General > General Technical Chat
Funny Company Names....
TimFox:
So long as we are discussing multi-lingual environments:
I just finished J Sancton's "Madhouse at the End of the Earth" (Crown, 2021), the first English-language book about the Belgica expedition to Antartica (1897-1899) under the command of the Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache with Belgian backing and a polyglot crew. The lingua franca aboard ship became a "mixture of French, Dutch, Norwegian, German, Polish, English, Romanian, and Latin" (p 5). Among the ship's company were F Cook and R Amundsen, who became infamous and famous explorers on their own expeditions.
McBryce:
I worked with a woman from the states with the same sir name. We nicknamed her "Bunny Stick" which she thought was cool. :D
McBryce.
harerod:
McBryce, that comes as a bit of a surprise, since that name stems from one tiny village. Half a century ago its people had all but two family names. I have heard "rabbit/bunny stick" more often than I care for. Even if there are several acceptable translations for German "Hase" into English, none matches the noble "hare". As for the "Stab" - well, I chose "rod" for aesthetic reasons.
harerod:
TimFox, one would assume that this was a pidgin language. Those are often problematic, because of the simplified grammar. I wonder how that would work for scientists, where precision is paramount.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin
From my experiences with Japanese who don't speak any western language: It is really easy to do trade, exchange basic ideas, even find each other sympatico. However it is quite impossible to exchange more complex concepts. I was/am my own Guinea pig regarding language development in 45+year olds, since my four trips where spread over three years. During my last trip one acquaintance commented on my progress: "I remember meeting you for the first time, you could barely speak. Now we sit here and do quite normal smalltalk." Can't wait to get back and apply the work which I did during the pandemic. No visa in sight, though.
TimFox:
I think the Latin component of the pidgin was due to the scientists onboard, especially the zoologists.
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