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Originally posted by mojoeca:
Ooh, and an Eskimo!

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Originally posted by mojoeca:
But now we need a Hispanic character!

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Originally posted by Haken:
Well, one thing for sure, Mal swears in Mandarin in the pilot (Serenity).

And really, enough with the "Aiyah" because no Chinese would say that in the particular situation that they were in.

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As for Simon and River, "Tam" is a Chinese surname.

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Originally posted by TinyTimm:
"Send in the clowns"
"They're already here..."

After 400 years and no Earth left, everybody should have a bit of everything remaining of geographically isolated "racial differences."

Toss in Genetic engineering of children, "But Lee, blonds are in this year!" and you get a very human race.

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Originally posted by TinyTimm:
But after 400 years of Linguistic drift what would it mean? If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

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Originally posted by Guantes:

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Originally posted by mojoeca:
Ooh, and an Eskimo!

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Aren't we supposed to refer to Eskimo as Inuit instead?

Is there a plural for Eskimo?..... Or Inuit for that matter!?

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Originally posted by TinyTimm:
If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

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Originally posted by Guantes:
Wow! Knowledge guy! Cool! It's like a history lesson on the internet!

Cheers, I'd only heard that Inuit was the politically correct term.... Good thing I didn't call any of my Eskimo friends Inuit! ;)

Phil
"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?" -Willow

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Originally posted by TinyTimm:
But after 400 years of Linguistic drift what would it mean? If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

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Originally posted by Shuggie:
They're using the Chinese as a way of representing a particular type of cultural melding. Unless the idea is that Mal speaks bad Chinese then they need to get it right.

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Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Broadcasting was the biggie, but even before radio was invented, language change was slowing down. Which is why the Declaration of Independence is still readable, more than two centuries after it was written.

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Originally posted by Haken:
Except, well, they happen to drift back to the Old West in Firefly as far as the English language goes. One then wonders what the Chinese language sounds like.

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Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Actually, "Inuit" is just about mandatory in Canada.

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Originally posted by mojoeca:
We know Chinese culture will feature prominently alongside Western culture in FIREFLY. The characters even speak Chinese! (Which is way cool). But why aren't any of the regulars Asian? I've been thinking which characters could have been ...
--- Joe

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Originally posted by Haken:
It's interesting that you said that about "Aiyah", because on the Official Firefly Websites, in Kelly's Weblog, she says "N-E-HOO", which I'm guessing sounds like "NAY-HOO"--a Cantonese pronounciation. A Mandarin speaker would probably say "NI-HAU" or "NI-HAU-BU-HAU".

I'm guessing whoever Joss is talking to about the Mandarin is mixing the dialects. Just my thoughts.

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Originally posted by Guantes:

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Originally posted by mojoeca:
But now we need a Hispanic character!

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Gina Torres is part Hispanic, and proud to be so, if her appearance in a recent Latina Magiazine would indicate. I am partial to the mixture of races idea. I don't know how intentional it was in the casting (and not trying to be stereotypical at all,) but both Mal and Kaylee have a slightly Asian appearance to their features. In addition, Simons mannerisms strike me as somewhat resembling Asian manners as well.

The only two that look blatantly, full-out Caucasian to me are Wash and Jayne, who, like me, looks a bit devolved and cool!

Just my dos pesos,

Rex!

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Originally posted by Shuggie:

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Originally posted by TinyTimm:
But after 400 years of Linguistic drift what would it mean? If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

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Yes and no. I suspect that they'll be using 20th/21st century English as well.

They're using the Chinese as a way of representing a particular type of cultural melding. Unless the idea is that Mal speaks bad Chinese then they need to get it right.

Shug

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Originally posted by neoolong:
What I would like to see is some sort of Chinese Tong like organization. It sort of fits in with the Western motif(though I think they came about a little after the Western time period), and would allow a lot of Chinese actors to get parts. It is kind of cliche, but could be good depending on how it was done.

The casting of the regulars not including Chinese or East Asians may be due to the fact that there aren't that many East Asian tv actors. I don't know that the casting is due to this, but it is a possibility. The only ones I can think of are Daniel Dae Kim, B.D. Wong, the guy on VIP, and the guy on Witchblade.

Honestly though casting a Chinese actor in about half of the regular cast spots make cliches. You have the engineer, the doctor, the pilot, and the prostitute. All can become cliches if you make them Chinese.

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Originally posted by neoolong:
The casting of the regulars not including Chinese or East Asians may be due to the fact that there aren't that many East Asian tv actors. I don't know that the casting is due to this, but it is a possibility. The only ones I can think of are Daniel Dae Kim, B.D. Wong, the guy on VIP, and the guy on Witchblade.

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Originally posted by Haken:


Asians, like African Americans and Hispanics, are under-represented on television. Why that is remains a mystery to me. Perhaps some intelligent person out there can enlighten us.

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Originally posted by neoolong:
Yeah. There is also the lawyer on Angel, but since it's L.A. shouldn't there be more of an Asian and hispanic presence?

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Originally posted by Guantes:
Besides their bad accents, it is a nice and easy way for the serenity crew to express displeasure without displeasing the censors.... As a way of getting round the rules its quite clever and neat.

It leaves those of us who don't know chinese to watch what the character is doing, to see what they mean and not listen to them say it. Its all very clever stuff really.

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Originally posted by Zicsoft:

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Originally posted by TinyTimm:
If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

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Try comparing English as used in 1602 with that used in 1202. I won't tell you to compare dictionaries, because they didn't have them in 1202 -- they're weren't enough literate people to use them, and there was no body of printed literature to base them on. Anyway, you'll find that English in 1602 was a lot closer to that of 2002 than it was to that of 1202. People still read Shakespeare (died 1612), but how many can make sense of this verse, written in 1300?

Ich libbe in love-longinge
For semlokes of alle thynge,
He may me blisse bringe
Ich am in hire baundoun.

Hey, I know a language joke from the 1200s! A guy from southern England goes into an inn in northern England and asks for a plate of "egges". Yep, he meant "eggs," though he would have pronounced the second e. The innkeeper says, "Sorry, I don't speak French". Get it? No? Oh well. Any way, the local usage was "eggen".

Anyway, technology has a way of slowing down linguistic change. Printing, moving to an industrial economy (meaning more people were literate), and finally broadcasting.

Broadcasting was the biggie, but even before radio was invented, language change was slowing down. Which is why the Declaration of Independence is still readable, more than two centuries after it was written.

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