To be fair, a lot of these alien peoples have means of communicating that aren't Standard (English? that's another discussion) and that in some cases even require means - physical or mental - that humans aren't naturally capable of reproducing. So a certain amount of "I'm just going to call you Steve" would be going on. "Medusan" would be a useful descriptor, as long as they aren't offended - and maybe they're even amused by it, if they've been filled in on the reference, and if the translator isn't hiding that altogether.
Yeah, they wouldn't even bother with foreheads! Half the aliens looked completely like us.
Yeh I suppose the Universal translator could have translated "a race of people who turn everyone else mad on sight" as closest to a fictional Earth figure of Medusa maybe...To be fair, a lot of these alien peoples have means of communicating that aren't Standard (English? that's another discussion) and that in some cases even require means - physical or mental - that humans aren't naturally capable of reproducing. So a certain amount of "I'm just going to call you Steve" would be going on. "Medusan" would be a useful descriptor, as long as they aren't offended - and maybe they're even amused by it, if they've been filled in on the reference, and if the translator isn't hiding that altogether.
The English speaking world has gone a long time calling Moskva "Moscow"...
Perhaps, but I was really thinking that intelligent beings (presumably humans) had made the decision for how it would be translated in the UT - so Standard speakers hear "Medusans" and Medusans perceive "the people" (since just about every language has people referring to themselves as something that amounts to "the people"
).
They could have gone with something like the box from Pulp Fiction.
Perhaps, but I was really thinking that intelligent beings (presumably humans) had made the decision for how it would be translated in the UT - so Standard speakers hear "Medusans" and Medusans perceive "the people" (since just about every language has people referring to themselves as something that amounts to "the people"
Yep - that's why I used the verb "perceive" for what the Medusans would do instead of "hear". But if you didn't get that, other readers might not either, so thanks for clarifying.
I don't remember whether I read it somewhere or thought of it myself, but I've thought that they took precautions during transport in case the container materialized a fraction of a second after the Ambassador, putting humans in the room at risk. During the walk through the corridors, clearing them of crew reduced the risk of exposure in case the container fell or otherwise malfunctioned.
