Get your rocks off. Way off.

[Taro Toporific]

weapon_marvin_modulator.jpg

Marvin/Japan Readies Mission to Get Space Rocks
Mon, May. 05, 2003 / Associated Press
TOKYO - Fresh off the successful launch of its first spy satellites, Japan is now preparing a more ambitious, and less controversial, mission: to bring home the first space rocks since U.S. astronauts gathered samples from the moon over 30 years ago...Japan has its sights set on a much smaller - and far more distant - target than the moon. If all goes well... the unmanned Muses-C probe will make three one-second touch-and-go contacts with 1998 SF36, a tiny asteroid some 180 million miles away from Earth, and bring back a gram or so of its surface.

[Taro Toporific]

marvin_martian_points-Japan-flag.jpg

Japan tests space cannon that will blast asteroid
AFP -- 10/23/2013
Japanese scientists readying to blast a crater in an asteroid to find out what it is made of said Wednesday they have successfully tested their new space cannon.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the huge weapon would fire a metal bullet at the surface of asteroid 1999JU3 in 2018.
The Hayabusa-2, which will launch the weapon, will then land on the surface and take samples of the newly disturbed soil...
More...

[Coligny]

Can somebody confiscate their toys before they do something really stupid and dangerous threatening the whole planet...

A bit like Fukushima... but worse...

[Taro Toporific]

Can somebody confiscate their toys before they do something really stupid and dangerous ...

"Space Canon" is just journalistic hyperbole.
The correct term for it is "impactor" (Small Carry-on Impactor*)--a small drop-off explosively formed penetrator. But hey, don't tell JAXA's yuru-kyara/loose character mascot,"Jakuma†" aka Jack-off Kuma that he doesn't have a big "space canon."

JAXA-Jakuma.jpg

"...At long last, my dream come true after two thousand years of work, the Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator is complete. Brace yourself for immediate disintegration...Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be a planet-shattering kaboom."

[matsuki]

The Hayabusa-2

I guess thinking inside the box yields the same name for everything. At the zoo yesterday and the Japanese naming for animals leaves little hope that the stubbornness against change will ever go away. I guess I should just be content they didn't call this thing Super Nama Hayabusa Zero edition.

[Samurai_Jerk]

The Hayabusa-2

At the zoo yesterday and the Japanese naming for animals leaves little hope that the stubbornness against change will ever go away.

WTF are you talking about?

[matsuki]

The Hayabusa-2

At the zoo yesterday and the Japanese naming for animals leaves little hope that the stubbornness against change will ever go away.

WTF are you talking about?

Let's just say the monthly Engrish catch phrases pale in comparison to the disorganized shit (lack of) order in naming animals. (I'm talking non-native species mainly but remember that this is the language that has different names for fish depending on their age)

[Samurai_Jerk]

The Hayabusa-2

At the zoo yesterday and the Japanese naming for animals leaves little hope that the stubbornness against change will ever go away.

WTF are you talking about?

Let's just say the monthly Engrish catch phrases pale in comparison to the disorganized shit (lack of) order in naming animals.

You can't make a claim like that without giving some examples. Other than taxonomy what's an organized way to name animals?

[matsuki]

I should have taken pictures of the names but the two main trends I noticed were mainly where they seem to ignore the foreign animal's given name and basically describe it using a more familiar Japanese animal and action/feature. (Kinda like racoons are called 洗熊...even though they aren't bears) That's all good if it's accurate but some of them are really out there. The other is to simply Katakanize whatever the English name is, which is fine if you are consistent with it....but you get animals like gorilla, white handed gibbon, slow loris and tibetan macaque becoming ゴリラ、シロテ長猿、道化ザル, and チベットベニガオ猿. Gorilla goes as is, yet anything else ape/monkey-like becomes 猿....or so you'd suspect until you remember orangutan オランウータン and realize yeah, it's just a clusterfuck. Along the same vein, no separation of frogs and toads (everything is 蛙)

English naming has plenty of issues as well but the reason it bothered me so much was the kids there that seemed to actually care about learning the names, the fucked naming seems waaay counterproductive. Don't even get me started on what they name their pets at home

