This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Malchus: Removed the following from the article intro:
"Though, being the third largest English speaking country does kind of make less the English less gratuitous. "
Uh huh, no. I'm from the Philippines and even I know that the common Philippine government claim of the Philippines being the third-largest English-speaking country is complete bull.
Andyzero: Actually, "The Big O's Arc Words, "Cast in the name of God, ye not guilty" is somewhat clever. It's an intentional bastardization of the Bible's "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." So if someone is without sin, get with the casting! I have heard this was written on a german executioner axe, but I have no confirmation.
Ununnilium: ...ohhhhh. I thought it was "cast" as in "cast in a mold", not as in "throw". Makes more sense now.
osh: I'm fairly sure it's just from the excutioneer's axe and not the bible quote. The idea is the executor's killing is morally excused.
Andyzero: Semi-random tangent, I recall an episode of The Simpsons where Homer tells Flanders that he can't judge him, because "only he who is without sin can cast stones." ...at which point Flander's sons, Rodd and Todd, start throwing stones at Homer. Implying that they are (or feel that they are) without sin. ...because, ultimately, everything gets back to The Simpsons
Morgan Wick: Indeed. We could probably play "Six Degrees of Homer Simpson" on this Wiki: start on any random page, and try to get to The Simpsons in six links or less. Discussion pages and more clicks of "Random Item" or recent changes don't count.
Tulling: Does "using english in a non-japanese setting where the local language would be more appropriate" count? I saw an episode of Noir which was supposedly set in France, yet the newscast on a TV screen had the word "News" on it and a floor plan was clearly labelled in english. One would think that the creators would either stick with japanese for legibility or french for flavour, but they did neither in this case.
Looney Toons: ElTonno, as a point of information, the "Gratuitous German" exists only in the North American dub, and only because Tiffany Grant, Asuka's voice actress in English, happens to be fluent in German. Given this latter point, where did you get the impression that the results are terrible?
Joutsa: I have seen the original version and the German-speaking mecha scene is definitely there. The accent is so bad, though, that I noticed it only on second viewing when I knew that German error messages were about to pop up. Also, the phone call scene in a later episode is quite understandable even if it does not sound anything like real German.
Adam850: Remember the scene with Shinji at the train station, and the electronic signs change to "Emargency", instead of the correct "Emergency"?
Ununnilium: "[Actually, you might be able to justify that by symbolism of oaks and lightning, but it's still a stretch]" Too much of a stretch to include in the article! Five points from Hufflepuff!
Looney Toons: Um, actually, it makes perfect sense. Within European folklore, oak trees were supposed to have a special affinity for (and thus attract) lightning — Norse and other mythic systems associated their thunder gods with the oak. It's still well-known enough in the modern era that in 1967 Time Magazine entitled an article about Berlin, "The Oak Attracts The Lightning
". And there may well be some truth to the myth; a little web browsing turned up a page from Palos Park in Illinois which points out that oaks contain considerable quantities of water (by implication more than other trees), which makes it a good conductor of electricity and thus more likely to be a target of lightning. The Herman Meville story "The Lightning-rod Man" claimss that oaks have iron in solution in their sap, making them natural lightning rods. I even found a small book called Oak - The Lightning Tree.
Ununnilium: Well, yeah, but the symbolism is still opaque unless you know exactly what they were going for. Lemme edit that a bit, actually...
osh: Forget European folklore, Jupiter/Zeus is associated with oak trees. It's not that much of a stretch. Removing that bit.
Ununnilium: Sikon, for that "Save US!!" picture, it says I don't have permission to view. Might just want to use the Media Uploader.
Sikon: I don't have access to the Media Uploader, it seems. Uploaded to another host.
Adam850: "Several of the "special moves" used in Eyeshield 21 are named in Gratuitous English, like Shin's 'Spear Tackle',..."
Actually "spear tackle" is a real move and a penalty (15-yards). It's where you hit the opponent with the top of your head, like you're spearing then with your body. It can break your spine, though. It's more commonly known as "spearing".
Andyroid: Well, Shin's "Spear Tackle" is just when he blocks an opponent by sticking his arm out. Have you seen the series?
Adam850: Nope; and in that case, it is incorrect and gratuitous. Sticking his arm out like a Heisman-type stright-arm? Not even close.
