Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="babomb" data-source="post: 1073696" data-attributes="member: 1316">Have you ever seen Star Trek? The Klingons have an entire culture based on warriors. Change some of the names and it works.The Ferengi have an interesting culture centered on money (similar to the dwarven culture mentioned above). They frequently quote "Rules of Aquisition," a large number of aphorisms about wealth. For example, "Latinum (money) lasts longer than lust," "Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies," and "If it gets you profit, sell your own mother." It is said that the first Grand Nagus (ruler), Gint, wrote the first one, but called it Rule of Acquisition #162 to create demand for the previous 161 Rules. Also, for a long time, Ferengi women were not allowed to wear clothes or make profits, until it was realized that if women wore clothes, they would have pockets, and they'd want to fill those pockets with money. The workforce and consumer base of the Ferengi planet virtually doubled overnight.It's mostly a language thing, but another race called the Children of Tama speak only in terms of cultural and historical references. For example, to refer to failure, they say "Shaka, when the walls fell." "Temba, his arms wide," refers to giving. It's like if we said "Juliet on her balcony" to refer to love.Here's one from real life, based on the island of Yap in the Caroline Islands around the early 20th century. The currency of Yap is (or was) the fei. Fei were thick stone wheels varying in diameter from saucer-size to about 12 feet, with larger stones being more valuable. The smaller ones were handed about in exchange for goods as you might expect. Large stones could be quite heavy, so for the rarer large transactions, there was simply an acknowledgement of the change of ownership, while the fei never moved. One family claimed ownership of a fei that had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Supposedly, one of the family's ancestors had been pulling it on a raft behind his canoe, when a storm arose. The stone sank to the bottom of the ocean, but he survived and told everyone how big it was. Nobody doubted him, so he was considered to own that fei, just as much as if it had been on the island. When Germany bought Yap from Spain, it wanted to make proper roads on the island. The locals refused to do it. Then, the German government went around marking most of the large, immobile fei with black crosses, signifying ownership (as a fine of sorts). The people, suddenly very poor, began work on the roads, and when this was complete, the Germans removed the crosses and the people got their money back. (This is paraphrased from The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession, by Peter L. Bernstein.)Some societies used salt for money, particularly around the Sahara, where it was rare.In Japan, when you go to a baseball game (for example), you might applaud, but you certainly don't yell and so on like in America. When the game is over, you pick up your trash and file out, row by row (or so I've heard). Also, it is rude to start eating unless everyone is at the table. It is less prevalent now, but even as late as World War II, suicide prevented one from bringing dishonor to one's family. (Besides the kamekaze [lit. "divine wind"] pilots, I have heard stories of whole regiments of Japanese troops killing themselves with hand granades rather than suffer the dishonor of being captured.) One last story from Japan: on the cooking competition TV show Iron Chef, a group of chefs who advocated more traditional Japanese cuisine frequently challenged Iron Chef Japanese, who was something of a poster child for innovative modern Japanese cuisine. In one such match, the judges gave a tied verdict. The battle went into overtime. The Iron Chef won in overtime, but by very little. In America, we might have said, "Well we did our best, and it was close." The poor challenger's boss said, "Next time, I'll bring one with more stamina."</blockquote>

Verification