User talk:Riction

From Alternative History

Don't forget to categorise your Vegetarian World pages. --Sikulu 13:06, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I must say, I like the way your timeline is going. Perhaps a few more maps would be usefull to illustrate your timeline more (me like maps, mmm). --Sikulu 09:46, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Hey, thanks! I'm glad you like it! I have also noticed that you're updating a lot of stuff, too, and I like what I've seen so far. I'll try to add some more maps! (I like them, too.) --Riction 11:14, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Glad you like them. --Sikulu 12:29, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

You should check out my pages again. Most have maps, I wrote about the "Pan-Global War", and there are tons of photos of Sundarapore! --Riction 10:00, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

I've recategorised several of your Vegetarian World pages (the main category page was getting rather cluttered). I hope you don't mind (some of those images had red links to categories, so I assumed that you were going to recategorise them in the future). Anyway, I like the photos. --Sikulu 10:48, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

OK, if you really want... as Sikulu said, it clutters the category pretty badly. There are also other possibilities to keep check of your pages, like the watching list.--Max Sinister 14:05, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

OK, I'll get my pages to the main category page and then think about how I can streamline it while keeping it easy to get to a page at a glance. One thing, like with the Netherlands, you changed it from being in the "European countries" category to the "Netherlands" category. Should I not add any more pages to the "European countries" category and instead put them into the particular country category? And what of countries that don't exist in other timelines? --Riction 00:55, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

IMO you should use "European countries" only if there's no OTL equivalent.--Max Sinister 08:33, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Contents 1 Reply to your message 2 Orphaned Pages 3 Please read 4 City Names 5 Can you help start these Althistories? 6 Some lonely pages 7 Ideas page 8 Cool stuff and some comments 9 Submissions 10 More Japanese Questions 11 Permaban 12 Proposal

[edit] Reply to your message

Hello again. Firstly, to answer your questions:

• The banner saying that you have ... message(s) on your talk page only applies when someone posts on your talk page. "Watching" a page simply makes the name of that page bold when you view it on "Recent Changes", or it shows up on your watchlist.
• Secondly, you don't have to "watch" each page. Just look them up occasionally, just to check, or check on the "Recent Changes" page.
• Finally, there is no real "best" way to communicate on a wiki. If you want to comment on what a particular page states, post on to that page's talk page. If you want something slightly more urgent, or perhaps in more detail, or maybe you just want a hand with something, go to the user talk page in question.

As for the categorisation, you're quite welcome. Besides, the other admins and I are in a bit of a categorisation frenzy at the moment. Glad I could help. If you need any more help, just post on my talk page. --Sikulu 15:17, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. --Riction 23:34, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Orphaned Pages

The following pages have been orphaned (no links to them) from your Vegetarian World Timeline:

1. List of Nations (Vegetarian World)
2. List of Countries by HDI (Vegetarian World)
3. List of Metropolitan Areas by Population (Vegetarian World)
4. Sovereignty (Vegetarian World)
5. World (Vegetarian World)

Louisiannan 23:28, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Please read

Please read this page. --Sikulu 10:42, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] City Names

In the next segment or the one after in my timeline I'm going to be briefly using cities equivalent to Hiroshima and Kawasaki in location, I was wondering if you would have any sort of suggestions for likely alternate names. I don't know if it helps (or makes it harder) that Japan was under the Heians for most of its 'recent' history (970-1310).--TEAKAY 12:47, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... So is the Japanese language the same in your world or different? "Hiroshima" literally means "wide island", although it's strangely not on an island. ("Shima" or the ending "-jima", as in "Iwo Jima", means island.) Kawasaki means "river promontory", I guess meaning a headland or ridge along the river. If you are looking for a variation or historical version of Japanese, I can try to change them into that (although I'm not sure if my results would be accurate), or you can give me the meanings you're looking for and I can translate that into Japanese. --Riction 14:20, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

A historical version OR variation would be fine. The languages and words I've been using throughout the althist have not been precision engineered, only superficially changed or combined, unfortunately oweing to my linguistic ignorance. So far I have been able to come up with alternate names and terms, but that's because so many of the existing languages I'm using are (at least mostly) extinct and I could more easily come up with changes. I'm treading thin ice with what I've been doing with Chinese as it is and Japanese in my timeline encountered less... event-induced deviations I guess... So the variations would be present but less noticable in the Japanese language.--TEAKAY 15:22, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm currently teaching in Saitama. The "sai" in that name is the same kanji as "saki" in Kawasaki. However, its pronunciation was shortened. (Like how "Greenwich" probably sounded like "Green" and "wich" before, but if we spelled phonetically, we would now spell it more like "Grennich".) Maybe Kawasaki could be "Kawasai".