Dr Dedman: Eyeshield 21 is a mix of good football detail (some of the plays and formations) and Shonen-Jump style martial arts hooey (most of the "special techniques"). The creators put too much emphasis on hands and arms (sumo-style) not enough on planting shoulders and driving (I have yet to see a REAL crunching tackle, the kind where you get up and look for tire-marks). The spear tackle is something that looks cool (in the aformentioned martial arts secret technique way), but you might get a penalty for punching, and you'd almost surely break your wrist. The Everest Pass is plausible enough, but overused. Throwing high to a taller receiver works well, bt you don't use it in the middle of the field (miss the target = interception). Also it's a good way to get the receiver's ribs broken, a couple of hits and a real receiver would get alligator/T-Rex arms real quick.
Andyzero: Sorry, gotta remove Margery Daw's spells from Shakugan No Shana. Both her name and her spells come from incredibly obscure Nursery Rhymes. The level of research it required to come up with those subverts the trope, I think. "Solomon Grundy" was a creepy nursery rhyme before it was Super Zombie for The DCU.
___ From Tola:
Minor point on the quote for this:
It's technically a mis-hearing: Terry's art, I believe, is called 'Maryoken'. The transformation in terms of pronouncing the thing is effectively thus: Maryoken-Maryokay-Aryokay-'Are you OK'.
Zeke: About Tomo's gratuitous Spanish: Is that in the Japanese version or just the English dub? I know they tried to change Yukari's class from English to Spanish in at least one translation (the manga).
(Update: Yep, she uses random Spanish in the original too. I located the "señor" line, and there are others such as "Viva class shuffle".)
Dr Dedman: Along these lines, "pan" did come to Japanese from a romance language, but it was Porteguese, not French (word's the same anyway). I'm not really nit-picky enough to parabomb that, but it is "technically" wrong.
I don't think "pan" isn't the portugeuse word for bread, according to the internet the probably related word "Pao" is portugeuse for bread.
Pão is pronounced exactly the same way as the Japanese pan. The tilde makes the "a" sound nasal and like a "n".
Citizen: Posting Archer's chant here for completeness, since it doesn't look like it will fit at the top:
Vampire Buddha: I've moved all the non-English examples I coulde find over to Gratuitous German, Gratuitous Spanish, and Gratuitous Foreign Language.
KKDW: Took out...
Subverted in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha when told that her magical word is "Lyrical"; the titular protagonist comments that this makes no sense, and then never uses the word again for the rest of the series.
...because it's inaccurate. Nanoha is still using 'Lyrical' at the start of season 2.
Jisu: Tweaked the Tokyo Mew Mew addendum. Her name's Retasu (and the Ojou is Minto, the Chinese Girl Bu-ling).
Nnjacrat: Pulled the Portugese/Spanish bullshit because christ. When the wiki said 'have fun', it meant 'write tropes that are fun and engaging', not 'sieze upon every injoke and run it right into the fucking ground'. Remember what happened on Serious Business?
izzyryu: Yanked the section on the Death Note theme song. It wasn't an example of a trope, it was an idiotic fanbrat debate. "This song sucks!" "Does not!" "Does too!" "DOES NOT!" Take it to 4chan.
Chaos Akita: Thanks for calling me a fanbrat.
Cassy: I removed the Absolute Terror Field example from Evangelion, as it's an actual psychology term. I believe it refers to the 'invisible barrier' autistic people put between themselves and other people (yes, I know... <Insert random Shinji joke here>). Its pronunciation ("Ah Tchii Hiirudo!") might fit the trope, though.
Smashy: Was going to folderize the Anime/Manga and Video Game sections, but I'm not sure if it's ok to do so when there isn't too much else in the rest of the article. Would it be fine to just add folders to those 2 sections or no?
DannyLilithborne: Magneto *clearly* says "Playtime *has* ended" in Marvel Vs Capcom. I would rather just erase this part, which is pretty much... well, absolutely wrong, but apparently somebody else *hears* different.
Maat Mons: I'm new to wiki editing, so I don't know the protocol for this. I notice that the example from the picture is technically correct English if you interpret it as slang. In that context, boss is an adjective meaning cool or awesome.
