Ramblings on Bushwacked
POSTED BY: Trickster
UPDATED: Thursday, October 12, 2017 09:40
VIEWED: 27934
PAGE 4 of 6
Ok. Got a Question. I don't know how to start a new thread so i'll just connect it to this one. Is Jayne gay? cause i was reading the 'Jaynestown' script today and one of the lines is
CROP: Found me one’s your new boyfriends, Jayne.
JAYNE: Ain’t one’a mine, Crop… (mirthless chuckle) Where you been hidin’? You gone and got yourself lookin’ mighty hideous…
Now is this just Crop slagging him off, or is Jayne really gay? Thanks.
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Click on "Post New Thread" at the top of the page.
I don't think the "boyfriend" comment says anything one way or the other. Hypermacho types like Jayne are always ragging each other by expressing doubts about each other's masculinity -- which to them implies heterosexuality. Go watch Full Metal Jacket and you'll see what I mean.
JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Hello! Frontier planets! Absence of industrial base! It's a basic premise of the show that most people can't afford all the latest technology.
But somebody has to have an industrial base, and they will produce weapons. The UK had a good sized industrial base in the 1800s, yet they imported weapons from the USofA. We just ripped off the design, cut priced the gimmicks and used it to great effect in the US Civil War.
Old saying, "Can you afford this sidearm? What's your life worth?"
Jeff
Who has not been in that position, thank ghod.
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But the U.S. and the U.K were not that far apart in the period you describe. In some ways, the U.S. had already started to pull ahead.
A better comparison would be between the north and south during the civil war. A big reason the war happen was that north was participating in the industrial revoltion and the south wasn't, at least not to the same degree. And they didn't want to compete by emulating the north. So they tried to leave the union, only to find that this same lack of industry made it impossible to make enough guns, repair railways faster than the federals blew them up, etc.
Mal's Independents may not have emulated the Confederacy's fondness for slavery, but they do seem to have made the same mistakes about picking their battles. And, like the south during Reconstruction, the Independent worlds would be even further behind than before the war. So no factories to make fancy sidearms and no cash to buy them from the North, I mean the Alliance core worlds.
JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
...And, like the south during Reconstruction, the Independent worlds would be even further behind than before the war. So no factories to make fancy sidearms and no cash to buy them from the North, I mean the Alliance core worlds.
But you underestimate the power of marketing. Many police departments in the USofA in the 1990s traded in almost new revolvers for Expensive Semi-automatic pistols. Pure marketing. Now we are stuck with Police officers who spray bullets and don't hit their intended target much. Nothing is a substitute for hitting the target. Increasing the number of bullets has tended to increase the number of misses.
Jeff
Who notes people will go to extreams to save thier lives and those of their families, even leave nice safe hovels in Poland, where the landowner took care of the serfs for strange lands full of danger and dirt. THANKS G'G'G' Grandpa!!
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[q]zicsoft:
About that calligraphy: written Japanese uses a lot of Chinese characters. So it's often hard to distinguish writing in the two languages. Here's an interesting page on the subject:
No? Really?!? Ya don't say! 
Sorry, couldn't resist the sarcasm. As I am an anime fan, I am quite familiar with the influence of the Chinese written (hiragana?) language on Japanese written language. I was just wondering if anyone recognized it as Mandarin or Japanese. After pausing my copy of Bushwacked and comparing the characters to the written Japanese characters in my Japanese language text book, I have reached the conclusion that those characters are Mandarin. I could be wrong, but I think it is Mandarin.
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Really, another anime fan? I can hardly contain myself.
Quote:
Originally posted by ReyvnDarKnight:
[q]zicsoft:
About that calligraphy: written Japanese uses a lot of Chinese characters. So it's often hard to distinguish writing in the two languages. Here's an interesting page on the subject:
No? Really?!? Ya don't say!
Sorry, couldn't resist the sarcasm. As I am an anime fan, I am quite familiar with the influence of the Chinese written (hiragana?)
It's Kanji. Kanji. Kanji.
The japanese has 3 writing "systems". Hiragana, Katagana, and Kanji. Hiragana are used for native japanese words. Katagana are used more for romanizing ("spell") the sounds for the words that are foreign to Japanese, and Kanji are used to describe ideas. Kanji are the "chinese" characters. However, all 3 systems are usually interspersed in literary and printed material. Thus, if you are reading a Japanese newspaper, you would have to be verse in all 3.
Quote:
Originally posted by ReyvnDarKnight:
language on Japanese written language. I was just wondering if anyone recognized it as Mandarin or Japanese. After pausing my copy of Bushwacked and comparing the characters to the written Japanese characters in my Japanese language text book, I have reached the conclusion that those characters are Mandarin. I could be wrong, but I think it is Mandarin.
I don't know if you are refering to Mandarin the language, Mandarin the race/subrace/ethinicity of people, or Mandarin as in Orange. What you said doesn't make much sense here.
