That could be very true, but there's a reason English is considered one of the hardest languages in the world to learn. From what little I know of other languages, a lot of them have more universal rules that at least give you a clue as to how the word is pronounced, even if you haven't heard it.
Hell, after a couple of hours of studying Thai from a book I was pronouncing words pretty accurately.
You must be some kind of language guru, because every syllable in Thai has 5 possible intonations (mid, high, low, rising, falling). Meaning, a one-syllable word has up to five different meanings. Thai is definitely the most difficult languages I've ever encountered. I still can't pronounce sawatdee correctly.
Vs. English, which is one of the easiest to learn, but difficult to master because of irregular words and conjugations.
Thailand is the only place I've ever been where the tour guide said "don't even try anything but sawatdee, the language is too hard and you might offend someone." Aren't "mother" and "cow" the same word with slightly different inflection?
When I was a little kid, I thought the term "Metroid" was a reference to Samus and thought that it was a type of space warrior. I learned about my mistake shortly afterward though.
Also while growing up, I remember hearing adults pronounce pokemon as "Pokey Man" (not sure if anyone else here brought this up). I can understand people calling it "Pokey mon" but there's no A in the word at all.
Not sure if this counts but I remember hearing at a Gamestop people referring to Call of Duty: World at War as Call of Duty 5 (I don't know if this was already brought up either). I just know people will be referring to Modern Warfare 2 as Call of Duty 6.
I've been playing Final Fantasy games for 10 years, and I've played almost all of them for some length of time, but I never gave a thought as to what Phoenix Down was. I always called the singular "a Phoenix Down".
Until I read the item description in FFXII, which is something like, "A tuft of soft feathers from a phoenix."
Me: "...Oh my God, of course! Like goosedown, but phoenix down! Phoenix feathers! I am an idiot."
I've been playing Final Fantasy games for 10 years, and I've played almost all of them for some length of time, but I never gave a thought as to what Phoenix Down was. I always called the singular "a Phoenix Down".
Until I read the item description in FFXII, which is something like, "A tuft of soft feathers from a phoenix."
Me: "...Oh my God, of course! Like goosedown, but phoenix down! Phoenix feathers! I am an idiot."
I've been playing Final Fantasy games for 10 years, and I've played almost all of them for some length of time, but I never gave a thought as to what Phoenix Down was. I always called the singular "a Phoenix Down".
Until I read the item description in FFXII, which is something like, "A tuft of soft feathers from a phoenix."
Me: "...Oh my God, of course! Like goosedown, but phoenix down! Phoenix feathers! I am an idiot."
...D: I didn't know that either.
I really wonder how many people finally make that association and at what age.
My guess of under 16? Maybe 0.5% of players.
chrono_traveller on
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. ~ Terry Pratchett
0
obolon84Good news, everyone!I just blue myself.Registered Userregular
If you think English is complicated and messed up, that's because you've never learned any other language in the world with the notable exception of Spanish.
My native language is Russian and before I moved to the U.S., I knew very little of it. It was pretty easy to learn English, but looking back on it now, there's so many little things about the language that can mess you up, that I'm sort of surprised I did it so fast. Spanish wasn't too hard; mostly the many different forms of conjugations that gave me some trouble. As for Russian, I took some classes at college for easy credits, and I would have to say it's a hard language to learn for English-speaking people. A lot of students seemed to have trouble with it, even in the more advanced classes. One thing I would say that is good about Russian is that a lot of it is pronounced just as it's spelled, so it's pretty easy to read once you know the alphabet and its sounds.
A little more on topic, I think I would go insane if I worked at a game store, having to hear the chosen pronunciations and 'nicknames' people have for games/systems. I hear that enough at my current job already.
Also, to everyone having a hissy-fit over people who call their "XBox 360" an "XBox"...I am now, and forever will be, one of those people.
I apologize for nothing and regret even less.
Your anger soothes me
I'm one of them, too. Also, the staff at Xbox Live are that kind of people. In fact, everyone I've seen from Microsoft are that kind of people. Look at the titles for any of the features when you turn on the 360. Inside Xbox, Xbox 101, Xbox whateverthefuck. They never add the 360. Why? Because it's retarded and we can infer from context which system they mean.
