Punctuation Shaker: Difference between revisions

* ''[[My Immortal]]'' has a few, including [[Mary Sue|Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way]] and B'loody Mary Smith, who's supposed to be Hermione ([[Canon Defilement|!]])

* Similarly, in ''[[Light and Dark - The Adventures of Dark Yagami]]'', Dark Yagami becomes Du'Arq (or Da'urq, Du'raq, or so forth, depending on how the author is spelling it at the moment). And later, there's {{spoiler|his sister Sayu becoming "Sa~Yu" as Queen of the Shinigami}}.

* Averted in ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', as only a few names have apostrophes, and these indicate that two letters should be pronounced separately. For example, Arda'is is pronounced “ahr-DAY-iss” rather than “AHR-daze”, Fi'ar is “fee-AHR” rather than “Fire”, C'hou is “cuh-HOW” instead of anything else, Ta'akan is “tah-AK-an” rather than “Takan”, and As'taris is “azz-TAH-riss” rather than “ast-AH-riss”.

 

* In the non-canon [[Star Trek]] novel series ''[[Star Trek: New Frontier]]'', [[The Captain]]'s given name was M'k'n'zy of Calhoun. He changed it to Mackenzie Calhoun because no one at Starfleet Academy could pronounce it right. His family includes a Dn'dai and a Gr'zy as well.

* In [[Star Trek: Titan]], we have the character of K'chak'!'op. The "!" represents a click created (in humans, anyway) by smacking the tongue against the roof of the mouth, as in several real languages. The entire name is an approximation anyway, of the clicks and pops that K'chak'!'op's people use to communicate. Her real name is basically "click/puff of air'click/tongue to roof of mouth click/pop". No wonder the human characters tend to use the nickname "Chaka".

* One character in ''Borgel'' by [[Daniel Pinkwater]] spells his name with an asterisk, in an overlap with [[The Unpronounceable]].

{{quote|"I am Pak Nfbnm* ," the little man said.

** Explained (although not quite justified) for Vulcans in non-canon books: the "T'" prefix is used for "bonded" (marriage bond) females.

** However, that doesn't excuse the completely unnecessary apostrophes in "Ba'ku" and "Son'a" in Star Trek 9.

*** Note that the latter name without the apostrophe would be Chulak, which is a planet in [[Stargate SG-1]]

** Not to mention M'Ress from the [[Animated Adaptation]].

 

== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==

** Literary/[[Tabletop Games|roleplaying]] example: Drizzt Do'Urden (full name Drizzt Daermon N'a'shezbaernon) from the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' setting. Ever consider that Drizzt's name sounds like a bug hitting a bug-zapper?

*** R.A. Salvatore, his creator, apparently pronounces it "Drits" (yes, with the "t" sound ''before'' the "s" sound)

** ''[[Mystara]]'' has a lot of those - Nikt’oo (riding turtle), Kla’a-Tah (large sapient turtle)

* Averted in ''[[Pathfinder]]'', where due to the trope's overprevelance in fantasy, the editors allow writers only ''one'' name with an apostrophe in their career.

** The very term "Tau" is actually "T'au"

*** Actually, the race are the Tau; they come from the planet T'au.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' does this a fair amount. One notable example is the phoenix god Al'ar, who uses a Punctuation Shaker to slightly disguise his [[Meaningful Name]].

** Many of which were taken from the earlier ''[[Warcraft]]'' games, which tended to give them to evil characters such as Gul'dan, Ner'zhul, and Kel'thuzad.

** All two headed ogres have this pattern (Cho'Gall). Each name is for a head, so Cho'Gall has one head named Cho and another named Gall.

* ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'' has quite a few.

* Many names of [[Mega Neko|Kilrathi]] characters in the ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' universe will make use of apostrophes, although just as many names won't use them at all.

* Male Khajiit in [[The Elder Scrolls]] series typically have a prefix separated from their name by an apostrophe, which indicates their status or a broad profession. Some are also said to use two titles, the prefix and a suffix separated by a hyphen, which is considered rather arrogant. [http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Khajiit_Names More info here.]

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Played with in ''[[Supernormal Step]]'' when a character named Akela T'nadne claims her last name is a contraction.

** Don't forget the elven clans Khee'bler and Sahn'ta.

** Fo' Drizzle!

** Bu'uthandi, their word for a contiguous Dyson sphere, is a contraction of "this was expensive to build."

** Also, Ambassador Ch'vorthq is pronounced like the Ch in China, not in Chevrolet, followed by the noise an expensive piece of china makes when struck by a chevrolet, a plain "vor", soft Th and the Q in Quetzalcoatl.

** Sort of. Apparently the apostrophes are considered a mark of respect on the speaker's behalf. Notable when the Vel'Sharen call Sil'lice "Sillice" after the prologue.

* [[The Noob|Ah'Arl'Bah'l, the god of Apostrophes]]

* Justified in the [[Peacock King Trilogy|Peacock King]], apostrophes etc. are used to incorporate information about family, status and citizenship into the names. For example, Ebrelle becomes Ebrellin-i upon coronation, h'Akribastes marks the head of the Akribastes family, o'Radia is the king of Radia. [[No Pronunciation Guide|Pronounciation is still a nightmare, for a lot of reasons.]]

* The Centaurian language in ''[[The Pentagon War]],'' when transcribed by us humans, uses apostrophes to indicate that the speaker is switching from one of its 4 mouths to another in mid-vowel (e.g. ''Go'orla'' is the name of their home planet). More common than apostrophes, though, are ''parentheses'', which indicate that another mouth is making a different sound at the same time (e.g. ''Goor(l)a'', the word for a clan's bookkeeping expert -- the double o means two mouths are saying "o" simultaneously, and the r(l) means that one mouth is saying "r" while another is saying "l").

 

 

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Language Tropes]]