Svantozik, who interrogates Flandry, nods, chuckles, shrugs, grins and whispers when thinking to himself. Is he not coming across as too anthropomorphic? Now a Merseian, a Wodenite, a Tigery, a Chereionite and an inhabitant of Ardazir have all grinned or smiled.
Differences from humanity:
bad news does not demoralize the Ardazirho but increases their defiance;
good news would not hearten them in captivity but relax them, making them more likely to collaborate;
it has come as news to Svantozik that Terrans can have strong feelings about members of the opposite sex and that such feelings can even cause desperate actions!
OK. Not everything is the same.
6 comments:
Nodding (up or down or right to left) seems pretty likely for any living thing with a neck, though. Chuckling and whispering, if two species can actually manage to converse via spoken word, seems doable ... grinning and shrugging (one's shoulders?) seems less likely.
It was a pretty tightly-written novella, pretty fast plotting, a couple of solid action sequences, with a good interrogation scene, and in some ways, seems pretty close to Fleming ... fun but bleak, in terms of the larger setting and plot.
At least Anderson didn't kill off the female lead; far cry from McDonald and Fleming, in that sense.
Dave,
In some European countries, nodding means no and shaking means yes.
Paul.
True. Didn't say the meanings would be the same. ;)
Kaor, Paul!
And I still think some species are likely to have some body language similar to that of humans. Also, an interstellar community with thousands of intelligent races will see many people from different species observing and adapting to different body "languages," which is what we see the Tigery Targovi doing in THE GAME OF EMPIRE.
Ad astra! Sean
The ancient Greeks tossed their heads instead of nodding; they thought that was a barbarian habit.
The actual gestures are set by our physiology; much of the meaning is cultural.
Not all, however.
Starting into a crouch, snarling and holding your hands ready to strike is genuinely instinctive, if you're suddenly threatened. Only the details differ culturally.
So is the expansion of your pupils if you're interested/concerned, and people usually aren't even conscious of that happening.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
The Greeks, rather notoriously, were snobs!
Ad astra! Sean
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