Now, as for an older version of Japanese, this is all conjectural just based on the little information about old Japanese that I have, but in olden days, the "H" was pronounced as "ɸ", similar to "F". (Earlier, it might have sounded like a "P", but this probably disappeared by the Heian period.) Also, in modern Japanese, the "shi" sound would be more like a simple "si" - thus, "Hiroshima" would probably be spelled and pronounced something like "Firosima".

I believe that if you want something closer to older versions of Japanese, the modern "Kawasaki" would be better than "Kawasai", but if you just want some interesting variation, "Kawasai" might be better. You can even change it up more, as in certain situations, "K" changes to a "G" and "S" changes to "Z" (although in our world, they usually don't change in the beginning of words) so you could have "Kawazai", "Gawazai", or even "Gawasai" if you wanted. ("AI" could be put together to form "E", so it could be "Gawaze", etc, if you really wanted to go overboard. This would probably require that the language started diverging at least a good few hundred years before the era this name is found in, and this Japanese would be unintelligible to OTL old or modern Japanese...unless this only happened in place names (like we say "Grennich" but still say "green", not "gren".) "Hiroshima" could be "Firosima" as said, or "Birozima" (or even "Virozima", which would certainly not be any old or modern Japanese word) or something else. That's not going by old Japanese, but it's some linguistic change that could have happened.

Or, you could go with something else entirely. The Tama River separates Kawasaki and Tokyo. If Kawasaki is the main city and Tokyo (which would be "Edo" or a variant thereof) was just a suburb (as Kawasaki is today), Kawasaki's name could be "Tama". Hiroshima, as I said, is not on an island yet means "wide island", so it could be "Hirono" (広野) or "Hirohara"/"Hirobara" (広原) (or Firono or Firofara...or Filono, etc...), which would mean something more like "wide field/plain". Or create something completely new... I hope this helped. --Riction 13:45, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

 :D It really helped a lot, thank-you --TEAKAY 15:00, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

No problem! --Riction 08:53, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Another name request, it's for Borneo Island, I looked up words, trying to make a name like High Island: Waridaka Jima=>Waridajima something like that (I know it probably looks real bad) but I would appreciate a suggestion. The timeline situation is still the same as above--TEAKAY 20:26, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

"High Island" would probably be Takashima (高島). I think that "waridaka" has more of a meaning of high as in "pretty expensive". Of course, the "daka" of waridaka and the "taka" of Takashima mean the same thing, which can alternatively mean "high" or "tall". (Used strictly as an adjective, it would take the form "takai", but in place names, the final "i" usually doesn't show up.) And, of course, "shima" is the same as the "jima" of your "Waridaka Jima". The "t" and "sh" are sometimes voiced into "d" and "j" respectively, depending on the context, but you probably already knew that. I have to say that most of the time, the Japanese still say place names without slurring the sounds together, so 90% of the time, you can tell the meaning of a place name just by hearing it spoken (unlike places with etymologies that are hard to figure out). So, probably, it would stay "Takashima". However, if, say, a variant of Japanese were spoken there, and especially if kanji (the Chinese characters) were written less, then I suppose it could morph into "Tajima" over time. Otherwise, Takashima would probably stay put. I hope this helps, and definitely let me know if you have any other questions about naming places or other things in Japanese. It's fun for me. In my Easternized World, I'm gonna try to add many such Japanese and Chinese place names, usually without explanation, which interested people could try to piece together the meanings of. Here is a great site for looking up both Chinese and Japanese kanji, as well as looking up their meanings (if you copy and paste them, or write them in their Chinese pronunciation). (After looking up characters, click the "Character Detail" tab for some info on Japanese pronunciations. It's pretty cool. --Riction 23:30, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

 :D Thank-you again for your help--TEAKAY 19:53, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Can you help start these Althistories?

