Poll of the Week: Romulan ale and Sci-Fi Naming Trends

[Laria Herren]

Are you a science fiction writer looking to add some new object to your fictional universe? Maybe a culture in your story needs some kind of unique dish that is mentioned in the story to help flesh out that world. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to create a long list of names for objects in a story that are completely alien and that are at least somewhat decipherable. This leads to a common theme in many science fiction franchises with an alien species that gets explored in great detail. Eventually you’re likely to see something along the lines of [Species Name here] [Human Noun here].

Star Trek has created a long list of original names for things in the many alien cultures that exist in its universe. In fact, Star Trek boasts one of the most comprehensive languages featured in fiction, Klingon. Still, it is quite easy to see examples of this simple formula all over the Star Trek universe. Romulan ale, Saurian brandy, and Bolian soufflé all being examples in terms of foods and drinks. There’s also the difficult-to-acquire Tholian silk, Cardassian pinochle, and all kinds of variants on Earth diseases such as Ankaran flu or Rigelian fever.

This week’s poll asks you what you think of this common naming convention. Is it just a simple trick used by writers that is understandable, or does it break your immersion? Coming up with an entire alien lexicon is a worldbuilding task that not every writer or author will find to be worth the cost. What do you think of the [Species] [Noun] trend for naming things in science fiction?

[Gogigobo Fairhug]

I actually agree with all the options of this poll. Although, ideally I like my sci-fi to be as "realistic" as possible, I usually explain such things away as: "Oh, that's just a human translation for (insert thing here) and obviously the native species has a different name for it in their own language." 

It happens all the time in the real world. If I were a Spanish-speaker talking to an English-speaker in English, I would use the English words for food/drink/whatever.

The thing that bothers me more, is what are the chances that both humans and Saurians invented brandy totally independent of each other? But that I usually tell myself is either one of two things:

1. It's not *actually* brandy, but the use of that word is a rough approximation.

Or

2. Human brandy (or whatever) was imported to these worlds and they've started to make their own versions. Much the same as you can have whiskey made with different techniques in different places producing different and distinctive tastes.

In which case, I suppose you could have things like "Human gagh" or "Human groatcakes", which would be human takes on those dishes.

Edited May 3, 2018 by Gogigobo Fairhug

[Kalia Qinn]

I'm with Gogi on this one for a good portion of it.  I think diseases make sense (they don't but lets just avoid that quagmire), similar types of diseases just get translated, Bolian Flu is similar to Terran Flu with some Bolian-esque differences.  I tend to get a little bit pickier when we move towards food and drink.  Think of how many different types of Ales and Brandies and whiskey and cheeses and breads and everything else.  Ordering Romulan Ale (made with Romulan yeast, I assume) would/should describe such a broad category of different types of drink that it wouldn't be something you ordered so much as the parent category of what you ordered.  It makes cultures other than Terran feel a lot less three dimensional, we have so many cultures here on Earth, but every other planet seems to be a monoculture with some exceptions. 

 

I've made up vineyards on Trill so I can name the wine and variety of grapes so I can name the wine my PC ordered.  I enjoy coming up with that kind of thing.  Hell, I'd be happy to just sit down with a Species and start working out foods/drinks so people could just use it and not have to do the leg work when they're just trying to get a post out on a Tuesday night before bed.

 

That said, I think about this stuff way too much.  I love detail.  The more detail I have the better.  I also understand that I am pushing towards one end of the bell curve and am happy to make stuff up myself and let others operate at what ever level of detail they are comfortable with.  I will never be fully comfortable until I've worked out all of the details, I don't like unexplored corners.

 

~Patrick

[+ Salkath]

2 hours ago, Delan Han said:

Ordering Romulan Ale (made with Romulan yeast, I assume) would/should describe such a broad category of different types of drink that it wouldn't be something you ordered so much as the parent category of what you ordered.

I think you're on the same track that I am when I think of this topic. We see similar trends in my part of the world here today - when I order beer, for example, I'll use a category. Belgian ale, American lager, India Pale Ale (kay, that last one is a stretch, haha!). "Can I get your Czech Pilsner on tap, please?" Food is a little more of a stretch, but we still see something similar today as well. I wouldn't order 'Moroccan lamb' at a Moroccan restaurant, I'd order Mrouzia. But if I was at an eatery that catered to different ethnicities of food, I'd expect to see it listed as 'Moroccan lamb' on the menu, and likely order it accordingly. So I don't find this naming convention strange, but it's also situational. I won't have my character sitting with Bajorans at a Bajoran restaurant and order 'Bajoran spring wine', for example. He'll order 'spring wine', or like @Delan Han said, make up some believable specific name.

[Kalia Qinn]

Yeah, I think my general rule of thumb with names is if I replaced the Species (Bajoran, Bolian, Trill) with Terran, would it make any sense.

In the OP example of a Bollian Soufflé, if I told the replicator Terran Souffle would that be enough information to get an answer (in this case I would bet not, unless the replicators work on a default setting that allows them to dispense some generic option when given a generic request.  But Terran Souffle wouldn't let the replicator know if I meant sweet or savory, and any number of options below that).  The Spring Wine example.  If I ordered Terran Spring Wine I wouldn't be giving nearly enough information at all.  French, Italian, Spanish, German, American, would need to be known at minimum, beyond that you could specify type of wine, locality within the region, and even down to the vineyard.

 

We do thing kind of thing every day without thinking about it much.  After my post above, I'm not going to try and create a wine lovers guide to Trill, just to see if I can come up with something that seems internally consistent.

(Don't look at me like that, I find this kind of thing relaxing)

 

~Patrick

[Kalia Qinn]

Oh lord, this is a rabbit hole I could get lost down.  If no one hears from me in a week send help.

[Gogigobo Fairhug]

I'm totally with you, @Delan Han! The whole "monoculture" thing drives me nuts. I think way too deeply about these things too.

As you say, with little old Earth being as diverse as it is, why shouldn't pretty much every other planet be as well? 

That's why I liked what 'Enterprise' did with the Xindi.

I'm looking forward to delving deeper into the Bardeezans in the future and fleshing them out some more. 

[Kalia Qinn]

I am now actively researching how terrioir is described, how different varieties of grapes are classified, and how wine is made.  Once this is done, I'll move on to spirits, probably starting with gins as I know the least about those.

Even if this is never actually approved for use in game, I now must see this through.  I may be lost.

~Patrick

Edited May 4, 2018 by Delan Han
missing word

[Kalia Qinn]

For those who may have been following my decent down rabbit holes, I have posted the document to the Species Guild forum group looking for comments and critiques.

 

If you have a chance and are interested take a look.

~Patrick