Orphaned Etymology: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

The inverse of [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]] and [[Oh My Gods]], it's when someone uses an expression which could not possibly have come into use, due to [[Speculative Fiction]] history preventing the etymology from taking place, making it an instance of [[Inexplicable Cultural Ties]]. "Jeez" or variants are the most commonly seen words which invoke this trope. Another form of this trope happens in [[Historical Fiction]] and the like, with words and phrases that aren't supposed to have come into use yet. This is most often used with words which are [[Newer Than They Think]], or when people in the year 700 BC [[Temporal Paradox|refer to the present time as "700 BC"]].

 

 

Another variant of this trope is used [[Played for Laughs|for humor]], such as yelling out "Jesus Christ!" in front of the real Jesus, who will usually assume that He is being addressed.

{{examples}}

* In the English dub of ''[[Inuyasha]]'', there's an episode where he remarks, "We've all got our own cross to bear." This is set before Christianity was introduced to Japan.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': As far as it's shown, there's nothing like a benevolent monotheist deity — there's the jerkass god, Truth, and there's Father, who's kind of like [[Satan]]. However, Greed does a [[See You in Hell]] to his family and Buccaneer references [[Fluffy Cloud Heaven]]. Then again, people are shown to ''believe'' in a variety of religions, so [[Your Mileage May Vary]].

** Christianity is shown to have existed in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]], but this doesn't justify the examples in ''Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'' or the manga.

 

== Comic Books ==

* A [[Dub-Induced Plot Hole]] in the Spanish version of an ''[[Asterix]]'' comic book: A character sneezes, and Asterix says "Bless you!" — which in this context is translated to Spanish as "¡Jesús!" This raised the question for Spanish readers of how could Asterix say that in the year 50 B.C.

 

== Film ==

* The 1980 ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]'' movie has the War Rocket Ajax as part of Ming's fleet. Ajax, of course, was a famous Greek hero, and Ming has never heard of Earth before the start of the movie.

* ''[[Battlefield Earth (film)|Battlefield Earth]]'' has the alien Psychlos refer to Euclidean geometry, though this might have been [[Translation Convention]].

 

== Literature ==

** Parodied in the ''Assassins' Guild Diary'' which uses the orphaned word "byzantine" ... in explaining that the politics of the Komplezian Empire were the origins of the modern Morporkian word "complex".

* In the ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' series, Pernese still say "jays" and "by all that's holy" despite having [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions]]. Mildly justified in that they might just be holdover expressions from the original Terran colonists.

* Deliberately averted in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Tolkien, as a linguist, did his best to remove and replace modern English words that derived from languages other than English. For example, "pipe weed" is clearly tobacco, but isn't called such because the word "tobacco" comes from a language native to the Caribbean.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[Dinosaurs]]'' uses the B.C. timeline. [[Lampshaded]] in the first episode when Robbie asks why the dates go backward. "I mean, what are we counting down for? What are we waiting for?"

* ''[[History Bites]]'' also uses this trope in the episode focusing on [[Ancient Rome]]. Also lampshaded as the [[It Makes Sense in Context|news anchors]] [[Running Gag|repeatedly say]] "whatever B.C. means."

 

== Video Games ==

* Dates in ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' use BC and AD, even though Jesus Christ does not appear to exist in the game's universe.

 

* ''[[Exiern]]'', a [[High Fantasy]] world with no relation to Earth, much less Japan, apparently has [http://www.exiern.com/?p=1033 Yaoi Porn], mentioned by name.

** and [http://www.exiern.com/?p=1407 Band-aids].

* According to ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]''' [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2090 summary of the play], [[Hamlet]] said, "Record scratch! Say WHAAAAAT?" when he found out how his father died.

{{quote|'''[[Alt Text]]''': Hamlet has to say "record scratch" because records aren't invented yet so you can't make the sound otherwise, HOW IS THIS NOT OBVIOUS}}

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the animated ''[[The Return of the King (animation)|The Return of the King]]'', Samwise's response to Gollum's final attack is a very animated '''"Gooood''' help us!"

* [[The Flintstones]] apparently live in the United States and celebrate Christmas. See the [[Wild Mass Guessing]] page for different interpretations...

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Artistic License Linguistics]]

[[Category:Language Tropes]]