . the possibilities are endless. ;)

[Evil Peter]

To me doo-koo sounds much better. It feels more like an outerworldly name. If you pronounce it dough-ku it sounds like a mispronounciation from being english speaking to me. :) Kind of like an american pronouncing swedish names if you know what I mean. (I hope no one take offence by this :))

[Huginn]

I think George Lucas is dyslexic, he seems to commonly change his pronunciation of words that HE invented. It certainly fits with his preference for very visual storytelling. Also, have you noticed how he calls lightsabres, 'lazerswords'?

Also, I think that it is best to take the movie pronunciation as the official one, so it's Doo-koo for me.

[Alfonso Casal]

To me doo-koo sounds much better. It feels more like an outerworldly name.

On the other hand, in Portuguese that pronumciation comes close to sounding like "emerging from someone's rear end." That's why he's called "Dookan" in Brazil.

[Charles Prepolec]

Strangely, I tend to think of the character as Doo-koo, but as I thought about it a tad longer, the doh-ku pronunciation sounded rather Japanese to my ear. Out of curiosity, and after a quick online search, I find that 'doku' in Japanese means single or alone. I'd say that is a fairly apt description of this rogue Jedi's character and stance. Mind you, I'll still always think of the character as Doo-koo, but the depth of the other pronunciation quite appeals to me.

Pinching foreign words for character names is not exactly a new sci-fi practice either come to think of it. For example, and I'm certain there are more, if memory serves, Star Trek gave us the race of Feringhee (a derogatory Eastern term for Westerners in India, originally referring to the Portuguese I think) plus Dr. Who presented us with the villainous Rani (which means Queen in, I'm sorry that I can't be exact, Hindi or Urdu, unless I'm much mistaken). With that in mind, I can't help but wonder if Count Dooku isn't contrived extension of the Japanese doku. All surmise, but interesting nonetheless.

Cheers!

I watched it in german, and I think they said dough-koo, and I remember being reminded of "dokumentation" whenever it was said... so I say doo-koo... it sounds cuter, too ^^