Eternal English: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

''Us thinketh hem, and yet thei spake hem so.''|'''[[Geoffrey Chaucer]]''', 600 or so years ago}}

 

* Played straight in ''[[Firefly]]'': despite taking place roughly 500 years into the future, the only differences between their English and ours is some [[Future Slang]] and non-standard grammar. [[China Takes Over the World|Bilingualism in Mandarin Chinese is shown to be widespread]], although the actors understandably struggle with the pronunciation.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "The Big Goodbye," Picard was wrestling with the difficult Jarada language, and we got this gem:

'''Picard:''' I spell knife with an ''N''. But then I never could spell. }}

** For those familiar with the [[Universal Translator]], but not the episode in question, the reason why this is even an issue is because the Jarada are notoriously formal and bent on etiquette when approached by other races; the last encounter with a Federation ship was 10 years before Picard's try, and when that captain mispronounced ''one syllable'' in the greeting they [[Disproportionate Retribution|opened fire and broke off all diplomatic ties]].