Related, but my response to people who ask me "What do aliens think of (insert animal from Earth that partly resembles them)" is, look upon the salamander ape and decide for yourself how it makes you feel.
Transcript
TeethBurglar asked: Idrisah and Gillie, what exonyms do Tiiliitian and BFL-2 speakers have for humans? Like how English speakers call them Avians and Bugferrets.
Gillie: BFL-2 has an ordered system for naming aliens. Humans are "second alien" or "third person," since bug ferrets encountered us after avians. Though informally I see the name "five fingers" used a lot.
Idrisah: Tiiliitian usually refers to us, as uh, "chew eswii." "Chew" just means "person," and "eswii" is an animal from their homeplanet that, um...
Gillie: They're so terrible to look at.
Idrisah: Don't be mean!! They're a LITTLE cute...
80 thoughts on “RttS Reader Questions 7”
The Occupant
They’re rather adorable, and I can see the resemblance. Certainly worse things they could call us.
Septemberdale
Ugh, its lips are horrible.
Carmenifold
egad
Bobulus
You know, it’s always fascinated me that there’s a sharp divide between generations in real life on the definition of ‘person’.. If you ask some baby boomers or consult a dictionary, it’ll say that a reasoning being has to be human to be a person. Yet for Millenials/Zoomers, it seems obvious that you’d apply the label Person to any hypothetical space alien that traveled here or fantasy creature that can talk and emote. I mean, scifi and fantasy existed back then, its not like these are new concepts…
Arcstone
I always did figure the human hand would be a pretty universal symbol representing humanity at large in these future space aliens coming together to form galactic civilizations setting.
I also really love that the avians just saw a human for the first time and just went “heh. Monke. :3”.
Apollo235
Is the eswii’s mouth slightly open or do they have prominent, human-like lips
creetur
Definitely lips. Whether that’s to your dismay or amusement is up to you.
Gar G
I love that the Avians call humans that. Because we do the exact same thing to pretty much everyone else in this version! X’D
I also love that just like they superficially resemble Earth animals, there are non-sapient animals on at least one homeworld that resemble humans, ones they probably never thought much of until they encountered us
Johnny
I like to imagine the salamander apes fight each other like kissing gouramis, with a bit of slapboxing thrown in for good measure.
veltzeh
Eswiis live in the human Uncanny Valley. 😀
Boorango
the Eswii is a charming critter. I hope it is a thriving little menace.
JoB
New headcanon: Only after the staff of the human embassy to the avian homeworld had done their deed, the avians realized that the eswiis, in turn, found the look of humans intriguing enough to approach them, *and* had a natural talent to imitate their speech. The “soothing morning birdsongs” of the planet/ecosystem never were the same again, and avian languages swiftly adopted a translation for the English “to parrot”.
Zidane
love that the avians literally did the “featherless biped -> this is a man”meme
Heather
HUGE fan of Salamander Ape
Verc
Return of the salamander ape!!!
I like how bug ferrets, who use their hands for their main form of communication, focused on the numbers of fingers as one of the informal names for the other sophonts.
Lumus Of Failing
I would hug a salamander ape.
fishfacedterror
wrt the salamander apes; thats just a lil guy, doin their best and forraging for berries in the forest. i wonder if theres any tiiliitian documentaries on them?
Teod
Wait, don’t Bug-Ferrets have five fingers as well?
Jay Eaton
They do :y
Sen
I’d say the comparison is accurate XD
We are just weird little things on 2 legs.
Truther
Umh, what is the “bulge” in bottom parts of the Salamander Ape? Like, whats the biological function on it?
Jay Eaton
Pubis bone! Despite the resemblance to a codpiece these guys do not have external genitalia
Ruby
Good to know that we aren’t entirely alien to the avians 😂
Teod
Oh, turns out I wasn’t the only one asking this. This one seems better phrased, although I would prefer if it included more of what aliens call eachother.
Jay Eaton
To be fair at a certain point it would become a bulleted list instead of a comic
Teod
I was thinking more of a spreadsheet, “How X calls Y”. But you’re right, it really doesn’t fit the comic format.
JoB
x-axis = caller species, y = callee, z = formal-to-slur spectrum, install a wheel of (mis)fortune in every position for the final selection. :-3
TeethBurglar
Aww, I love the eswii <3. I would gently feed it the avian planet equivalent of peas from my hand like a horse
feesh
personally i prefer “oily poles” from that one tumblr AMA lol
Martin
That Salamander Ape is CURSED.
And yet… were I compared to one I would have no choice but to go “Yeah 😔”
wingedhorror
Haha, same thought.
