Another insignifficant inconsistency to discuss

VikingBoyBilly · Post by **VikingBoyBilly** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 20:47

If all the signs on Vorticon 6 are written in SGA, (vortiville, hal's kitchen, etc.) How come their Diet Vorticola has the letters DV on the can, which clearly is an acronym for Diet Vorticola in English text? They do have those SGA/English translations on their school chalkboards, but would they really have english text on their food containers? That would be like if our CRUNCH bars had the word CRUNCH written in Norse runes or something, instead of english. They would portray the same pronounciation and meaning, but realistically, you want it written in the standard text that everyone understands locally, and the same should be true for the vorticons. Unless Mortimer McMire invented vorticola or something and spread his culture. But Mortimer hates Earth, so why would he promote a text that was (in theory) invented on planet Earth? Especially at the end of Keen 5, when he writes that entire letter in SGA, clearly he favors SGA over english text, so that mostly rules him out as the possible explanation for the vorticola cans.

Oh, and the Zippo chocolate bars have the word "ZIP" on them. Any ideas?

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 20:51

They wanted to reach an Earthling market?

Imported earth version? (though it be kinda redundant to put out a version to earth only to import it back in)

Maybe the Earth version had become so recognizable that if they changed the logo no one would know what soda it is.

Though that is kinda over analyzing things.

Post by **KeenRush** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 21:04

Simple, it's a fad.

Such things don't have to make sense. It's cool to use Earth alphabet, they are even taught it at school!

Genius314 · Post by **Genius314** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 21:56

I'd imagine it's similar to how Japanese culture uses English words and letters. They're taught English in school, and it makes it more fun/interesting.

entropicdecay · Post by **entropicdecay** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 22:14

It was planted by Keen in order to confuse the Vorticons!

LJH · Post by **LJH** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 16:04

Genius314 wrote:I'd imagine it's similar to how Japanese culture uses English words and letters. They're taught English in school, and it makes it more fun/interesting.

I agree here. During my time in Japan recently, you wouldn't believe how many products, especially snack food/drink, have English all over them. -_-"

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 16:06

Maybe the Vorticons had their soda in SGA, but once Mortimer took over he made them convert it to English?

Retodon8 · Post by **Retodon8** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 17:09

We have things like binary clocks, which aren't exactly easy to read either.
(Actually I'll argue analogue clocks with those rotating arrow things are hard to read compared to regular, digital ones myself.)
There are also things like Das Keyboard, and if you buy a random piece of clothing with text on it, chances are the text isn't in Dutch, but in English, but also languages like Japanese which is impossible to read for the average Joe..
Sometimes something is designed to be cool, not to be easy to use.

entropicdecay · Post by **entropicdecay** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 19:12

Retodon8 wrote: (Actually I'll argue analogue clocks with those rotating arrow things are hard to read compared to regular, digital ones myself.)

I agree. I don't really like analog clocks so much I guess. Sure they're more iconic, probably what someone pictures when they think "clock", but digital clocks are more utilitarian I think.

KeenEmpire · Post by **KeenEmpire** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 21:32

Cola is a copyrighted brand, is it not? Maybe they have a secret Vorticon branch

good idea for a story if i ever get my act back together

entropicdecay · Post by **entropicdecay** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:21

KeenEmpire wrote:Cola is a copyrighted brand, is it not?

I think only Coca-Cola is a copyrighted brand name, not just cola on its own which I'm pretty sure I have seen used in the names of other non-Coke drinks and as a catch-all term for that type or flavor of soft drink. Although it could be a case of the brand name becoming the generic term for all similar things, like Xerox and some other examples I can't remember.

Retodon8 · Post by **Retodon8** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:26

Googling.
At least, (apparently) it's in the Dutch dictionary now (NL version of the word), referring to searching on the WWW in general.
That's just stupid.

Hmmm, not 100% the same thing, but can't think of anything else right now either.

ckguy · Post by **ckguy** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:38

No, 'cola' is not a copyrighted term, it refers to the type of soda. Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Sam's Club Cheap Generic Cola, these are all different brands of the same type of soda: cola. Although, there is some of what elec mentioned about the brand name replacing the original product name. (Xerox, Kleenex, Velcro, Rollerblades, Windsurfer, I'm sure there's more that I know and just can't think of now...)

Anyway, that's funny that googling is an official word. I was pretty impressed when I heard that 'pythonesque' is a real word - it describes humor as being surreal/absurd/like Monty Python. There as a little blurb in my newspaper about it, I remember.

Retodon8 · Post by **Retodon8** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:42

Just realized/remembered I could simply show the entry for "Googelen".
Like I said, no mention of the actual Google search engine.
Also it refers to the Internet, not the WWW ... which also seems wrong.

ckguy · Post by **ckguy** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:41

Het Woordenboek wrote:zoeken op het internet, onderzoeken aan de hand van informatie via het internet

I have no idea what this says, but I see the words 'information' and 'internet' but no 'google'. That's pretty funny. Wonder what Google thinks of that. I remember reading this whole thing on Adobe's webpage about how you weren't supposed so say "that picture is totally photoshopped!" but rather "the image was enhanced/editted/whatever using Photoshop." They were actually trying to put restrictions on the ways in which their product could enter the language.

And while we're on the topic of stuff-that-software-companies-say-is-not-allowed-but-everyone-does-it-anyway, all Keen mods are illegal, in fact so are all level packs, and so are all Keen editing utilities. What with using photoshop as a verb, and making Keen levelpacks/mods, a good number of us are in serious legal trouble.