5 ms·

Loved it! But the "omigod"s threw me off...

rheide 15y ago
It's creative commons. Fork it ;)
eropple 15y ago
Why? Are you so sure of your intellectual position (a position which, I disclaim, I happen to think is considerably more likely than the alternative) that you experience dissonance at the idea of space-going intelligences believing in God? Religion is not going to disappear because humans go to the stars, either.
- tikhonj 15y ago
  I think it's not so much religion as the usual connotations of the phrase, particularly as seen online (OMG).
- buu700 15y ago
  'Ohmigod' != 'Oh my god'. The meaning of the phrase is beside the point.
  - ugh 15y ago
    Ohmigod makes pretty clear that it’s about expressing surprise and astonishment, not any actual call to a deity. Even Oh my god is usually not understood as an actual call to a god. There are certainly people who do not believe in god but nevertheless use Oh my god from time to time – like myself. Writing it differently severs any connection to god. Maybe that’s the purpose of writing it like that. It’s an exclamation that’s supposed to show surprise and astonishment, the content doesn’t matter.
    - buu700 15y ago
      Did you just say what I was implying and use it to defend the opposite point? My/his point was that writing "oh my god" as "ohmigod" made the alien sound like a teenage girl, not that the possible appeal to a deity had any relevance to the story.
rsanchez1 15y ago
Yeah, it completely broke the suspension of disbelief for me. Here are beings that consider meat so far beneath themselves that they would rather forget the thinking meat ever existed than establish contact, but at the same time they use the interjections of a teen girl.
- archangel_one 15y ago
  I partly agree, but presumably we don't expect them to actually be speaking English either. I would have thought it implied some kind of similar expression of general surprise, although honestly it didn't bother me all that much when I read it.
- pavel_lishin 15y ago
  They're also speaking English. Does that not throw you off? Accept it as an adaptation, a translation. Would a боже мой! be better?
commieneko 15y ago
Let's consider it a somewhat free transcription and translation. Aliens who are astounded at the notion of thinking meat aren't going to be communicating in English.

It's creative commons. Fork it ;)

Why? Are you so sure of your intellectual position (a position which, I disclaim, I happen to think is considerably more likely than the alternative) that you experience dissonance at the idea of space-going intelligences believing in God? Religion is not going to disappear because humans go to the stars, either.

tikhonj 15y ago
I think it's not so much religion as the usual connotations of the phrase, particularly as seen online (OMG).
buu700 15y ago
'Ohmigod' != 'Oh my god'. The meaning of the phrase is beside the point.
- ugh 15y ago
  Ohmigod makes pretty clear that it’s about expressing surprise and astonishment, not any actual call to a deity. Even Oh my god is usually not understood as an actual call to a god. There are certainly people who do not believe in god but nevertheless use Oh my god from time to time – like myself. Writing it differently severs any connection to god. Maybe that’s the purpose of writing it like that. It’s an exclamation that’s supposed to show surprise and astonishment, the content doesn’t matter.
  - buu700 15y ago
    Did you just say what I was implying and use it to defend the opposite point? My/his point was that writing "oh my god" as "ohmigod" made the alien sound like a teenage girl, not that the possible appeal to a deity had any relevance to the story.

rsanchez1 15y ago

Yeah, it completely broke the suspension of disbelief for me. Here are beings that consider meat so far beneath themselves that they would rather forget the thinking meat ever existed than establish contact, but at the same time they use the interjections of a teen girl.

archangel_one 15y ago
I partly agree, but presumably we don't expect them to actually be speaking English either. I would have thought it implied some kind of similar expression of general surprise, although honestly it didn't bother me all that much when I read it.
pavel_lishin 15y ago
They're also speaking English. Does that not throw you off? Accept it as an adaptation, a translation. Would a боже мой! be better?

commieneko 15y ago

Let's consider it a somewhat free transcription and translation. Aliens who are astounded at the notion of thinking meat aren't going to be communicating in English.