I am having trouble finding someone to begin my althistories. Could you help? They are listed on my user page. I can directly link them to you if you want and do not hesitate to ask me questions. --Dynamo ace 18:06, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd probably be able to start an althistory but I don't think I'll have time to add much to it after that point (especially seeing as how I just bought a new video game system and for the first time can play via the internet with a home console...hehe). If you'd like, I'll get started on one, but it would be good if you could find people who would add more to it later on, or it might just get deleted after a while, owing to a lack of content. The one about Japan joining the allies in WWII sounds intriguing. But if I did that one, I'd need to have some idea of what you'd want Japan to be. If you want it to be a "good" nation, the POD would have to be set farther back, as on the eve of WWII, it had already killed countless Chinese and was very much war-mongering. If you want it to be a "bad" nation that makes a truce with the allies, then the POD can be later on. See if anyone else is interested and if so, tell me what kind of Japan you would like to see both back then and in present day (if the althist gets this far).--Riction 14:30, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Some lonely pages

Hi Riction, some pages of your TL are "lonely", i.e. not linked from other pages, just the category. Check Special:Lonelypages.--Max Sinister 21:14, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ideas page

I just moved your Ideas Page out of the Main Space as I don't think it really belongs there. It's a great idea though, I think I'm going to make one too :). --Karsten vK (talk) 15:19, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! That's right...I forgot that I could have sub-pages of my main user page, so I created it the only way I remembered. Although I've been using wiki-type pages for quite a while now, I still haven't learned (or have forgotten) many things. If I make more pages like that, I'll be sure to follow your example. --Riction 03:31, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cool stuff and some comments

Hey (I think this is "dw" haha!) Just some quick impressions, some countries that really need flags dont have them. Inkscape is a great graphics program for editing SVG files, head at it. Also, I think you need to photoshop some of your photos. For example, add some of the famed everywhere buses that are said to be in Sundarapore, and crop out some of the ugly road stuff and paste in some trees and greenery. On the flip side, your Japan pages need to have green pretty things removed (I even saw some beautiful sakura!) since that goes against the historical characteristic you established in text. EDIT: (oh yeah!) Also countries like Pacifica has borders that too closely match OTL. I would think it would be a little more organic (at least in places were there aren't natural borders like rivers...) Although with out graphics in Inkscape, it might be really hard to edit all your already made graphics. Do you know about vector magic? It converts PNG to SVG online quite well. Anyway, I had more thoughts but cant bring them to mind at the moment for some reason. Peace! J4p4n 18:20, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments, "dw". I'll definitely try those vector programs to create new flags. I'll also try to photoshop some of my photos, like you said. But in actuality, Singapore (the basis for Sundarapore) has a vast amount of buses as well as trees, so I might be able to dig out some real photos that portray that. And as for Japan, it wouldn't be completely ugly. Maybe it's that I said Tokyo was bombed flat in the Pan Global War and that most of the buildings erected since then have not been aesthetically pleasing. But, in actuality, the real Tokyo of this world has a similar history, but you can still find some sakura and gardens and such. And, in fact, Japan's population in my world has a population of just over 32 million (instead of the 127 million in our timeline (OTL)), so I would still guess that greenery would be around. At the same time, I AM planning to make a separate "Japanese architecture" section, and may include many photos I've taken of buildings of various styles. Concerning Pacifica, Pemhakamik - that is, North America - was the first area that I mapped out, and if I re-do it, I will probably make certain modifications such as what you noted. However, there is some benefit of keeping the same borders as those that exist in OTL, although it seems less realistic, and that is to be able to better use county maps and other such maps that might exist for one country or state but not another. But I know what you mean, and if you look closely, you can see that Pacifica's borders do follow rivers in OTL northwestern British Columbia, and cut through western Montana. Anyway, thanks a lot for the comments! --Riction 01:54, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Submissions

Hey dude. I don't know if you take submissions, but if you do, here are two flags. Please use them if you like them.

