Star Trek: The Next Generation/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

** How do you name it? *inventor name* at *invention location*. How do you explain it - [concept of going from one place to another] and not [concept of physically moving]. We humans also call most scientific ideas by their inventors, rather than by a separate noun. Van Allen belts, Heisenberg uncertainty principles, Planck lengths - these could easily be called Van Allen around Earth, Heisenberg of Democritus at Athens, Planck of Democritus at Athens. So that would go "Bingo, when he pressed the red button.<ref>(= what I did)</ref> [[Diplomacy|Russia at Warsaw and Bohemia, Lepanto at Ionian Sea]].<ref>(= moving two spaces in one turn, without going to a space in between = what happened)</ref> [[This Troper]] and [[The Lancer]] at Current Location.<ref>(= naming new event)</ref> Shaka when the walls are strong.<ref>(= success)</ref> Remember that this is an alien culture with an alien mindset - can you logically explain how you came to understand the concept of "the"? Then how do you expect somebody to be capable of logically explaining the first principles of an alien language? <ref>([[Harry Potter and Thethe Philosopher's Stone (novel)|Neville at the table]] (have forgotten what you try to remember), [[Star Trek: Enterprise|Archer and the Xindi]] (utterly alien conversation). Booboo in kindergarten about Shaka and Tenagra (learning first lingual concepts), [[Watchmen (comics)|Juspeczyk and Dr. Manhattan on Mars]] of "the" (explaining something logically which seems obvious to one who doesn't understand, concerning the word "the"), Shaka where the walls have fallen (have failed and cannot undo). Dr. Manhattan to Juspeczyk at Mars (logical creature expecting beliefs of opponent to be logical), [[That Guy With The Glasses|Chester A Bum at the end]] (demanding), Booboo as Neville for Shaka and Tenagra (inability to remember learning lingual concepts)!)</ref> Compare, for example, Chinese, which has no written grammar at all. They have approximately 3000 common characters, and around 50,000 terms in total. Simply by replacing each character by the name of a person or event, you get something which could pretty much pass for Darmok language. The Chinese have no problem making new combinations of characters to describe new physical discoveries, so it would be utterly unreasonable to say the people of Darmok can't do the same.<ref>Shaka and Tanagra of China as Gilgamesh of Picard at Darmok. [[Peloponnesian War|Athenian League at Epidauros]], Wikipedia of Shaka and Tanagra of China, Arabian border of Hadrian's Empire, [[There Is No Such Thing as Notability|TVTropes]] of Shaka and Tanagra of China. Starfleet Translator at Urda at Darmok, Shaka and Tenagra, China as [[Assassin's Creed|Altair in Acre]] to Darmok. Higgs and Planck as before, China to Shaka and Tenagra, Taegris, his arms wide. Darmok to China, Atalante at speed.</ref>