Isn’t that true of a number of deserts? I believe that “Gobi,” “Kalahari,” and “Namib” also mean something like “empty region” or “vast place,” or similar things denoting emptiness.
Probably. I just pulled the long clues from last Wednesday’s NY Times puzzle. Uh, spoiler alert, I guess.
He also, n one of his novels, had a story aside about a guy that homesteaded a planet in a trinary star system. He called the planet Noah because it had three sons. (it wasn’t much funnier in print…)
You have to say ti like Bugs Bunny: Los (long O sound) Ang (hard G) a leeze
Umm… I’m afraid to ask, but what is the correct way to pronounce “Sol”?
I would expect “sahl”, rhyming with “alcohol”.
Like “haul” or “ball” or “Saul”?
I agree with Kirk. Sole, soul. FWIW
Dirt might turn out to be pretty valuable; elements like phosphorus might turn out to be the limiting factor for life. So it might turn out to be a humble brag.
…were it not the case that pretty much every species is likely to name their home planet something like “soil”, “ground” or simply “home”.
The aliens never saw “Waterworld.”
Is Kirk the only Canadian born in Iowa? 
Have Scotty hand Kqwzytk a live wire. “There’s yer Earth, laddie!”
Well, oceanianians, which part is most important? Do you live in the water, or on land?
Really, we should call our planet Air.
Before you go, you’d better stop at the ATM machine.
Surely at least some nerds took Greek, though, which would make them Gaia, Helios, and Selene.
Wouldn’t a lot of alien planet names basically translate to “the world”?
The o is long: /soːl/
But just what does the “universal translator” do when one speaks English and interjects words/phrases in Latin, French, or whatever?
Don’t forget your PIN number.
I thought “Vulcan” etc was the Earthmen’s name for it. Why would some alien name its world after some Earth god or king?
It’s canon that the Vulcan language includes sounds that humans can’t reliably reproduce. Maybe accepting “Vulcan” as the human mispronunciation is a courtesy.
Well, it’s not Star Trek, but in an old comedic sci-fi novel favorite of mine, Illegal Aliens, they mock Earthlings for it, and of course, when they use their version of the Universal Translator, the planet’s name always comes out (to English-speaking humans) as “Dirt”, and the people are “Dirtlings”.
For fair use purposes, I’ll quote a VERY small sample about their direct comments as to the naming conventions of species though:
“They still call their planet Dirt!” Boztwank raged. “How stinking primative can you get?”
…
Idow took the the opportunity to continue. “Every race calls its home planet Dirt in the beginning, Boztwank,” he explained patiently. “You know that.”
“But they’ve had over 4000 solar revolutions in which to change it! What in the Void are they waiting for? The Prime Builder to name it for them?”
(elipse represents minor editing to avoid some details about the characters)
It then goes on with another character pointing out that some people call it Terra instead, and that in fact, Terra means Earth, and that earth translates to dirt when all is said and done.
It is. Vulcans call their planet T’Khasi, Minshara or Ti-Valka’ain, depending on who you ask.