Novosibirsk (tree represents vast forests, yellow orb is the much needed and valued sun, and the blue is the clear skies):

Russia (Veg.World) (blue and red are traditional colors of this Russia, and the white logo is a mix of letters that are used to name Russia in Crylic):

These files are SVG, so they can be resized to meet your needs. Enjoy. "dw" again btw... J4p4n 13:05, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

More more! I can't stop. This is fun, I guess.

Jambi (I didn't think of any justification for this flag, but it has a soft resemblance to the seal of Jambi in our timeline):

Libya (traditional country's bird represented with a shield of defense against the many enemies of Libya, and two branches of a local tree used traditionally. Based on the seal of Libya in Our Timeline):

Israel (Star of david, on a field of scarlet red, with a victor's wreath):

Czech Republic (Green represents the abundant forests of the Czech Republic, yellow is the cog-wheel of industry, and the middle is the historic seal of Czech (in our timeline it isn't, it just looks that way to me)):

Republic of Utah (The three intertwined birds represent the three traditional dialects of the Shoshone language group, with Numic bird on top (since it is the dominant dialect) of the other two dialects, those being Ute-Paiute and Shoshone)

Anyway, thats enough for now. Use them on your info pages for these countries if you want them. You know how to get ahold of me if you have questions, etc. Have a great day. J4p4n 14:37, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Great flags! Thanks a lot! I've used them all. I must say that, in particular, the Czech and Utah flags are quite amazing! How did you make those? I know, with that SVG program, but what about the designs? Anyway, it's great that instead of just thinking of a random flag (yeah, even Jambi's has some similarities to the seal, as you said), you try to tailor it both the country as thought of in this timeline, and in some instances the specific traits that I give my country in my alternative history world. --Riction 02:24, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm glad you like the flags, and yeah, I found it helped to make design ideas by using your timeline's information as inspiration for "design motives" of the people who made that flag in that timeline. Well, with a lot of the flags I just made them freehand in that SVG program... but!! I'm not a "real" artist, so for like Czech and Utah and stuff I had to go hunt up detailed line art from public domain sources and assemble them in that SVG program. It's kind of fun, so I guess if I have some free time I'll read some more of your timeline histories and add a few more country flags maybe sometime. Cheers! J4p4n 14:25, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Hey! Hope I'm not annoying with my tons of submissions, I just enjoy trying to synthesize information about the countries from their history in these timelines and interpret those into flags. A few more! (To save space, these are small, click through)

Ceuta and Melilla (Two separate original colonies, represented by the two separate citadels on the map, united by a common ancestry (the symbolic red blood of the center stripe) united by the force of the power (the dragon) but still separate, seen in how each has their own blue sky (the lower and upper stripes) on the flag. Which, by the way, the citadels are from the coat of arms of Ceuta, and the dragon was inspired by a dragon in Melilla's coat of arms in our timeline.):

Dijibouti (As a commonwealth territory of France, Dijibouti shares the symbol found in the main French flag, however since it is not France and stands on it's own, the gold (wealth) of France has been removed and it is put on a pennant to the side of the main body of the flag.):

Zambezia (The flag features, on the right, a local (in this timeline) fertility symbol and thus the desire to rise up from the current chaos and become a unified healthy country.):

Gan (This flag has a flower with three stems but one base, this represents that it was formed as a league of the three main Chinese groups. Each group is represented by one of the flowers, and the common stem is their unity.):

Gwong (The large star on this flag is raising from the small star, this is Gwong raising up beyond it's past as a repressed country under Japan's rule. Gwong hopes to be a "star" in the modern world.):

Hejaz (The country's traditionalism is shown in the traditional swords (which, btw, are from the coat of arms of saudi arabia in our timeline) and below that is the country's name in Arabic, just like some other Arabian flags in our timeline.):

Hokkien (The 12 circles represent the many numerous groups of people that live in Hokkien, maybe the 12 traditional tribes that spawned all current people in this country in this timeline, and the red and yellow represent the Hokkien people's enjoyment of festivals, since those are festive colors for the Chinese.)

