Conworld random thread

[Man in Space]

Computer is no longer a human occupation.

Most people today do not realize that computer once referred to a human job.

Now it is time for beach to be an occupation.

According to the Barbie movie, it is.

[malloc]

One long-standing question is where exactly these people should live. Over the years, I have placed my conpeople in many different settings, generally without much consideration on how they got there. Sometimes that meant the St Louis area (in other words my hometown), other times outer space (the one place not corrupted by capitalism!), and various others I don't quite remember. Clearly this scattershot approach has considerable room for improvement. Nonetheless the most plausible place for a left-wing solarpunk society to arise seems far from obvious these days. Most the famous hotbeds of revolution like Russia and Latin America have become solidly reactionary or else liberal democracies under siege from far right nationalists.

[Raphael]

One long-standing question is where exactly these people should live. Over the years, I have placed my conpeople in many different settings, generally without much consideration on how they got there. Sometimes that meant the St Louis area (in other words my hometown), other times outer space (the one place not corrupted by capitalism!), and various others I don't quite remember. Clearly this scattershot approach has considerable room for improvement. Nonetheless the most plausible place for a left-wing solarpunk society to arise seems far from obvious these days. Most the famous hotbeds of revolution like Russia and Latin America have become solidly reactionary or else liberal democracies under siege from far right nationalists.

Of course you can try to do that in whatever way you think might make sense, but FWIW, in one project of mine, I'm handling that by having everything take place at some distance in the future, when enough time has passed that some societies might have become culturally more or less different from what they are today. In the real world, who would have predicted that a place historically seen as one of the main strongholds of Calvinism would end the 20th century with an international reputation for libertinism?

[Ares Land]

A city on Mars will start out as Musk City but it need not stay this way; and in fact (as Iain M. Banks had pointed out) socialism just makes a lot more sense in space than Musk-ism (which would get everyone killed.)

A lot depends on the history of those people. How did their revolution begin? Did socialism take over in force, or are they still fighting their enemies?

Why not a place relatively out of the way and hard to reach, as with the Zapatistas, or the Rojava? Given how badly things are turning out for the Rojava, I'd add another constraint: no oil nearby.

Large metropolises are often very left-wing, as compared to the rest of the city. It could also be interesting to expand on and exaggerate this trend.

[Raphael]

Good points, Ares Land. Small question: in your sentence

Large metropolises are often very left-wing, as compared to the rest of the city.

...what exactly does the clause "as compared to the rest of the city" mean?

[Ares Land]

Oh! As compared to the rest of the country... sorry!

[Raphael]

Oh! As compared to the rest of the country... sorry!

Thank you!

[WeepingElf]

One long-standing question is where exactly these people should live. Over the years, I have placed my conpeople in many different settings, generally without much consideration on how they got there. Sometimes that meant the St Louis area (in other words my hometown), other times outer space (the one place not corrupted by capitalism!), and various others I don't quite remember. Clearly this scattershot approach has considerable room for improvement. Nonetheless the most plausible place for a left-wing solarpunk society to arise seems far from obvious these days. Most the famous hotbeds of revolution like Russia and Latin America have become solidly reactionary or else liberal democracies under siege from far right nationalists.

In my own project, I have the progressive solarpunk society emerge in the European Union - I know that the far right is currently ascendant here too, but it seems plausible enough to me that the progressive forces win out here, more likely, at any rate, than the United States, Latin America, Russia, India or China. Yet, it is anyone's guess.

[Moose-tache]

If your consociety represents a radical break with the past, historically that is at least if not more likely in places where the existing system is strained than where it is functioning most effectively. Both South Africa and Sweden have high wealth inequality, but I would put my money on South Africa becoming The Most Serene Republic Of Dead Landlords before Sweden, because Swedes have less incentive to burn the status quo to the ground. If your solar punk utopia is merely an incremental improvement on Amsterdam, then that's another story, I guess.

Also, another lesson from history: treating "consistently plagued by the far-right" and "large potential for left wing change" as opposites is a bad prediction strategy.

[WeepingElf]

In my project, in Europe it is more like incremental improvement (every freak weather episode and oil shortage drives voters towards the Greens, and every shady deal of the centre-right with the far right drives voters away from the centre-right and towards the centre-left), though later, a wave of nonviolent democratic revolutions races around the planet, toppling most authoritarian regimes.

[Raphael]

In conworld and/or SF setting, how would you render dialogue where characters talk about something where the most common word or term for it in real-life English is a genericized trademark? A story set in a different world than ours almost certainly won't contain the Kleenex company. A story set in a fictional future might not contain the Kleenex company. So, if it's a world where modern paper tissues exist, and if you have the characters' speech translated into the American English of our time, what should they use to wipe their noses?

