The Media made me do it, Episode II

[oloriel]

Oh, for fuck's...

Dear German Media,

No, it is not that absurd to name a child Sparrow. Aside from the fact that the kid also features a perfectly normal name, it's kind of silly of you to point out triumphantly that Sparrow means Spatz. So? Yes, in German "mein Spatz" is a common enough endearment, but this is not necessarily the case in the English-speaking world (or is it? Quick flist poll: How many of you were nicknamed "my sparrow" by parents or grandmothers?). Even if it is, a sparrow is still a normal term for a small bird.

But you caaaaan't name a boy for a bird, I hear you cry.

Yeah right, idiots. Because there are no Robins or Merlins - or, for those who speak no English and needed the explanation about what Sparrow means in the first place, Falks running around. And none of them are male. Nuh-uh.

So Robin's a perfectly normal male name, and Sparrow isn't?

Buy yourself a babybook and stop being idiots. I mean, why do you even care what other people name their kids? If you're so bothered about naming babies, make your own. For serious. I mean, an online acquaintance of mine named her offspring Emma Josephine Anoriel, but am I giving her any grief?

Srsly.

Not yours,
The mad linguist

- - -

Dear other German media,

So you're airing Firefly. The complete first season (hah!). Congratulations. I hope you are aware that you're about three to four years too late.
I can already hear it. Same way with Doctor Who. "See? Nobody is interested in this kind of thing. Nobody watched the series!"

No, you're just too late. Everybody in this country interested in the series has LONG SINCE bought the DVDs, the soundtrack, and the RPG.
AND the cunning hat.
Everybody interested in Firefly can watch it at any time they please - not at 10 past 10 in the evening on a Saturday, when even nerds have other things to do than watch TV.

Really clever.

Not yours either,
The occasional nerd girl


- - -

When I am too tired to write about, like, real life, all I do is rant. *nods*

Memes are upcoming.

Comments

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

I would, admittedly, poke merciless fun at atheists naming their kid Daniel or something of the sort...

t's all about a healthy dose of common sense and a feeling for context. Why go to the other extreme now and ask for a onomatology degree before naming...? Naming a boy Nicola here in Germany would trigger an endless series of girl-jokes and buerocratic mistakes - in Italy nobody would even raise an eyebrow. Calling your kid Judas because you like Judas Priest is stupid. Doing the same thing with Daniel and saying "huh, Bible? No, I named him after Daniel Küblböck!" is stupid, too but in the long run it doesn't really matter because the name has become so common here.


Geek blindness is an interesting term, and probably very appropriate. I dunno, though, am I the only one who made her parents watch the DVD?

My parents hardly watch any TV at all and don't like Sci-fi. So why would I?

It is very easy to forget how specialised those interests are, as they tend to overlap. If you are into sci-fi and fantasy, chances are high you are also internet-savvy and watch your favourite shows in the original. But fact is - most people just aren't. I have to move a tiny little bit away from my little bubble filled with co-geeks (choir, work, family reunions) to get puzzled faces at mentions of Guitar Hero, Dr. Horrible, XKCD and RPG.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I don't ask for any kind of degree before naming. I do, however, expect that people do put a certain amount of thought in naming their kid (rather than popping it out and naming it Daniel or Michael or Bono just because a song by a singer of that name just came on in the radio). Which includes looking up the meaning. Because at some point, children will be asked by some kindly Latin teacher or bored friend what their name means, and then they'll look it up. Unless that is another thing that only happens in the Bergian (twice), and except for my co-students in 4th and 7th grade, no child will ever be able to read a babybook?

Ah, see, but if your parents are the type who don't watch TV and don't like Sci-fi, would they stumble across a series on TV that contains Sci-fi elements by chance? I'm not saying you should have given your parents (replace parents by "non-geeky friends" or whatever) the DVD if it's not their kind of thing. What I meant was that, if this finally, finally, finally gives you a chance to point other people towards, say, Firefly, wouldn't you also have had that chance by lending them the DVD.

