# Science Fiction/Fantasy "bi-lingual" pairs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414 "2022-01-26T13:28:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/21 "2022-01-27T01:01:11Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > This one was minor but actually led to an apology. In a 1983 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction an author named Harvey Jacobs had a satirical story about a planet where the vegetation was so lush that the inhabitants’ droppings were fantastically useful in agriculture, leading to an ad campaign to encourage the inhabitants to do nothing but eat and produce. The planet and the story were named “Busby” - leading to an apology in a later issue from the author and magazine saying that they meant no offense to SF author F. M. Busby. Oops. This reminds me of Arthur C Clarke saying it was only a coincidence that the homicidal super computer was named HAL. What do I mean, you ask? If you shift one letter forward from “HAL” in the alphabet the result is… IBM ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/22 "2022-01-27T01:21:24Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Does Ford Prefect from Hitchhiker’s Guide count? I was looking at used cars, some with right-hand drive (Japanese or British) and I was SO tempted by this! But realized it’d be common nerdism over common sense… > **[I found this listing on sur theparking-cars.com - isn’t it great?](https://www.theparking-cars.com/used-cars-detail/ford-prefect/1958-ford-prefect/2NWEAU4B.html)** > > FORD PREFECT - POA ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/23 "2022-01-27T01:23:37Z")
There was a Phantom Zone villain called “Kru-El,” but that was deliberate. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/24 "2022-01-27T01:33:12Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The planet and the story were named “Busby” - leading to an apology in a later issue from the author and magazine saying that they meant no offense to SF author F. M. Busby. Offtopic, but I met Buz at a Clarion when he was just starting to write professionally. (He has previously been a big-name fan.) He refused to tell anyone what his initials stood for, so somebody posted a Guess the Name sheet on a wall. Entries started with Ferdinand Magellan and Frequency Modulation but quickly got wildly obscene. I had to wait for Wikipedia to find out that F. M. was for Francis Marion. The Swamp Fox if you remember your old Disney shows. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/25 "2022-01-27T08:02:27Z")
When I was very young the Ford Prefect was a very common make of car in the UK. The name was chosen for its mundane nature. Few have survived, because they were rust buckets. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/26 "2022-01-27T12:41:50Z")
I never knew what his names were (and never had the chance to meet him) (but I do vaguely remember Swamp Fox). Always liked Buz’s stories though. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/27 "2022-01-27T13:23:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Mon-El was a super-powered being who met up with Superboy in Smallvile. He had amnesia, so Clark assumed he was another Kryptonian and named him Mon for Monday and El to be part of his family. > > Monel metal was a nickel alloy that got a lot of use in WWII. As I understand it, they were perfectly aware of the metal when they chose Mon-El’s name. But awareness and intent was not part of my criteria. I’m sure Burroughs had heard of the gas “helium”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/28 "2022-01-27T13:23:47Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There was a Phantom Zone villain called “Kru-El,” but that was deliberate. True, but that’s not a disqualifier ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/29 "2022-01-27T13:57:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But it’s more charitable to view these are translations or transliterations of some alien language that, by chance, resemble words in English. Statistically, this is likely to occur. Depends what you mean. It’s quite likely that among a set of transliterations of words, at least a few will match English words (in pronunciation, if not spelling). However, I would say the chance of any particular word matching would be very low. e.g. the vast majority of multi-syllabic Chinese words don’t sound like any English word. And that’s still a language constructed from the human speech system and human neurology. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/30 "2022-01-27T14:06:20Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > But it’s more charitable to view these are translations or transliterations of some alien language that, by chance, resemble words in English. Statistically, this is likely to occur. > > Depends what you mean. > > It’s quite likely that among a set of transliterations of words, at least a few will match English words (in pronunciation, if not spelling). Hitchhikers Guide To The Universe. > "It is a curious fact, and one to which no-one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85 percent of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonyx, or gee-N’N-T’N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand variations on this phonetic theme. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/31 "2022-01-27T18:32:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@RealityChuck](#): > > > > There was a Phantom Zone villain called “Kru-El,” but that was deliberate. > > True, but that’s not a disqualifier So how about Prell on _3rd Rock From the Sun_? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/32 "2022-01-28T04:54:26Z")
Another Tolkien example, which fits the OP’s question a bit better. In _The Silmarillion_, there are several mentions of “[Túna](https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/T%C3%BAna),” a high green hill in Aman (the land of the west), upon which the elven city of Tirion was built. The name, of course, in English also refers to a group of fish species (though without the accent mark). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/33 "2022-01-28T09:44:18Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > In _The Silmarillion_ , there are several mentions of “[Túna](https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/T%C3%BAna),” a high green hill in Aman (the land of the west), upon which the elven city of Tirion was built. Not to mention how the Elvish word for “friend” sounds suspiciously like a cantaloupe. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/34 "2022-01-28T12:00:28Z")
The Buck Rogers comic strip had a villain named Nova Kane. I haven’t read them since I was a kid, but I’m confident I remember a reveal that his brother, Killer Kane’s given name was really Coe. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414/35 "2022-01-28T16:22:15Z")
Conrad aka “Coe” aka “Killer” Kane was the evil twin. Nova Kane was the good twin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fantasy-bi-lingual-pairs/958414.md?page=1)