Chee Lan, enjoying a Terrestrial Pacific island beach but also homesick for Cynthia, points out that Adzel can pursue his Buddhist enlightenment anywhere. Wanting to acknowledge that he too misses his home planet, Adzel begins by shaking his head:
"The great head shook;..." (p. 203)
Does Anderson assume that Wodenites, like some human beings, shake their heads to mean no? See:
No, he does not. The passage continues:
"...and that, meaning no, was a gesture learned among humans, not seen in any land on Woden." (ibid.)
Some readers will have accepted Adzel shaking his head. Others will have queried it. All will appreciate yet another example of inter-species interaction - like human beings and Ythrians on Avalon or human beings and Merseians on Dennitza.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Or human beings and Tigeries on Imhotep!
And what amused me about Chee Lan's homesickness was that she had originally planned to retire to a life of luxury, enjoying the wealth she head earned working for Old Nick. Instead, she finds herself expecting, with disgust, to spend many years fortifying and preparing her home planet for the time of troubles coming as the Polesotechnic League began to decline.
Happy New Year! Sean
Harry Turtledove, in his "Hellenic Traders" series, has a Hellenistic Greek who learns Aramaic for business reasons... and has to learn to nod and shake his head for "yes" and "no", because the Aramaic speakers of his day used those gestures, and Greeks didn't.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And is that the origins of those gestures? From Aramaic speakers? If so, amazingly long lived gestures! We still use those gestures, after all.
Ad astra! Sean
the Greeks were outliers; they used a sort of toss of the head gesture (more like "rearing back") for negation.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I actually tried that a few times. I prefer the Aramaic gesture! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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