I am not surprised about puzzled faces at mentions of Dr. Horrible or XKCD, because that's kind of specialiased. I am surprised about RPG, but perhaps they'd understand "Rollenspiel, like, you know, Das schwarze Auge"? I am, admittedly, surprised about the Guitar Hero bit.

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

. Unless that is another thing that only happens in the Bergian (twice), and except for my co-students in 4th and 7th grade, no child will ever be able to read a babybook?

At some point I was into names and bought myself a book about it, but my interests as a kid were everything but mainstream. And even if little Daniel finds out his name is from the bible, what gives? I also really don't see a discrepancy of an atheist choosing that name. The Bible, for an atheist, is just another book.

(rather than popping it out and naming it Daniel or Michael or Bono just because a song by a singer of that name just came on in the radio)

I just think you are expecting way too much of people. It boils down to hearing a name and liking it. If it has a deeper meaning as a bonus, yay, but I think this is secondar. I like "Anna" as a name. I can go invent something about a ~deep meaning~ behind it but thinking about it, the chance is really high that I like this name because of the ballet TV show I watched as a kid.

What I meant was that, if this finally, finally, finally gives you a chance to point other people towards, say, Firefly, wouldn't you also have had that chance by lending them the DVD.

Most people I know outside the "geek bubble" would then say "but this isn't in German". People who watch TV shows in the original or read books in the original are a really small minority compared to the masses. You have to understand English rather well to watch and understand shows without German subtitles.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I'm talking about meaning, not origin. The point with Daniel is not that it's from the Bible. As you say, that would be just a book - besides, the name wasn't invented by any of the scribes who put the thing together, merely recorded. The point is that the babybook will tell you that "Daniel" means "God is my judge", which is a kinda ironic name if you don't believe in divine judgement. Of course you're right in as much as my mockery will not be necessary when little Daniel goes to ask his parents why they called him "God is my judge" when they taught him that there is no such thing as a god. (Michael, Elias, Raphael etc. would be awkward choices as well, whereas other "biblical" names like Levi, Joseph or Benjamin wouldn't raise my eyebrow despite the "origin".)

I brought up the "Daniel" example because I once did have a conversation with a guy named (surprise!) Daniel, who said he was kind of embarrassed by his name because of the meaning. (No, I didn't even spark that discussion!).
Fortunately (as you will, no doubt, point out as well), very few people around here actually know Hebrew or Aramaic.


I am quite likely expecting too much of people, no doubt. I always do that. ;) Personally, I may like a name, but I will still check the meaning because I'd want both the sound and the meaning to be vaguely acceptable. I like "Aliena" as a name, but I wouldn't name my kid that. A friend of mine in school (whose name, in turn, was Mira, which I also like, and which, meaning "the wonderful", may be somewhat hyperbolic but at least doesn't mean something awkward) had a younger sister alled Aliena. Want to guess what her classmates nicknamed her? (And of course, that's precisely what the name means.)

Most people I know outside the "geek bubble" would then say "but this isn't in German".
I already pointed this out somewhere further up, so I'll make it quick: The DVD - if you bought it here - also contains a German language version. Both subtitled AND dubbed. So this is kind of a moot point.

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

The DVD - if you bought it here - also contains a German language version.

Yes. Now. When it was all hot and new, which was, like you pointed out four years ago, all you got get were either torrents, or imports. I got my box back then in the UK. For sure I won't get another version just to have the German sub/dub for the sake of other people. And as fusselbiene pointed out, why should anybody buy the box set of an unknown sci-fi series if you can watch it for free on TV? Again, geek bubble. Most people don't care.