I've been playing Final Fantasy games for 10 years, and I've played almost all of them for some length of time, but I never gave a thought as to what Phoenix Down was. I always called the singular "a Phoenix Down".
Until I read the item description in FFXII, which is something like, "A tuft of soft feathers from a phoenix."
Me: "...Oh my God, of course! Like goosedown, but phoenix down! Phoenix feathers! I am an idiot."
I've been playing Final Fantasy games for 10 years, and I've played almost all of them for some length of time, but I never gave a thought as to what Phoenix Down was. I always called the singular "a Phoenix Down".
Until I read the item description in FFXII, which is something like, "A tuft of soft feathers from a phoenix."
Me: "...Oh my God, of course! Like goosedown, but phoenix down! Phoenix feathers! I am an idiot."
:shock:
I get it now.
I think I realized this when the animation when using pheonix down in FFT or some other game had feathers in it.
For a long time I missed the H in chocobo and thought it was cocobo (which I think I still like better. Also, meseta was metsa to me for a long time.
When I was a little kid, I thought the term "Metroid" was a reference to Samus and thought that it was a type of space warrior. I learned about my mistake shortly afterward though.
Wasn't there a retcon that made Metroid the Chozo word for great warrior, and that it became another name for Samus after she blew 'em all up? I seem to remember this from somewhere.
When I was a little kid, I thought the term "Metroid" was a reference to Samus and thought that it was a type of space warrior. I learned about my mistake shortly afterward though.
Wasn't there a retcon that made Metroid the Chozo word for great warrior, and that it became another name for Samus after she blew 'em all up? I seem to remember this from somewhere.
If I was mean I could link the TVTropes page...
But I'm feeling oddly nice right now so I'll just say that yes, they did that.
Blackjack on
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
0
KorKnown to detonate from time to timeRegistered Userregular
edited April 2009
I sort of did the same think with the phoenix down.
I figured out in FFT what it actually was, and had my "ohhhh" moment.
Years later though, my wife was playing thru FFXII, and she kept receiving "A tuft of phoenix down" and I kept thinking to myself... why do they keep saying that, there is no item called "tuft of phoenix down" in her inventory.
Later I'd realize that I was glad I had not shared this complaint aloud.
Yeah, it took me an embarrassingly long time to have "down" click in my head the way it was supposed to. For a long time I figured it was just a bit of Engrish in FFVII (the first FF game I played that had them in it) since your characters were "down" when they hit 0 HP.
korodullin on
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
A few years ago a bunch of my friends and I were playing through Super Mario Bros and one of my friends says something like "watch out for the duck". There was a few seconds of silence before anyone said "what duck?". He pointed to the Koopa Troopa. "That duck".
I can understand not calling it by its proper Nintendo name... but a duck? His logic was that it had a beak and therefore looked like a duck.
A few years ago a bunch of my friends and I were playing through Super Mario Bros and one of my friends says something like "watch out for the duck". There was a few seconds of silence before anyone said "what duck?". He pointed to the Koopa Troopa. "That duck".
I can understand not calling it by its proper Nintendo name... but a duck? His logic was that it had a beak and therefore looked like a duck.
The year Donkey Kong Country came out for the SNES I cried on Christmas Day as all my friends fired up their copies, and all I got was "Donkey Kong" for Gameboy, and the Gameboy Player.
Apparently the store had told my stepmother "it's the same thing."
Posts
This reminds me of these idiots arguing that Mega Man's "200X" actually mean 2010.
Retard, the game takes place 20,010. Duh. You've seriously never seen it abbreviated that way?
Oh! Now I feel stupid. I thought that it was dumb to mix roman numerals with western numerals and that the X was a variable.
Thanks for enlightening me.
Mega Man 1 and 2 take place in 200X (2000-2009) and Mega Man 3+ take place in 20XX (2010-2099). Mega Man X takes place in 21XX, so (2100-2199).
So Mega Man 3 takes place in 201010? How the hell did Light and Wily survive the gap from 2 to 3?
:P
Thailand is the only place I've ever been where the tour guide said "don't even try anything but sawatdee, the language is too hard and you might offend someone." Aren't "mother" and "cow" the same word with slightly different inflection?
yes, yes it is.
