Transcription
A series of Tweets by @Foone, each replying to the last:
Here’s the question I always have with universal translators in sci-fi: how do they know when to stop translation? Like say an alien asks about deserts on earth, and the human lists “the sahara desert, gobi desert and kalahari desert” Alien: You just said “desert” six times.
(“Sahara” is Arabic for “desert”. “Gobi” is Mongolian for “desert”, and “Kalahari” is Tswana for “desert”)
Man, the aliens are going to think we’re so bad at naming. Cause really, aren’t we?
Brit: Behold, the beautiful River Avon!
Alien: Ahh, the River River. You humans have such a knack for naming things.
“Here we are in Chad, looking upon the mighty Lake Chad!”
"Ahh yes, the land of Lake, bordering the Lake Lake. Another fine human name. "
“And here’s Nyanza Lac, in Burundi. As you can tell by the fact that it’s named Lake Lake in Bantu & French, it’s a la… actually this one’s a city. A city named Lake Lake”
Naan bread and chai tea 🤦♀️
What did you just say? Chai tea?! ‘Chai’ means tea, bro! You’re saying ‘tea tea!’ Would I ask you for a ‘coffee coffee’ with room for ‘cream cream?’
Is it weird that chai tea bothers me but naan bread doesn’t?
Not particularly, because naan doesn’t directly mean bread. Naan is one type of flatbread. Chai means tea. Even if you’re referring to black tea in Hindi.
yes