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Ardent meets new lovely ladies, attempts to woo them.

9 (39.1%)

Gavia meets new people, attempts to set them on fire.

2 (8.7%)

Alice punches out a mountain.

2 (8.7%)

Night Walker: "Hey, guys! Wait up!"

6 (26.1%)

Ugly fight between Cora Goodwell and Margaret Wheelwright.

4 (17.4%)

Total Members Voted: 23

[Schwungrad]

And, argh, don't get me started about your 'th' consonant!  NOBODY (except German, again and some further-north European languages) has a consonant like that!

German doesn't have that sound, actually. We have soft and hard ch to compensate. On the other hand, with Spanish and Arabic two of the most widespread languages on earth do have soft as well as hard th sounds, afaik.

I wasn't talking about the amount of consonants (growing up with Angstschweiß and stuff), but rather about the specific syllable 'blernd' (or blearned or however you would want to spell it).

[osaka]

The "th" sound is closer to a middle ground between "d" and "c/z" in Spanish, honestly. Just because people from Madrid say "madriz" it doesn't mean it isn't a "d" sound in the end.

And Morituri, exactly what do you mean by "Sane" language? Because I think only Italian and Spanish fall under your description.

[pwhodges]

And, argh, don't get me started about your 'th' consonant!

Boring.  How many distinct British pronunciations of "ough" can you come up with? (You can hear me speak ten in the second half of this recording, listed in this post.)

[Morituri]

Eh.  Whatever. 

While people following English spelling rules would never come up with 'blernd', people who grew up pronouncing English words have no reason to have trouble with it. 

And for everyone else:  Math is easy.  French was easy.  English is HARD.

In a few months study you can make yourself understood, which is a lower bar for basic communication than most;  but really being good at it; understanding people at full speed and speaking properly with the right sounds so you don't sound like a foreigner, and the right grammar and the spellings and everything, is RIDICULOUSLY hard. 

And whatever you claim, any language where you can have five consonants in a row at the end of a syllable that started with three consonants in a row, IS crazy. 

[pwhodges]

The Czech word for ice cream has no vowels, as I recall.

I knew a Pole who would sometimes spell his name Christoph, and sometimes Krzysztof.  I never discovered the function of that z.

[Stoutfellow]

One of my colleagues is Polish, first name Krzysztof, but he usually goes by Kris. The "sz" is pronounced like English "sh". If the name were Czech, the "rz" would be a really rare sound, which I can't describe; Polish and Czech are closely related, so I suspect that at one time the Polish "rz" was pronounced like the Czech one, but by this time it's simplified to just "zh". (Kzhishtof, in other words.)

[Morituri]

The Czech word for ice cream has no vowels, as I recall.

I knew a Pole who would sometimes spell his name Christoph, and sometimes Krzysztof.  I never discovered the function of that z.

Yes, but that's not a consonant, for speaking purposes.  That's just a spelling convention.  I don't know about what Polish does with it, but I suppose that It's probably like English where certain spellings are not part of your possibilities, or where you signal which version of a vowel you used by sticking in letters that usually stand for other sounds, but which aren't pronounced when they are used as signals. 

That's the kind of rule 'blernd' violates - 'ernd' isn't allowed as a _spelling_, so you stick an 'e' and an 'a' that you don't pronounce into words like 'earned' when you write down a syllable that uses that _sound_.   

[hedgie]

IIRC, in Sanskrit (still sticking with the Indo-European language family), what are commonly translated as ṛ or ṝ are considered semi-vowels, with the former being much like the "re" in pretty. 

[Method of Madness]

'ernd' isn't allowed as a _spelling_

In a regular word, but you're ignoring the fact that names aren't bound by language rules.

[SubaruStephen]

  Math is easy.  French was easy.  English is HARD.

And Finnish is impossible. 

[Kugai]

I thought that was Welsh?!

[cesium133]

[Kugai]

Thank you for making my point for me

 

[celticgeek]

Ydy, mae'r Gymraeg yn amhosibl.

Mwy o dystiolaeth.

Since I was a little late with this.

[Kugai]

T'hoH??

[mikmaxs]

Y'know, I'm really starting to lose faith in Alice as a caretaker. What's-His-Name's worry about Gavia burning the town while Alice was distracted is proving more and more to be legitimate, since twice now in the past minute has Ardent ended up in mortal danger while she was looking the other way.

[BenRG]

... since twice now in the past minute has Ardent ended up in mortal danger while she was looking the other way.

You're missing the real point: She was distracted with Gavia. I suspect that Gavia isn't anywhere near as likely as Ardent is to be able to get up to mischief/in trouble without Alice being around.

I'm not sure what kind of relationship is developing between the two of them; big sister/bratty younger sister is the closest I can get. My guess is that Gavia shares lots of personality characteristics with Alice. This fascinates her; she hasn't had a disputant to debate with on her intellectual level probably for millennia so she's really the focus of Alice's attention right now.

[mikmaxs]

... since twice now in the past minute has Ardent ended up in mortal danger while she was looking the other way.

You're missing the real point: She was distracted with Gavia. I suspect that Gavia isn't anywhere near as likely as Ardent is to be able to get up to mischief/in trouble without Alice being around.

I'm not sure what kind of relationship is developing between the two of them; big sister/bratty younger sister is the closest I can get. My guess is that Gavia shares lots of personality characteristics with Alice. This fascinates her; she hasn't had a disputant to debate with on her intellectual level probably for millennia so she's really the focus of Alice's attention right now.

Sure, that's nice, but she was only distracted with Gavia the *first* time that Ardent was put in danger. The second time, she was actually talking directly to Ardent, and got caught up in her monologue.

