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[-] Infynis@midwest.social 99 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

They can't speak English though. In fact the scene this screenshot is from is them trapped in the past unable to communicate because their universal translators are offline. I would assume Quark speaks Federation Standard, but apparently that's not close enough to English to figure out what they're saying in the 40s

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago

I would assume Quark speaks Federation Standard

I assume he made a clear point of never learning it.

I'd put larger odds on Nog and Rom eventually learning it (but not at the time of the screenshot).

[-] psmgx@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

I could see Quark learning it. He lives in the federation, and fluency is good for business. Probably a RoA to that effect.

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Hum... By the end of DS9 he lives in the federation. For nearly all of it he lives in Bajor, and shortly before it he lives in the Cardassian Empire.

Yeah, I could see the Lower Decks version of him speaking it.

[-] Zorque@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago

He doesn't live in the federation until the last episode, though. He lives on a Bajoran space station administrated by Starfleet.

[-] EmergMemeHologram@startrek.website 3 points 11 months ago

Being underestimated is also good for business

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

One thing I've always wondered, and this is hardly the most unbelievable aspect of the science fiction elements of this show but it's one of the most pervasive and constant; why don't we ever hear the native languages of the aliens underneath the sounds of the universal translators? Most, although not all, of them speak by vibrating the air, so where are those sounds disappearing to?

[-] Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago

The translator also emits an interference pattern that cancels out the original speech to the listener

[-] DmMacniel@feddit.de 15 points 11 months ago

This was a plotpoint in DS9 where the UT didn't picked up the nuances of a language but the mutants who were able to comprehend the language deciphered what was really meant.

[-] disk42@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

They actually do this in Star Trek Beyond

[-] timicin@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 11 months ago

fwiw: you do get to hear a little bit of ferengi in this episode, before they get their translators fixed

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Quark would never lower himself to speaking anything human. He views humans and the Federation as inferior and foolish.

[-] ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website 11 points 11 months ago

Understanding a customer as famously wily as the Federation through language would be a business advantage. We know this because it works today.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 85 points 11 months ago

They're able to say it. It's an insult.

[-] Apeman42@lemmy.world 45 points 11 months ago

I read a theory once that "daimon", the Ferengi title for captain, could translate to "good/lead merchant" or something along those lines.

So if we assume that's true, it's possible that "hewmon" means something like "shitty merchant", and it's just pure coincidence it basically sounds like human.

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

I like this theory, it feels like one of the authentic ways that slurs in earth languages actually get invented.

Ahh yes, the Monkeigh defense. I always knew the Ferengi were really space elves!

[-] joyjoy@lemm.ee 12 points 11 months ago

Human is the one word they know in Federation Standard. They go out of their way to mispronounce it.

[-] negativenull@startrek.website 12 points 11 months ago
[-] hessianerd@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

I mean it is usually said with some distain in the voice. I had always thought it was some sort of pun or something.

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 53 points 11 months ago

My headcanon is that most of their speech is ferengi being translated by the universal translator, but when they say the word human they just use the human word for human which then goes untranslated.

[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 13 points 11 months ago

Makes sense considering we know from Darmok that the universal translator doesn't translate proper names.

[-] Plibbert@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 months ago

It's not even head cannon, this screenshot is legit not just from the episode, but from the scene where there's an example of exactly what you described.

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 35 points 11 months ago

Quark can say human, he's just unwilling to do so. He makes it into an insult instead.

[-] Rom@hexbear.net 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

They have the ability to pronounce 'human' correctly (e.g. "A human drink. It's called root beer"). They choose to deliberately mispronounce it as an intimidation tactic.

[-] Plibbert@lemmy.ml 13 points 11 months ago

I love how your legit using a screenshot from a scene where this is explained lol.

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

Other way around, he made an effort to modify the universal translator so he could pronounce it like that. Damn hu-mons!

[-] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 11 points 11 months ago

Still less absurd than Data's contractions (except all the times he actually used them). Maybe it was something he was programmed to tell humans so that even being superior to them, people would still be able to point to one thing they could do better.

[-] usernamesaredifficul@hexbear.net 10 points 11 months ago

they can they just won't

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 10 points 11 months ago
[-] negativenull@startrek.website 16 points 11 months ago
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago
[-] negativenull@startrek.website 14 points 11 months ago
[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago

omg. I always made this joke with my wife.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

It was 'Huge Beaumont' for us, but that's an MST3K joke.

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

Might have to watch Manos tonight 👋👋

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Every night is a ~~terrible~~ excellent night for Manos.

[-] TotallyNotSpez@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

It's called having an accent.

[-] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

For one word? Everything else is fine. That's not really how accents work.

[-] muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 11 months ago

Can we all agree that Ferengi's have the best drip in the galaxy? Quark's outfits are always incredible.

this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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