The point is that the babybook will tell you that "Daniel" means "God is my judge", which is a kinda ironic name As I said: People don't care. It sounds nice. That's enough. Most people won't even check what a name means and even IF, it doesn't help - or this page would not even exist:

http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html


Also, Daniel happens to be my brother's name who's a bright pal but nevertheless never voiced the question "huh, why is God my judge?" And I'm very sure this is true for a lot of Daniels on this world. Kids ain't scholars. Usually they're pleased enough if they're not beaten up for their name. If little Daniel grows up to be interested in names, he may ask the question. If he grows up to be a well-read atheist, he even may change his name. But what are the chances?

In short: This is complaining on such a high level that the complaint appears more ridiculous than the thing complained about. YMMV.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

This is complaining on such a high level that the complaint appears more ridiculous than the thing complained about.

Doubtlessly. Anyone can do normal. ;)

When it was all hot and new, which was, like you pointed out four years ago, all you got get were either torrents, or imports.

I could point out now that my DVD set dates from the year 2005 (i.e. four years ago) and nonetheless has the dubs. I don't doubt that the really elite German fans got their Firefly fix through torrents or UK imports before that, but I'm not asking anyone to go to such trouble. That's too geek bubbly even for me. And no, of course you don't have to buy another set. I was figuring that many would have been too lazy to get themselves an imported box and thus would have the default German edition anyway - available at a point when the fandom was no longer quite so obscure.
(That, for the record, is why I wasn't surprised that very few people know Dr. Horrible. Haven't exactly seen any advertisements for that in any video store, and even amazon.de only offers the soundtrack - for download. That is geek bubbly.)

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

This is still no reason for people who aren't in the fandom to buy it ;) they just watch it on TV. Like I did with Star Trek back then. I didn't even realise I was "too late" until I got really deep into it and realised that for US watchers this was already old news. Didn't stop me or millions of others become ST:TNG fans although the airing times were horrible (first on ZDF weekly, then on SAT1 daily, right in the middle of the day at kiddie hour).

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Nooo, just for people in the fandom to be kind and spread the love. ;)
And I'd say things were kind of different before the massive spread of the internet and the easy and quick availability of all kinds of obscure films on video and DVD. Back in the late 80s, it would've been a real specialist effort to a) hear about ST:TNG in Germany, b) get hold of the videos via your American penpal or something of the sort, c) get them transposed from NTSC to PAL, and d) understand the English or get them fan-subbed. That takes real dedication, which, as you rightly point out, isn't there if you aren't really deep into fandom in the first place.

This is the 21st century. Information is easily available, torrents are downloadable, DVDs are importable and *coughcough*copiable. All it takes is a kid/friend/colleague at work/presentation partner/guest at a video night/sparring partner/whatever who says "Hey, I've seen this awesome series, you might like it too, want to have a look?"
I know that doesn't have to happen all the time. It obviously doesn't. But the chances are waaaay higher than they were 20 years ago.
Which is why 1990 (or a 1994 re-run, which is a different matter anyway, because, well, it's "re-") was not "too late" in my book for a 1987 series, whereas 2009 for a 2002 series kind of is. At least it is when you're looking for a blockbuster effect (which, I assume, is what TV stations are still dreaming of).

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

Can only repeat: Geek bubble.

Nobody outside the Sci-Fi fandom gives a dead rat's ass about cowboys in space. There's a reason that Firefly massively flopped both on TV and in the cinema. The only people in my surroundings would recommend Firefly to have already seen it. My other friends would be left unfazed, probably even bored. Star Trek and Harry Potter are huge things but I still know tons of people who have never even glanced at them sideways and I can only repeat: Why should they?

It's a very specialized, very focussed interest. I want to have fun on a DVD night, why choose something that has the chance of boring me? I've seen movies "forced" on me that were great, but quite a few of them I thought were crap. If a movie or show I don't know anything about runs on TV, I can zap in, get hooked ( like in my case for example Totoro, which I watched because it was aired on Super RTL on a boring afternoon) or be unfazed and move on (like for me Babylon 5, Stargate, Monk, Psych and dozens of others).