Phew. Now it's time for some sleep for me! If you don't like any of these, please don't feel obliged to use any. Only the ones that fit for you. I tried to make them fit the "vibe" for their region, and thus some of the Asian flags actually have some elements borrowed from Japanese "mon" family crest marks (because it felt Asianish to me instead of European like the dragon and what not.) Anyway, enjoy. J4p4n 18:10, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks again! All were added! Over the past 2 days or so, I've been going over the Inkscape tutorials, and I've pretty much figured things out, but I was still wondering about that Utah flag... How did you get those varied width circles, and the flourishes hanging down from the bottom left? Did you find a non-SVG drawing and convert it to SVG, or did you create any of that stuff using Inkscape. If you used Inkscape for it, please tell me how you did it. If not, can you show me where you got it from? --Riction 12:39, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More Japanese Questions

Would you have any suggestions for an alternate currency for Japan? It is still for my Roman timeline, after the Roman occupation ended. --TEAKAY 14:15, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for. You might already know that before the "yen" was the "mon", and even before that was the "ryo" and other such weights from China that were often represented in oblong shapes. You seem to already have the "carici" and the "yahuo" as currencies, although I'm not sure how you arrived at those names. Some ideas that you might consider is giving them a similar currency to another country, just like the dollar represents many currencies - an American one, an Australian one, a Singaporean one, etc. But I think that you also like being original, so you might want something else. Besides what I've already listed, I don't know of anything else that could be used, but if you gave me some phrase to translate (like "gold ounce" or "silver coin") or want something based on those ideas but basically meaning nothing (the equivalent of a "goldini" and "silverio"), then I can supply some Japanese ideas. Just let me know. --Riction 12:59, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

I am being vague, whoops. For a phrase to translate though, I'd kind of like something like 'currency of The republic/the people' because at the time republican and Roman ideals were very popular. Emphasising the The because otherwise it kind of sounds like the name of the currency is 'Japan's currency' or even 'the money Japan uses' really bland o_0 ... I hope this idea makes some sense, it seems a little weak even to me but still kind of neat.--TEAKAY 19:49, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Interestingly, the "Renminbi" of the People's Republic of China means exactly "the people's currency". In Japanese, using the same Chinese Characters to construct it, this would be translated into "Jinminhei"　(人民幣). I know that in our world, "the people's..." has a sort of Communist connotation, but there is nothing inherently Communist about it. Other ideas include "Kyowaen"/"Kyowahei" (共和円) or "Minkokuen"/"Minkokuhei" (民国円) both meaning "Rebublic(an) Yen"/"Rebublic(an) Currency". I hope this helps. --Riction 02:16, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank-you very much, that's exactly what I was looking for.--TEAKAY 02:52, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

No problem! --Riction 08:37, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Hello again ^^;; , how would you say 'Mountain Fortress/hide-away' in Japanese?

"Mountain Fortress" would be "Yama no yousai" (山の要塞). You say "yousai" as "yohsai" because actually, "ou" is a long "o" sound instead of "oo". "ou" is one of the only not quite phonetic exceptions to Japanese writing. You can also spell it "yohsai" or just "yosai" if you want. The last one is technically wrong, as the "o" should have a macron over it, but it's still commonplace. (For example, Tokyo is actually spelled "Toukyou" in Japanese.) "Yama" means "mountain", "no" means "'s", and "yousai" means fortress. So it's quite literally "Mountain's Fortress". To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how to say hide-away, or how to look it up. In a dictionary, there is nothing that matches completely, and I would probably create a makeshift nonexistent phrase if I tried to come up with a term. So, yep, "Yama no yousai" should be the best. --Riction 21:04, 15 April 2008 (JST)