Specifically, I'm working on a story partly set in a 26th century version of Germany, with the basic assumption being that characters talk to each other in some kind of 26th century German which has been translated into 21st century American English for the benefit of readers. And I want a character to talk about band-aids. How should I handle that? One way might be to talk about "bandages", but that might make people think of the kind of bandage that gets wrapped, which is not what I'm talking about. And "adhesive bandage" might not sound like the way people would usually talk in real life.

[bradrn]

In conworld and/or SF setting, how would you render dialogue where characters talk about something where the most common word or term for it in real-life English is a genericized trademark? A story set in a different world than ours almost certainly won't contain the Kleenex company. A story set in a fictional future might not contain the Kleenex company. So, if it's a world where modern paper tissues exist, and if you have the characters' speech translated into the American English of our time, what should they use to wipe their noses?

Specifically, I'm working on a story partly set in a 26th century version of Germany, with the basic assumption being that characters talk to each other in some kind of 26th century German which has been translated into 21st century American English for the benefit of readers. And I want a character to talk about band-aids. How should I handle that? One way might be to talk about "bandages", but that might make people think of the kind of bandage that gets wrapped, which is not what I'm talking about. And "adhesive bandage" might not sound like the way people would usually talk in real life.

‘Band-aid’ seems fine to me. The whole point of genericisation is that the word is no longer perceived as a brand name.

[Raphael]

‘Band-aid’ seems fine to me. The whole point of genericisation is that the word is no longer perceived as a brand name.

Thank you! What do other people think?

[Leilis]

‘Band-aid’ seems fine to me. The whole point of genericisation is that the word is no longer perceived as a brand name.

Thank you! What do other people think?

In lowercase ('band-aid' or even 'bandaid') it's less obtrusive. You said American English so I can't suggest 'plaster' instead ... (:

For 'Kleenex' specifically, you can use 'tissue'.

[Raphael]

In lowercase ('band-aid' or even 'bandaid') it's less obtrusive. You said American English so I can't suggest 'plaster' instead ... (:

For 'Kleenex' specifically, you can use 'tissue'.

Thank you, too!

[Travis B.]

In lowercase ('band-aid' or even 'bandaid') it's less obtrusive. You said American English so I can't suggest 'plaster' instead ... (:

For 'Kleenex' specifically, you can use 'tissue'.

Thank you, too!

Note that "bandaid" is less marked than "Kleenex" is; if you really want to avoid brand names, though, you can use "bandage" instead of "bandaid".

[Lērisama]

if you really want to avoid brand names, though, you can use "bandage" instead of "bandaid".

What‽ I would never have guessed anyone would mean a plaster when they said ‘bandage,’ rather than a gauze or cloth¹ dressing. What do you call a bandage²?

¹ Or also likely weird sterile plastic medical fabricy thing in the modern day.
² I know of no other term for it to clear up the ambiguity, but I mean the UK-definition.

Edit: For your story, Raphael, I would understand any spelling of bandaid, but bandage would be very jarring and I'd assume a more substantial dressing that would qualify as a bandage to me, unless the context was very clear, and before today I would assume that was a mistake rather than an Americanism. I'd always call it a plaster myself, but you're not targeting British English.

[Travis B.]

if you really want to avoid brand names, though, you can use "bandage" instead of "bandaid".

What‽ I would never have guessed anyone would mean a plaster when they said ‘bandage,’ rather than a gauze or cloth¹ dressing. What do you call a bandage²?

¹ Or also likely weird sterile plastic medical fabricy thing in the modern day.
² I know of no other term for it to clear up the ambiguity, but I mean the UK-definition.

Edit: For your story, Raphael, I would understand any spelling of bandaid, but bandage would be very jarring and I'd assume a more substantial dressing that would qualify as a bandage to me, unless the context was very clear, and before today I would assume that was a mistake rather than an Americanism. I'd always call it a plaster myself, but you're not targeting British English.

To me "plaster" is very marked and is not a word that is in my vocabulary with that meaning. I watch quite a bit of British TV yet the word still sticks out as being very foreign to me in this usage.

[Lērisama]

To me "plaster" is very marked and is not a word that is in my vocabulary with that meaning. I watch quite a bit of British TV yet the word still sticks out as being very foreign to me in this usage.

What would you call a bandage then, as opposed to a bandaid/plaster? Do you just not distinguish them outside medical contexts? I mean the distinction between an adhesive strip (Plaster, German (Heft)pflaster) and a dressing made of gauze or something similar (Bandage, Verband).

[bradrn]

To me "plaster" is very marked and is not a word that is in my vocabulary with that meaning. I watch quite a bit of British TV yet the word still sticks out as being very foreign to me in this usage.

What would you call a bandage then, as opposed to a bandaid/plaster? Do you just not distinguish them outside medical contexts? I mean the distinction between an adhesive strip (Plaster, German (Heft)pflaster) and a dressing made of gauze or something similar (Bandage, Verband).

I think I would consider a bandaid/plaster to be merely a type of bandage. (Like Travis, I recognise ‘plaster’ but it is not part of my native vocabulary with this meaning.)