dark-daventry's super awesome ridiculously off topic thread

[Enchantermon]

Yeah, he's pretty much one of the most awesome teachers there, at least from my time. After I graduated their music teacher retired and they hired a new one who seems pretty crazy (in a good way) from her Facebook posts. One of the other profs once came to class during Spirit Week with his hair dyed green (the school's colors are green and gold), wearing a ripped-up t-shirt and a sleeveless leather jacket and sporting a large nose ring. That was a sight to see!

[dark-daventry]

Yeah, he's pretty much one of the most awesome teachers there, at least from my time. After I graduated their music teacher retired and they hired a new one who seems pretty crazy (in a good way) from her Facebook posts. One of the other profs once came to class during Spirit Week with his hair dyed green (the school's colors are green and gold), wearing a ripped-up t-shirt and a sleeveless leather jacket and sporting a large nose ring. That was a sight to see!

I would imagine!

So I just rewatched the TNG episode called Darmok. Definitely a favorite! Here's what I've picked up thus far:

Shaka, when the walls fell - failure

Tembo, his arms wide - willing to receive or something like that

Tembo, his arms open - to give

Darmok on the ocean - alone, isolation

Tanagra on the ocean - island

The Beast at Tanagra - ...a beast at tinagra. Not much leanway for interpretation there.

Tembo at rest - to keep

Sokath, his eyes open! - understanding

Uzani, his army at Lashmir - an army somewhere... I really don't know how to interpret that so well...

Uzani, his army with fists open - to lure an enemy

Uzani, his army with fists closed - to attack

So, to translate a little at the end of the episode when Picard is speaking to the Tamarian's:

"Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. The beast of Tanagra. Uzani, his army, shaka when the walls fell."

"Your captain and I on the planet's surface, isolated and alone, fought the beast. Unfortunately, your captain died."

And then when Picard offers up the knife:

Picard - "Tembo, his arms open."

Tamarian - "Tembo, at rest"

Translation:

Picard - take the knife of your captain

Tamarian - Keep it

Obviously, this is far from a stellar translation, but considering that the Tamarians speak entirely in metaphor, it's hard to do much a translation in the first place. But with my less than stellar job, you get the gist of what he was saying. I still find it fascinating that this whole species speaks entirely in metaphor. I'm so going to annoy my friend with this...

[LadyTerra]

I actually knew an English professor who wrote his Master's thesis on Klingon.  It turns out it's based off of German.  Supposedly, if you know German, you can pick up Klingon easier.

And now, some Power Klingon.

[dark-daventry]

I actually knew an English professor who wrote his Master's thesis on Klingon.  It turns out it's based off of German.  Supposedly, if you know German, you can pick up Klingon easier.

And now, some Power Klingon.

That video is just awesome!

[Delling]

Yeah, he's pretty much one of the most awesome teachers there, at least from my time. After I graduated their music teacher retired and they hired a new one who seems pretty crazy (in a good way) from her Facebook posts. One of the other profs once came to class during Spirit Week with his hair dyed green (the school's colors are green and gold), wearing a ripped-up t-shirt and a sleeveless leather jacket and sporting a large nose ring. That was a sight to see!

I would imagine!

So I just rewatched the TNG episode called Darmok. Definitely a favorite! Here's what I've picked up thus far:

Shaka, when the walls fell - failure

Tembo, his arms wide - willing to receive or something like that

Tembo, his arms open - to give

Darmok on the ocean - alone, isolation

Tanagra on the ocean - island

The Beast at Tanagra - ...a beast at tinagra. Not much leanway for interpretation there.

Tembo at rest - to keep

Sokath, his eyes open! - understanding

Uzani, his army at Lashmir - an army somewhere... I really don't know how to interpret that so well...

Uzani, his army with fists open - to lure an enemy

Uzani, his army with fists closed - to attack

So, to translate a little at the end of the episode when Picard is speaking to the Tamarian's:

"Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. The beast of Tanagra. Uzani, his army, shaka when the walls fell."