I don't think you can accurate pick out "Mandarin" characters. The chinese writing system is indistinguishable from one dialect to another. Although, when the communist took over and during the cultural revolution, there was quite an effort and many different ways were attempted to "overhaul" the language. Thus, simplified script was born. Most mainland chinese folks write in simplified script, and taiwanese and other overseas chinese use the "fullbody" or full script.
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[q]Jasonzzz:
Really, another anime fan? I can hardly contain myself.[/q]
Ahhhh, sarcasm gotta love it 
[q]Jasonzzz:
I don't know if you are refering to Mandarin the language, Mandarin the race/subrace/ethinicity of people, or Mandarin as in Orange. What you said doesn't make much sense here. [/q]
As we were talking about Mandarin the language, I presumed that Mandarin took a different written form than, oh say let's say, Cantonese. Next time I'll try to be more specific for ya since ya couldn't keep up with the topic of discussion.
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As someone who lives in a place where Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are used quite extensively by the local population, let me just clarify this matter a bit as there seems to be some confusion here.
What you see in Firefly is written Chinese. In Japan, the Chinese characters are known as Kanji.
There are currently two versions of written Chinese. One is the Simplified version, which is used in China. The other is the Traditional version, which is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere.
Some years back, the Chinese government (The People's Republic of China) felt that Traditional Chinese was too difficult for its populace to learn, especially in the rural regions, so they simplified it in an effort to educate its citizens and increase literacy rate (can't really diseminate propaganda if the people can't read).
Meanwhile, Traditional Chinese was still being taught outside of China in places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States.
The Chinese writing system is a logographic system. Meaning, there is no relationship between what is written and what is spoken. The English alphabet, on the other hand, is a phonetic system.
Japanese and Korean incorporates Traditional Chinese in their writing, especially in historic documents and older literature. This was because of the Chinese influence in their histories.
There are three writing systems in Japan. Hiragana (for Japanese words), Katagana (for foreign words), and Kanji (for Chinese words). Hiragana and Katagana are phonetic based.
There are two writing systems in Korea. Hanja (for Chinese characters) and Hangul (a relatively young and amazing phonetic writing system for Korean).
What you hear in Firefly is Mandarin, which is the common tongue of China and Taiwan. Because of China's size, there are many Chinese dialects. The most popular being Cantonese, which is spoken in Hong Kong, the United States, Britan, and Canada. Cantonese is a very colorful and colloquial language. It's the language of Jacky Chan, Chow Yun Fat, Sammo Hung, Jet Li, etc..
As someone pointed out on one of the other threads, it would be near impossible for the actors to speak Cantonese properly. Too bad, because it would certainly make the swearing a lot more interesting. 
So, to sum up this little language lesson. What you see on Firefly is written Chinese. What you hear is Mandarin. One does not read or write Mandarin. On its most basic level, one does not speak Chinese. Instead, one speaks either Mandarin or one of the many Chinese dialects.
So, did I cause even more confusion?
Well, one last comment. The Chinese don't refer to Mandarin as "Mandarin". It's known as "Putonghua", which literally means the "Common Language".
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Quote:
Originally posted by ReyvnDarKnight:
[q]Jasonzzz:
Really, another anime fan? I can hardly contain myself.[/q]
Ahhhh, sarcasm gotta love it
[q]Jasonzzz:
I don't know if you are refering to Mandarin the language, Mandarin the race/subrace/ethinicity of people, or Mandarin as in Orange. What you said doesn't make much sense here. [/q]
As we were talking about Mandarin the language, I presumed that Mandarin took a different written form than, oh say let's say, Cantonese. Next time I'll try to be more specific for ya since ya couldn't keep up with the topic of discussion.
Ah, in that case, then we will get off the Orange then.
Cantonese is a funny beast all on it's own. Many/Most of other dialects in Chinese use slightly different mannerisms, but the written language, both in literary form and in strict plain everyday form are all the same. In other words, it's all Chinese. The only real difference is in how it sounds when the ideograms are read aloud (think Boston accent, Texas drawl, the southern twank, and the California whine) as well as different colloquilisms (probably same examples as above applies, but really think in terms of what the British folks name their everyday items, and what you Americans call the "trunk", for example).
Now back to Cantonese, Cantonese is really a spoken dialect. Many of the words that are said and used have no equivalent "word" that can be written. So there is a divergence in what is spoken in Cantonese and how a newspaper is read when it is read aloud. The newspaper will still make sense, it's just that people will know right away you are reading from the paper.
Those "spoken" words in Cantonese are 'writable', they are often expressed directly in comics, for example. (When a cantonese writes something down on paper, it's usually in "Chinese" with very few "Cantonese" words/sounds, if any at all...) But the Cantonese "words" that are written would be virtually indistinguishable from anyother Chinese ideogram. The only difference being that it would be full of "sounds" only used and understable by a Cantonese speaking person.
So, no, there is no separate distinguishable written language per dialect. It's all Chinese.
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