Thanks again.--TEAKAY 21:50, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Heh, hope these questions haven't been too much of an annoyance: What might the Japanese call the Sea of Okhotsk? I've tried finding the Russian's etymology to work backward with but it's a mystery.--TEAKAY 01:01, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Hey there, Teakay. Don't worry. You're never an annoyance. In fact, I feel quite honored whenever I see that I have a new message. Furthermore, I like the challenge of thinking up new names. Hmm...so it seems that the Sea of Okhotsk never had a native Japanese name (perhaps because the Ainu lived up there until the Russians were already established). I remember that I came up with "Kita-Ken" (北県) for the bordering region once upon a time. So, a very simple name for the sea could be Kita-Kai (北海)...that is, the Kita Sea, or the North Sea. Of course, this name is already used (in Japanese and in English) for the North Sea in OTL abutting Britain. Now, just looking at Wikipedia, it seems that "Abashiri Subprefecture" in Japan is also known as "Okhotsk Region". So I thought, "Hmm...then why can't the Sea of Okhotsk be known as the Abashiri Sea (網走海)?" So, I guess I'll go with that for now. There doesn't seem to be any real meaning to Abashiri, as far as I can tell. Literally (from its two characters), it means "net" "run". Just possibly, it might come from running a net through the water...I guess, for fishing. But this is just a guess. Some Japanese names have no real meanings, even if their kanji (characters) have individual meanings. Let me know if this is OK. If not, tell me some significant meaning that you'd like to give to it, and I can try to think up something similar in Japanese. --Riction 14:37, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I like getting messages too, though sometimes you know I worry that it'll be discovering a huge inconsistancy that will take forever to fix!

Abashiri sounds good, I had thought about Kita-ken Sea at the start but it seemed a bit bland, thanks again!--TEAKAY 15:47, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

How would you say Imperial Navy and National Defence Coast Guard? A dictionary says 'oushi' is imperial army but I don't know how I would break that up to attach navy (which the dictionary says is beikaigun)to it. Also, would you know when the Mon first became Japan's currency or did it just slowly emerge without any actual date?--TEAKAY 09:12, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Hey TEAKAY! The "Imperial Japanese Navy" would be the "Dai Nippon Teikoku Kaigun" (大日本帝国海軍). "Dai" means "great", "Nippon" is of course "Japan", "Teikoku" is "Empire" or "Imperial", and "Kaigun", as you mention in your comment, means "Navy". ("Beikaigun" actually means "American Navy", as "Beikoku" means "America" - "koku" meaning "country". Also, with "Kaigun", "Kai" means "ocean"/"maritime" and "Gun" means "army".)

Self-Defense Force is "Jieitai" (自衛隊) and "Coast Guard" is "Engan Keibitai"(沿岸警備隊). I don't know if this is a phrase in the real world, but I'd guess that putting them all together to mean "Self-Defense Coast Guard" would be "Engan Keibi Jietai" (沿岸警備自衛隊), literally "Coast Guard Self-Defense Force". Adding "Dai Nippon Teikoku" (大日本帝国) before that, or practically anything, will specify "Imperial Japanese (such-and-such)", of course.

As for the "mon", I really didn't have a clue, so I checked out Wikipedia (which you might have tried already). I didn't find an answer specifically on that article about the mon, but I did find that the Chinese "wen", Korean "mun", and Vietnamese "van" (all written with the same Chinese character - "文") are very similar. The Vietnamese "van" (or "cash" - from Tamil, which also led to our slang word "cash") were first cast from a little after 968. The Korean "mun" became the main currency in 1633. The Japanese coins must have been around since before 1695, when the word "gen" was added to the backs, according to Wikipedia. The Chinese "wen" was first, and was begun in 621. So, putting that all together, I'd say that a starting time for the "mon" could probably be placed a hundred or more years after 621...say 750 at the earliest. As one more piece of evidence, the "Heian Period" in Japan, where Chinese influence was greatest, was from 794 to 1185, thus making this time period a good guess for when the "mon" started circulation in Japan. --Riction 03:21, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Beikoku means America? Interesting...

About "Jieitai", is that a word that has always directly meant "self-defence force", or was it reletively modern? Since Japanese in my timeline is supposed to be a bit different and one word Jieitai translates to more than one word, I wonder how I'd best make an equivalent (if it turns out doing so would be best).

Thanks again for the help, it's really appreciated. --TEAKAY 18:30, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply. First of all, yeah, "Beikoku" means "America", but nowadays, it's pretty antiquated or very formal. In most current situations, "the United States" is simply "Amerika" in Japanese. Generally, English has made great inroads into Japanese (like it has in many other languages, and how Latin words are infused into English). So, "computer" is "kompyuutaa", and "camera" is "kamera". The list goes on and on. One good thing about "jieitai" is that it's pre-English in Japanese. In fact, all of the parts of it come from Chinese originally (like many, many words...just like Norman French words significantly changed English as a language). "Ji(自)" means "self", "ei(衛)" means "defend/protect/guard", and "tai(隊)" means "army unit", "force", or "team".