"Your captain and I on the planet's surface, isolated and alone, fought the beast. Unfortunately, your captain died."

And then when Picard offers up the knife:

Picard - "Tembo, his arms open."

Tamarian - "Tembo, at rest"

Translation:

Picard - take the knife of your captain

Tamarian - Keep it

Obviously, this is far from a stellar translation, but considering that the Tamarians speak entirely in metaphor, it's hard to do much a translation in the first place. But with my less than stellar job, you get the gist of what he was saying. I still find it fascinating that this whole species speaks entirely in metaphor. I'm so going to annoy my friend with this...

The problem with this language is that it lacks verbs. Everything is a noun with a description; the description may itself be an action but the interpretation of the metaphor is generally a noun. Therein lies a problem: if a language had the machinery to construct "the walls fell" why not use it? "Shaka, when the walls fell, Tembo, his arms open, Sokath, his eyes open!" is tedious and cumbersome; whereas "Failure gives understanding" gets the job done much faster for everyone.

(If you head over to the Alpha Quadrant wiki *too lazy to link, sorry*, they note that truncated forms were used, but that's just silly talk--clearly, the same name-stem that forms the basic component of the meaning can be attached to some specialized and finite set of descriptions that assign it meanings (there are examples for Uzani and Tembo). "Shaka, when the walls fell" might mean failure while "Shaka, when the walls held" might mean success.)

There are real languages that deal in metaphorical constructions to get new meanings (in fact, if you'd asked Owen Barfield, he would have told you that all languages initially construct their meaning in this way... he's not necessarily right and might just be a looney... but 'e'd've told ya it): polysynthetic agglutinative languages such as the Native American languages often construct new words by bashing old ones in a manner in which the old ones can be read as a metaphor for the new meaning.

*averts diatribe of the impracticalities/hypotheses of writing the Tamarian language*

...meh... maybe I'll post more when it's not 4 in the morning

[Haids1987]

Wow.  I love we just run with off-topicness.

And in the spirit of staying off-topic, I will show a raging house fire to my fellow Questers:

[dark-daventry]

Wow.  I love we just run with off-topicness.

And in the spirit of staying off-topic, I will show a raging house fire to my fellow Questers:

SIMS 1 FTW!!!!!!!!!! 

[Melook]

Melook aproves of this topic.

[Big C from Cauney island]

Guys, I'm afraid this is a little off topic and I'm going to have to move this thread.  Next time be more appropriate and stay on topic. 

[dark-daventry]

Guys, I'm afraid this is a little off topic and I'm going to have to move this thread.  Next time be more appropriate and stay on topic. 

nice mod impersonation. But, being a global mod myself, I intend to keep this topic where-is. Anyone else have any random and off-topic things to mention?

[Melook]

I LIKE CHICKEN

[dark-daventry]

I LIKE CHICKEN

lol I don't

[Melook]

How about pie?

[Haids1987]

[dark-daventry]

How about pie?

Not so much, no...

Haides, did I ever tell you you're among my favorite forumers? Because that image is pretty amazing!

[Haids1987]

LOL, no, you didn't, but hey, thanks!   Likewise.  

I made the image myself (on MS Paint--GASP!) for my Sims3.com siggy.  I figured I'd stay on-topic with all the off-topicness going on.

[Melook]

http://trololololololololololo.com/

[Haids1987]

You should have moved up a rank just for that post, Melook. 

[Melook]

I know right, it is the best site ever.

[snabbott]

How about pie?

Not so much, no...

How about pi?

(Posted on: January 06, 2011, 08:18:01 PM)

http://trololololololololololo.com/

That guy is scary.

Also, there's hidden text in the source:
<!--<div class="julia">Hey Julia, it was great having dinner with you! =D<br>(We
should totally hang out again soon)</div>