Sidenote: Even lemurs are apparently called 猿 must be their monkey branching behavior.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I should have taken pictures of the names but the two main trends I noticed were mainly where they seem to ignore the foreign animal's given name and basically describe it using a more familiar Japanese animal and action/feature. (Kinda like racoons are called 洗熊...even though they aren't bears) That's all good if it's accurate but some of them are really out there. The other is to simply Katakanize whatever the English name is, which is fine if you are consistent with it....but you get animals like gorilla, white handed gibbon, slow loris and tibetan macaque becoming ゴリラ、シロテ長猿、道化ザル, and チベットベニガオ猿. Gorilla goes as is, yet anything else ape/monkey-like becomes 猿....or so you'd suspect until you remember orangutan オランウータン and realize yeah, it's just a clusterfuck. Along the same vein, no separation of frogs and toads (everything is 蛙)

English naming has plenty of issues as well but the reason it bothered me so much was the kids there that seemed to actually care about learning the names, the fucked naming seems waaay counterproductive. Don't even get me started on what they name their pets at home

Sidenote: Even lemurs are apparently called 猿 must be their monkey branching behavior.

You sound almost as bad as Coligny. For the record ....

A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in taxonomy, but is common in popular culture, in which toads are associated with drier skin and more terrestrial habitats than animals commonly called frogs.

[matsuki]

Dude, they live in totally different places, behave totally different, and yeah, there are a ton reasons why we make a distinction between them. Same is done for salamanders, newts, and axolotls....which in Japanese get grouped into いもり and ウーパールーパー????

[Samurai_Jerk]

Dude, they live in totally different places, behave totally different, and yeah, there are a ton reasons why we make a distinction between them. Same is done for salamanders, newts, and axolotls....which in Japanese get grouped into いもり and ウンパ・ルンパ????

And in Chinese birds are considered different animals from chickens but we call them all birds in English. How stupid.

[matsuki]

And in Chinese birds are considered different animals from chickens but we call them all birds in English. How stupid.

I thought we just called them "chickens?"

The Chinese can "consider" them what they want, they are classified as Aves....aka "birds."

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Gallus
Species: G. gallus domesticus

Frogs and toads are classified as amphibians, but when you get down to family, they are pretty distinct.

Toads are:

Scientific NameBufo bufo
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Bufonidae
Genus: Bufo
Species: varies

Whereas Frogs are:

Phylum: Chordata
Sub-phylum: vertebrata
Class: amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Dendrobatide
Genus: varies
Species: varies

Am I being picky? Yeah...but like I said, there is a reason there are distinctions in their common names.

What do you have to say about 洗熊?

[Samurai_Jerk]

What do you have to say about starfish and silverfish? How about bearcats and raccoon dogs? How about ponies versus horses? Speaking of horses, what about sea horses?

[IparryU]

What do you have to say about starfish and silverfish? How about bearcats and raccoon dogs? How about ponies versus horses? Speaking of horses, what about sea horses?

Dis turning shit real...

Sent from my SC-03E using Tapatalk 2

[Samurai_Jerk]

What do you have to say about starfish and silverfish? How about bearcats and raccoon dogs? How about ponies versus horses? Speaking of horses, what about sea horses?

Dis turning shit real...

Sent from my SC-03E using Tapatalk 2

Goddam right! I'd like to add that it's ridiculous we only have one word for アヒル and カモウ in English: duck.

[matsuki]

What do you have to say about starfish and silverfish? How about bearcats and raccoon dogs?

Speaking of horses, what about sea horses?

How did you leave out sea monkeys?!! Obviously silly names but at least there are some with other proper names like sea stars. Calling Tanuki racoon dogs sounds weird too but is actually not so inaccurate...they are members of the canid family, which includes wolves and domestic dogs.

How about ponies versus horses?

...and kitten versus cat, puppy vs. dog?

Ok, so 子馬、子猫、子犬 pretty good...but then when you apply that to something like sea bass, you get:

under 30cm "Hanego"
from 30 to 50cm "Seigo"
from 50 to 70cm "Hukko"
from 70 to 90cm "Suzuki"
over 90cm "Nyudo"


Like I said in my original post, English naming has it's own issues, my point is that they are magnified in Japanese.

[matsuki]

What do you have to say about starfish and silverfish? How about bearcats and raccoon dogs? How about ponies versus horses? Speaking of horses, what about sea horses?

Dis turning shit real...

Sent from my SC-03E using Tapatalk 2

Goddam right! I'd like to add that it's ridiculous we only have one word for アヒル and カモウ in English: duck.

鴨「かも」= Mallard (Wild)



鶩「あひる」= Duck (Domestic)

(not scientific but it's how I always hear people referring to them....google image search agrees)

[Coligny]

What do you have to say about starfish and silverfish? How about bearcats and raccoon dogs? How about ponies versus horses? Speaking of horses, what about sea horses?