It's not necessarily a bad character trait, having her be so old and overconfident that she actually doesn't consider the dangers all around her, leading to other people being injured or put at risk. I'm just pointing out that, good character or no, she isn't shaping up to be a good caretaking figure.

[Neko_Ali]

At what point was she supposed to be? Her handling of the town seems to be hands off until they get into trouble or her authority is challenged. Then she goes for the throat. She does the same for the kids. She lets them get into trouble, then steps in to fix it when real danger is about to happen. Also, as far as the giant chameleons go, she wasn't expecting them to be active, so wasn't looking out for an attack from them. It wasn't like  the batsloth where it was right in front of her. And the fact that she didn't immediately react and kill the giant chameleon likely means Ardent isn't in that much danger from them.

[mikmaxs]

At what point was she supposed to be?

Maybe when she told Gavia "You're with me this time, you have nothing to worry [about]." Or when she physically threatened Jebediah for questioning the safety of her actions, and used the fact that she was the one in charge as a reason why she shouldn't be questioned.

Also, as far as the giant chameleons go, she wasn't expecting them to be active, so wasn't looking out for an attack from them.

Is this supposed to help my confidence in her? "She wasn't arrogant, just incompetent!" The fact of the matter is, she assumed she had things under control, and then was immediately surprised by something happening that she didn't expect. I doubt Jeph is going to kill someone off, especially this early in the overarching story, but if the Chameleon is something that would kill Ardent quickly, or if it had been some other viscous predator that was more immediately threatening, or if the Batsloth had attacked a second before Alice reacted...

[FunkyTuba]

Apparently they're Chamelee-Yummy!

[jheartney]

The blood on Alice' arm disappeared rather quickly.

[BenRG]

Just a subtle reminder there that Alice has pretty much seen it all in her time. Watching a girl use nanotech-magic to kill a giant chameleon? Well, she's more worried that the best cuts get salvaged for provisions!

The blood on Alice' arm disappeared rather quickly.

Yeah, well Jeph isn't on the top of his game right now; I think that we need to make allowances for that.

[Kugai]

Well, that's Dinner taken care of.

[mikmaxs]

Well, Gavia gets points for rescuing her little brother.

And we have confirmation that she is actually up for combat beyond scaring a few natives!

[Method of Madness]

"You are not eating my delightful tail!"

[mikmaxs]

Unrelated to the Chameleon, but... Is Gavia gaining weight? Her hair is certainly more unkempt than it was in her first appearance, (Nice subtle touch on the art, by the way,) but comparing her first appearance on (what is currently) Comic 91, she's gotten less skinny. She's almost twig-like there, with a narrow face, tiny neck, scrawny (almost emaciated) arms, and really thin body, but as of the last few comics, she's gained some mass and looks a lot healthier. I'd chalk it up to art development, except that Ardent and Alice look almost identical to their first appearances. (Minus wardrobe changes for Ardent and the addition of shading after Gavia's introduction.)

So... Maybe Gavia is putting on a little muscle now that she's actually having to be active and do things? (Even if she has micro machines do all the work for her, she's still moving around more than I presume she normally would.) Or am I reading too much into this?

[Method of Madness]

Maybe!

[Neko_Ali]

It wouldn't surprise me really. I imagine their diet changed quite a bit after being abandoned on Earth as well. They don't seem to have pie up there after all. So it stands to reason the kids might start putting on a bit of weight and muscle mass. It just might not show on Ardent yet because some of those extra calories went into rebuilding his delightful tail.

[mikmaxs]

It just might not show on Ardent yet because some of those extra calories went into rebuilding his delightful tail.

Then again, Ardent is also doing actual physical labor and was (presumably) physically active before the comic started, so the different diet probably wouldn't be as much of a system shock for him and he's likely to be burning a lot more calories than his sister.

[Method of Madness]

Oh, he's physically active alright.

[BenRG]

It wouldn't surprise me really. I imagine their diet changed quite a bit after being abandoned on Earth as well. They don't seem to have pie up there after all. So it stands to reason the kids might start putting on a bit of weight and muscle mass. It just might not show on Ardent yet because some of those extra calories went into rebuilding his delightful tail.

I suspect that Gavia's attitude towards herself was that she was a floating, biological computer that interacted with its environment via nanotech, so she probably subsisted on vitamin and other supplements (perhaps even taken intravenously) rather than real food. Now, that's changed; she's having to eat real food and, whilst she's still mostly relying on her nanotech, I've got the feeling that Alice may be requiring her to do stuff physically. So, her body is bulking up. I'm wondering if she'll even recognise herself in a few months' time.

[Kugai]

Indeed

I wonder if there will come a point where Gavia actually stops relying so much on her Nanotech abilities.  This may be part of the lesson that the Praeses wanted Alice to teach her.

[Verteiron]

The blood on Alice' arm disappeared rather quickly.

Obviously she licked it off. No sense in wasting protein, is there?

I wonder if there will come a point where Gavia actually stops relying so much on her Nanotech abilities.  This may be part of the lesson that the Praeses wanted Alice to teach her.

I think the Praeses is targeting Alice for lesson-teaching, myself.

[cesium133]

Not to dig up an old argument, but I found this thing which claims to identify origins of names by their phonetics. It identifies "Blernd Frith" as "GreaterEuropean, British."

edit -- On the other hand it also rates "Kim Jong-Il" as British. 

[Method of Madness]

At least we know that if she'd accidentally killed someone while burning the forest down when she arrived, she'd have felt really bad about it.