Now, I think that "jieitai" itself is a modern word, thought up after Japan had to give up a military due to its defeat in WWII. However, there is nothing modern about the meaning. So, just as we now can use the English term "self-defense force" to refer to the modern incarnation of the Japanese military, we could have just as easily used that name back in the 1800s or earlier for something quite different. So, I think that "jieitai" doesn't have any problems in that respect, and can be used. Of course "Engan Keibi Jieitai" - the word I came up with - is something that does not really exist in our time and would differentiate your force from the modern Japanese force even further. I hope this helped. --Riction 13:05, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Very cool. --TEAKAY 16:50, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Hello again, I was wondering what the Japanese would call Fiji and Vanuatu (or maybe just Melanesia in general) if they were the one's first discovering and colonising them. I tried making up some, like Pyapya Gunto which is SUPPOSED to mean like Papua Islands (because wikipedia says they all had a language connection); and Shotou Kuroi Genjuumin which is supposed to be like islands of black people (because the etymology dictionary says that's what Melanesia means).

These names I know are very crude because I'm just taking the best I can find from a Japanese dictionary (the same one that said Beikaigun was navy but failed to mention it meant America's navy) :P. I also read through Easternized World again to see if it had anything but Gurun Selatan I guess is in Srivijaya's language and it refers more to Australia than the island groups :S.--TEAKAY 12:59, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Hi again. Hmm...Your question is thought-provoking. I like that...And I think I have some answers for you! In Fijian, "Fiji" is itself called "Viti". Japanese, however, doesn't have the "vi" and "ti" sounds, instead substituting "bi" for the former and "chi" for the latter. Thus, a direct Japanese version of "Viti" would be "Bichi" (and, it seems that Fijians even pronounce the "v" as almost a "b"). So, I guess "Bichi" (ビチ) would be as good a name as any for Fiji in your world. However, "Bichi" might sound a little strange, so I'll offer alternatives as well. The two main islands of Fiji are "Viti Levu" and "Vanua Levu". I think that "Levu" simply means "island" in Fijian. So, in Japanese, the islands of Fiji could be called "Banua" (バヌア) (taking its name from the other island - perhaps first landed on) or "Rebu" (レブ) (with the "l" becoming "r"). Vanuatu, turned into Japanese, is literally "Banuatsu" (バヌアツ), with again the "v" changing to a "b", and the "tu" changing to "tsu".

Your names for Melanesia are pretty good (although I think that it would still be "Papua" in Japanese instead of "Pyapya", and "Shotou" should probably go at the end of the phrase). "Kuroi Genjuumin Shotou" is OK, but maybe a little too literal. It's sort of like "Black Aboriginal Archipelago". One other quite literal name for it could be "Kokujin Shotou" (黒人諸島), meaning "Black Person Archipelago" (or "Islands of the Blacks" or what have you). "Papua Shotou" (パプア諸島) might work for all of Melanesia, too.

As for "Gurun Selatan"...yeah, that's in Malay. I don't know much about Malay, but from some exposure to it when I was in Singapore (only to the extent of knowing a little bit about if an adjective should come before or follow a noun, and the like), and an online dictionary (and, notably, Wikipedia), I looked up "desert" (=Gurun) and "south" (=Selatan), making Australia into "South(ern) Desert". I should update "Easternized World". I've been meaning to. However, I should be pretty busy next week...but I'll see what I can do in the near future. If I do update it, and you see it in the "recent changes" list, please take a look. It's good to know that some people know about it. And give me any comments about it if you want. --Riction 14:31, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I really appreciate how much you explain your answers, understanding things is always fun, and I also can't wait to see Easternized World's development ;3.--TEAKAY 14:42, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Permaban

I usually issue bans for a rather short period at first as some sort of a warning, and if vandalism occurs again (which hardly ever happens) a ban for a longer period. I don't think I would ever issue a permaban, seems like a huge overreaction to me. --Karsten vK (talk) 10:45, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposal

I'd love to know your opinion on this. --Karsten vK (talk) 15:14, 12 July 2008 (UTC)