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From: deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: city-speak in the movie "Blade Runner"
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Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 00:41:07 GMT
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In article <D9xJ6s.A2t@rci.ripco.com>, Chairman Mao <mao@ripco.com> wrote:

>From the "Shadowrun" RPG game (which incorporated Gibson's view of the 
>"Sprawl"), city-speak wouldn't only be a general mish-mash, it would be a 
>severe bastardization of the words as well (as well as just soem general "made 
>up words). I belive Jamaican does a bit of that, and I KNOW that the language 
>spoken in the diamond mining sites in South Africa is very much like city 
>speak (Jamaican just seemed like a mild mix and bastardization. the Mine 
>language seemed full-blown).

	Heaven help anyone who learns about linguistics from a role-
playing aid.  If I lost a limb for every RPG item that got major 
European languages right (much less those that actually presented
an invented language that I could actually imagine could actually be
in use somewhere), I could still walk to work.

	Pick up a decent reference work (an encyclopaedia, say) and
read the entries on "pidgin" and "creole."  Then reread what you wrote
above and hang your head in shame for the pernicious misinformation you
are spreading.

	Oh, k"osz"on"om (damn ASCII!) to the mentsh who translated
Gaff's sentences.  I'm impressed that the meaning was so close.  Often,
them movie guys tell their extras "Just say something in your language"
and they come out with anything from "I don't know what I'm supposed to
be saying" to "I'm not getting paid enough money for this part."

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
