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But 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)

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Right, 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

It’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.

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