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Date Posted: 17/07/02 7:45:18 GMT+10
Author: SofaMan
Subject: Re: Transformers Armada #1 - thoughts and anal retention
In reply to: Goktimus Prime 's message, "Transformers Armada #1 - thoughts and anal retention" on 10/07/02 4:47:36 GMT+10


>7. Okay, time to nitpick -- WTF are Autobots doing
>using the English language as their script all over
>Cyber City?!?! The English language didn't even exist
>one million years ago -- hell, NONE of our languages
>in existence today existed one million years ago, let
>alone the slaggin' Roman alphabet. Hell, even the
>Phoenician alphabet didn't even crop up till c.900B.C.
>(click rel=nofollow target=_blank >href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~rfradkin/latin.html">here
> to see a funky animated gif on the evolution of
>the Latin alphabet) Although I could easily accept
>that the language being spoken in the speech bubbles,
>that we perceive as English, is supposed to be a form
>of spoken Cybertronian (just as the English language
>in Star Wars is actually supposed to be spoken
>Aurabesh, aka 'Basic'), but it would not justify why
>Ancient Cybertronian Script, which predates the Latin
>alphabet by almost a million years, could possibly
>even resemble the English language. What is this? Some
>kind of incredible intergalactic coincidence?? Shyeah
>right, and monkeys might fly out of Chris Sarracini's
>arse!!


I find it kind of amusing that you implicitly accept the existence of a spoken Universal Translator, but the appearance of a visual Universal Translator is just too bizarre to countenance.

It has to come down to the story - if the writer wants us to know what is written down, then he can either write it down in Cybertronian, followed by an asterisk, and then insert an irritating footnote translating it, or he can just write it in English, and hope that the non-psychotically-anal-retentive among us will happily accept the existence of a Visual UT as easily as we accept the spoken UT.

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