Also while growing up, I remember hearing adults pronounce pokemon as "Pokey Man" (not sure if anyone else here brought this up). I can understand people calling it "Pokey mon" but there's no A in the word at all.
Not sure if this counts but I remember hearing at a Gamestop people referring to Call of Duty: World at War as Call of Duty 5 (I don't know if this was already brought up either). I just know people will be referring to Modern Warfare 2 as Call of Duty 6.
I apologize for nothing and regret even less.
BNet: StandrdError#1826
That's not nearly as bad as the epic Penny Arcade argument over whether Mega Man X is just Mega Man "X" or if it's "Mega Man 10."
There are still people to this day that will argue that Mega Man X is "Mega Man 10."
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
This is compounded by the recent release of Mega Man 9. Surprisingly easy for some people to forget that X was actually the 7th Mega Man to come out.
The best arguement is just the sequal. Megaman X2. Explain how that fits in? Is it Megaman 12? No, no it is not.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Of course its not, its actually Megaman 102, duh!
I've been playing Final Fantasy games for 10 years, and I've played almost all of them for some length of time, but I never gave a thought as to what Phoenix Down was. I always called the singular "a Phoenix Down".
Until I read the item description in FFXII, which is something like, "A tuft of soft feathers from a phoenix."
Me: "...Oh my God, of course! Like goosedown, but phoenix down! Phoenix feathers! I am an idiot."
...D: I didn't know that either.
I really wonder how many people finally make that association and at what age.
My guess of under 16? Maybe 0.5% of players.
My native language is Russian and before I moved to the U.S., I knew very little of it. It was pretty easy to learn English, but looking back on it now, there's so many little things about the language that can mess you up, that I'm sort of surprised I did it so fast. Spanish wasn't too hard; mostly the many different forms of conjugations that gave me some trouble. As for Russian, I took some classes at college for easy credits, and I would have to say it's a hard language to learn for English-speaking people. A lot of students seemed to have trouble with it, even in the more advanced classes. One thing I would say that is good about Russian is that a lot of it is pronounced just as it's spelled, so it's pretty easy to read once you know the alphabet and its sounds.
A little more on topic, I think I would go insane if I worked at a game store, having to hear the chosen pronunciations and 'nicknames' people have for games/systems. I hear that enough at my current job already.
Hopefully Capcom can release a Megaman 10 to Wiiware soon so we can end that damn argument forever.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
I'm one of them, too. Also, the staff at Xbox Live are that kind of people. In fact, everyone I've seen from Microsoft are that kind of people. Look at the titles for any of the features when you turn on the 360. Inside Xbox, Xbox 101, Xbox whateverthefuck. They never add the 360. Why? Because it's retarded and we can infer from context which system they mean.
:shock:
I get it now.
I think I realized this when the animation when using pheonix down in FFT or some other game had feathers in it.
For a long time I missed the H in chocobo and thought it was cocobo (which I think I still like better. Also, meseta was metsa to me for a long time.
Wasn't there a retcon that made Metroid the Chozo word for great warrior, and that it became another name for Samus after she blew 'em all up? I seem to remember this from somewhere.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
But I'm feeling oddly nice right now so I'll just say that yes, they did that.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
I figured out in FFT what it actually was, and had my "ohhhh" moment.
Years later though, my wife was playing thru FFXII, and she kept receiving "A tuft of phoenix down" and I kept thinking to myself... why do they keep saying that, there is no item called "tuft of phoenix down" in her inventory.
Later I'd realize that I was glad I had not shared this complaint aloud.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
How do you get down from an elephant?
You don't. You get down from a duck.
I was like, why would I be on a duck? And anyway, surely you just step off it, right?
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Surely!
I don't get it!
How do you make a baby float?
I can understand not calling it by its proper Nintendo name... but a duck? His logic was that it had a beak and therefore looked like a duck.
It is a well known fact that ducks have shells.
Hearthstone.
This one irritates me almost as much as 'melee'.
Something to do with fireplaces?
Everyone pronounces it herthstone.
I mean, it is spelled like "earth" with a "h".
:>
I like calling the 360 the Xbizzle TreSizzle
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Apparently the store had told my stepmother "it's the same thing."