Planha And Anglic

We are still on Livewell Street. As they walk along the street, Chris asks Tabitha why she calls him by his human name and addresses him in Anglic. She points out that they are human and that they lack feathers.

"Ferune grimaced. But that is the wrong word. His feathers were not simply more intricate than those of Terran birds, they were more closely connected to muscles and nerve endings, and their movement constituted a whole universe of expression forever denied to man. Irritation, fret, underlying anger and dismay, rippled across his body." (Rise Of The Terran Empire, p. 455)

In Planha, a single word can convey an Anglic sentence. (p. 462)

"Eyath whistled: '?'" (p. 446)

When Tabitha asks Chris why he minds, his mind flounders through the following reflections:

that personal a question is an insult;
unless between close friends, in which case it is an endearment;
no, she is probably thinking human!

Among carnivorous Ythrians, staring is even more offensive than among omnivorous human beings. (p. 459) Poul Anderson has lived and breathed the air of Ythri.