another quibble

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by Dal Rassak, Feb 26, 2013.

  1. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    One of the most egregious mispronunciation errors in Trek is in TAS: The Pirates of Orion, in which Orion is pronounced OR-ee-on instead of or-RYE-on.
     
  2. SchwEnt

    SchwEnt Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I took that as a bit of the idea "it's exactly like Earth but not quite Earth". Earth would have John and Mary, but this almost-Earth has "Jahn" and "Miri". Exactly like Earth, but not quite.
     
  3. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    I believe that's pronounced "EEErth."


    :D
     
  4. SchwEnt

    SchwEnt Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^^^ Exactly.
     
  5. _C_

    _C_ Commander Red Shirt

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    ^ I thought it was "ee-YARTH" :razz:
     
  6. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Perhaps their real names ARE John and Mary, but they are so old that they have forgotten how to spell them? Use of language does tend to drift over time, perhaps this extends to people's names as well.
     
  7. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Was it established that they could spell?

    So the name Aaron should be pronounced "Ah ron" not "Air run".
     
  8. Dover

    Dover Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Well Quark insists on saying HEW-mon, so he shouldn't be one to complain! :p

    But more seriously, maybe Odo isn't too good at making mouths, and that's the closest he can get.

    I actually like the idea that there are some variances in pronunciation/accent among the different species. It only annoys me if one character pronounces the same name differently each time they say it. I caught one of those recently in DS9, but can't remember what episode.
     
  9. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I alway thought that Miri as simply short for Mirium.

    ( MEER - ee- EM )

    :)
     
  10. Deckerd

    Deckerd Fleet Arse Premium Member

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    If you want random nonsense, sorry to jump shows here, but Stargate SG1 had about six different pronunciations of Goa'uld.
     
  11. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    In "The Corbomite Maneuver," Balok says his own name as "Bay-lock," but Dr. McCoy pronounces it to rhyme with "phallic." Almost as if he'd never heard the name spoken before, but only seen it in print . . . like in a shooting script or something.

    Not to mention the United States Constitution!
     
  12. Gul Re'jal

    Gul Re'jal Commodore Commodore

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    I thought about the same example when I read OP. And how in Babylon 5 one of guest characters kept calling Ivanova "Ai-vanova". I expected Ivanova to correct her, thinking it was in the script, but she didn't, which means the actress just was pronouncing it wrong and no one even corrected her. Grated on me the whole episode.

    In ST, I'm more annoyed by Anglo-Saxon names for 99% of humans :rolleyes:
     
  13. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Depends on how you define Anglo-Saxon

    Kirk-Scottish
    McCoy-Scottish
    Scott-Scottish
    Sulu-Malayo-Polynesian?
    Uhura-Swahili
    Chekov-Russian

    Picard-French
    Riker-German
    Troi-Gaelic
    Crusher-English
    LaForge-French
    Yar-Unknown

    Sisko-various including Nordic and Balkan countries.
    O'Brien-Irish

    Janeway-English
    Paris-French
    Torres-Spanish
    Chakotay-Faux Indian
    Kim-Korean
    Hansen-Swedish

    Archer-English
    Tucker-English
    Reed-English
    Mayweather-English
    Sato-Japanese

    Enterprise wins the Anglo-Saxon derby!!!!
     
  14. feek61

    feek61 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I recall in one of the early TOS episodes Lt. Farrell called Sulu "Mr. Solo" which in "Inside Star Trek" Herb Solow says it was a joke meant for him.
     
  15. yousirname

    yousirname Commander Red Shirt

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    Really? I mean, I'm not sure that you're wrong, but I'm Irish and 'Troi' doesn't sound 'Gaelic' to me at all. Although there's a poker player named Tom Dwan and it's only because of him that I know 'Dwan' is an Irish name, so... I dunno. But I'm really not sure you're right on that score.

    But beyond that specific point, I think Gul Re'jal was probably referring more to guest star characters than main cast members. It's not something that bothers me in particular, but I think he has a point (as long as we assume he does indeed mean guest stars).
     
  16. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    I read it on the internet, so it has to be true. ;)

    You're right He might mean guest stars playing humans.
     
  17. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not sure when they finalize Deanna Troi's last name, likely before the actress was hired for the role.

    Given half of the actress's ancestry, I guess as a child I considered Troi to be a play on Troy (the city of legend).

    Troi - Greek

    :)
     
  18. yousirname

    yousirname Commander Red Shirt

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    The source linked to actually identifies 'Troy' as a given name to be Gaelic, and as a surname to be Norman French.
     
  19. at Quark's

    at Quark's Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I must say that it had occurred to me several times that I would have pronounced some alien names differently, but I've always assumed it was just due to my inadequate knowledge of the English language (English is just a foreign language to me).

    I mean, to me as a non-native, English is swamped with inconsistencies I've never quite understood (e.g. take 'good' and 'blood' -- it's written almost the same yet the oo - sounds are nothing alike. I suppose it has to do with the development of the language over the past few centuries and the wish to not change spelling too much -- heck, I actually have less trouble reading English from, say 1630, than reading something from my mother tongue from that era, since the spelling has changed so much ). And blood/good is just a random example, there are so many of them -- several have even been given in this thread. Is there actually any internal logic to it for an average native speaker (i.e. no linguistic scholar), or is it just something you 'are used to because that's the way English is written', like I have become over the years?

    Anyway. seen from that background, I've always dismissed the "mm, I think I would have pronounced that as 'ah-min', not 'ay-min' "- thoughts as rather trivial :)

    (*) This reply is not meant to bash your language BTW. Neither is this reply meant to irritate anyone, it's just how things look from my perspective.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2013
  20. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    No, there isn't.

    That's pretty much the case.

    Before the introduction of the printing press, there were variant spellings for almost every word in the English language. People wrote words however they thought they sounded. Today's English spelling is so inconsistent because the language became fixed in print before standardized spellings could be agreed upon. Whatever spelling made it into print first became the accepted one.
    That's perfectly okay. A lot of us native anglophones find our language plenty irritating as it is. :p