It’s very much the meme of the guy angrily agreeing, “I GUESS.”
Fallingfeather
To be fair- if I was a centaur or a bug ferret that looked at what humans call centaurs and bugs and ferrets from our own home planet… I’m sure the feeling would be mutual.
mdhughes
It’s a hairless biped. “Behold, a man!” says Diogenes.
DasGanon
“See I was right!” Says Socrates.
“Oh wait, no you’re right, I fucked up. Hang on!” Diogenes says as he makes a run for an avian and a sheep shearer.
Gheesfellow
Wait until he learns about GMHs XD
JoB
Diogenes: “Could someone please fill my pithos with wine – while I’m sleeping in it?”
evileeyore
Diogenes would revel and delight in GMHs and laugh as Socrates and Plato wracked their brains trying to partition and cubbyhole the new humans.
TheBeaft
Oh that is a wretched beast if I have ever seen one.
I love him
rustbird
I hate the salamander ape, and yet, I cannot deny the accuracy of the comparison
Translunary_Animus
Well that’s definitly.. a creature? Certainly something interesting to be compared to.. eesh. Not sure what I feel about it entirely.
creetur
Honored to be a “salamander ape”, a little gentleman if I ever did see :)*
InsomniaticShade
Oh this is an awesome creature
Eris
Hmm. Bad!
Liza
how big are eswii? I can’t get a feel for it from the picture..
Cat
Oh god thats terrifying
Jay Eaton
Large human infant
Liza
Thanks! I hate it! /jk
Egg
Oh OK I was afraid it was like, I don’t know, 6 to 7 feet tall? Maybe bigger? The size of a bear
creetur
Hold gentle, like stuffed animal
Homuncufan
I’m a fan of the eswii. Shout-out to the four-eyed homunculus.
creetur
Truly the creature ever
40
I think they have another pair hidden somewhere, all the other Avian animals have 6 eyes.
JoB
Did we ever see the *back* of an eswii’s head … ?
(As that’s where any prey species adapted to its predators would probably find extra eyes the most useful.)
godspeed
Personally, I am only waiting for all those awesome textile crafters, to make a plush rendition of the Eswii…
He is just a little man *shrug*
(Disclaimer: I would do it, but I really wanted to try doing a bugferret first….)
godspeed
I am sorry, I am on mobile and I must have accidently hit the reply button and didn’t notice.
Clockwork.pug
Mm. Nah, i’m with gillie on this one, that guy is terrible to look at, lol.
Apollo235
I’m not quite sure what feeling the salamander ape elicits but I think I like it.
Heck
Ah, I read the eswii’s front eyes as nostrils until about 5 seconds ago, very cool.
Emma H
I appreciate that the bug ferrets refer to everyone as ‘person’.
Terms like ‘species’ and ‘race’ that show up in F&SF has a real stink of eugenics and worse things.
HAL9000
i suppose we named them after earth birds, so… can’t be mad
JoB
Seeing that that animal from the same world as the “two fingers” happens to have FIVE on each hand, just like us, chances are that their choice is more on the money than ours …
JoB
“Second alien” … guess they have another while to go until their version of Undine. :-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_8472
TotallySomebody
I love the salamander ape I don’t care what anyway says
JoB
Well, this RQ actually says “salaMADer ape”. Wager there’s a ‘D’ missing? ;-P
TotallySomebody
You’re right!
Jay Eaton
This is a really obnoxious way to point out a typo, can you please just mention that there’s a error without phrasing it like a gotcha.
Tyrone the Miner
Its “Bald Ape” to you, SIR! =)
Peter Jensen
A “featherless biped”, if you will.
Jack
I cant remember if its been answered or not before but I still wonder what the sophonts more scientific or proper names are. I always imagine ‘centaur’ and ‘avian’ are more like informal slang/common names that just stuck.
JoB
You mean something like binomials?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_nomenclature
That could get interesting … :
“So, those ‘avians’ … what should we *really* call them?”
“Hm, species are most often named in the honor of whoever discovered them …”
“And who *did* discover them?”
“In terms of sophonts … I guess they did that themselves?”
“… wait, you mean, we need to know their species’ name so as to give their species a name!?”
“Well, we shall also *greco-romanize* it, of course! For *science*!”
zaratustra
it was answered with “Linnaeus has no home here” https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/730277885752066048/how-are-centaurs-classified-scientifically-they
ECG163
The resemblance is uncanny.
Gheesfellow
I see nothing wrong here, the connection is both understandable and amusing.
Finally, WE are the animal people!
angsttronaut