Hummm... I'm pretty sure those are their "common names" and not their real scientific names...

In French...

Cat: Chat...
Except when it's...
Felis silvestris catus (can't be more precise)
Matou, mistigri, minet, greffier (lower class/everyday)
Felin, felidés (can't be more generic, from the kitteh on your lap to creature that can tear appart a car to turn you into lunch)

Yes, the scientific name is in latin... but, as a root language, not as 'anudder gaikokujingo'.

[Coligny]

You sound almost as bad as Coligny. For the record ....

Have you considered the possibility that you are one with the problem... not us...

[Samurai_Jerk]

You sound almost as bad as Coligny. For the record ....

Have you considered the possibility that you are one with the problem... not us...

Again, you're not allowed to comment until you actually have basic knowledge of the subject.

[Coligny]

D00d, no need to be a proctologist to smell a turd...

[Samurai_Jerk]

D00d, no need to be a proctologist to smell a turd...

And I don't need to be a special ed teacher to know you belong on the short bus.

[yanpa]

Get a room, you two.

BTW I didn't realise what a "short bus" was until 2007 or so, I always imagined it was one designed for low-clearance bridges or something.

[Coligny]

D00d, no need to be a proctologist to smell a turd...

And I don't need to be a special ed teacher to know you belong on the short bus.

Thanks for making my point...

[Coligny]

Get a room, you two.

BTW I didn't realise what a "short bus" was until 2007 or so, I always imagined it was one designed for low-clearance bridges or something.

Nah, that's a low floor bus, with special chassis usually manually or automatically lowered thanks to an air suspension to allow for easier access of the passengers.

Dong Feng low floor:

image.jpg

Here some Kamaz chassis for comparison:

image.jpg

There is also low floor trucks, usually for airport servicing, also some garbage collectors when the crew have constantly yo go in and out.

[kurogane]

Like I said in my original post, English naming has it's own issues, my point is that they are magnified in Japanese.

Well, if you wanted to you could admit that the problem is magnified in your Japanese, but that was a very good random rant.

I only speak the 2, but I would say the problems are about equal. As for the use of extended metaphor like Arai-guma for raccoons, we had access to native vocabulary that replaced the lame Olde Yuropean names for North American animals.

And ask a European what they call a Swedish Moose.

BTW, I was also taught that the distinction between frog and toad is not scientific but vernacular.

The one that bugs me is the Japanese for Lesser Panda. How can anything that cutesy pie not have a proper Japanese name that allows me to indulge my fear of katakana? I mean, Panda has a kanji, why not just call them Shou-Panda? Ready material for piano sonata puns as well.

Q: Kono uta shitte iru?
A: Mmmn. Shou-panda yon.

Win Win.

[yanpa]

And ask a European what they call a Swedish Moose.

Beats me. Sounds like the name of a cocktail.

[Yokohammer]

Those of you who thought the recent electronic circuit thread was geeky might want to note that people in this thread are arguing about discussing taxonomy.

FG.com takes some surprising twists and turns at time.

(I know fuck-all about this one, so I'm staying out ...)

[matsuki]

Like I said in my original post, English naming has it's own issues, my point is that they are magnified in Japanese.

Well, if you wanted to you could admit that the problem is magnified in your Japanese, but that was a very good random rant.

I'm the first to admit my Japanese is far from perfect...and if that's the case, I'm not too stubborn to admit it...but I'm not just going off names in my own vocabulary, these were the name plates at the zoo.

I guess the language itself is also a limiting factor though...I remember trying to order what I'd just call a carbon fiber strut bar cover...that was termed barker bar cover with the best katakana ever. カーボンバーカーバーカバー The company phone rep thought I was crazy til I pointed out specifically what I was talking about. They changed the name later.

I only speak the 2, but I would say the problems are about equal. As for the use of extended metaphor like Arai-guma for raccoons, we had access to native vocabulary that replaced the lame Olde Yuropean names for North American animals.

The word Axolotl comes from ancient Aztec....why the fuck do Japanese call them Uupaaruupa??? Usual fucked recipe...marketing execs coin some fucked katakana, some kawaii anime, and make it hayatteru with a commercial.

1985 Nissen UFO Yakisoba commercial.

The hobbists call them Axolots or Mexican Salamanders but the zoo and just about everywhere else, they use "Oopaaruupaa" cause it's the cute and hayatteru name

And ask a European what they call a Swedish Moose.

Elk, apparently...that is pretty fucked.