cool sci-fish names with non-cool meanings

[JeenLeen]

I was reading a book about people from mostly 500 to 1500 years ago, and one that came to mind was Galaction. His name means milk-man, essentially, e.g., a farmer who has cows and harvests milk. But it sounds like a sci-fi villain.
(Someone later pointed out to me that 'galaxy' comes from the word for milk, after the Milky Way idea. So the connection is more sensical than it seemed at first.)
This felt like a fun humorous thing to share and see if others had similar names in their mental inventory.

Any other names that sound awesome/nerdy/sci-fish but have rather mundane meanings?

I've also liked the idea of the name name Rune, since seeing a character with that name (even if it was a pseudonym/nickname) in Phantasy Star IV (or I think IV).

[Wraith]

"Non-Euclidean" is something that crops up a lot in sci-fi as well as existential horror - usually in association with something like Cthulhu or the Great old Ones, stuff like that to imply bizarre and terrifying places and things that can't actually exist.

Technically though, it can just mean "curved", like the angles between two places on a sphere rather than a cube. There's a little bit more to it, but generally it refers to measuring geometries between three points (x, y and z) rather than just two (x and y) so it's only bizarre and alien if you happen to be a Flatlander.

[tyckspoon]

"Non-Euclidean" is something that crops up a lot in sci-fi as well as existential horror - usually in association with something like Cthulhu or the Great old Ones, stuff like that to imply bizarre and terrifying places and things that can't actually exist.

Technically though, it can just mean "curved", like the angles between two places on a sphere rather than a cube. There's a little bit more to it, but generally it refers to measuring geometries between three points (x, y and z) rather than just two (x and y) so it's only bizarre and alien if you happen to be a Flatlander.

That's a fun one, it's just the geometries of things other than flat planes. Which is practically everything in reality... when it's used in 'this place ain't right' writing I think it's supposed to imply things like apparently parallel lines not actually running parallel or the horizon not converging to a single perspective point, the kinds of things that typically make your brain stop and go 'uh what now?' because they're so different to what you've learned is the proper behavior for those.. but that's hard to write in a way that makes sense in a description.

[Fyraltari]

I remember a Discworld early book where the floor of a cursed temple is described as being made of pentagonal tiles with no empty space. This is all I can contribute to the conversation.

[Xuc Xac]

If you draw a triangle with one 90° corner at the north pole and the other two corners on the equator, all three angles will be 90°. If you've had "triangle corners always add up to 180° drilled into you", that's a little freaky.

[Peelee]

If you draw a triangle with one 90° corner at the north pole and the other two corners on the equator, all three angles will be 90°. If you've had "triangle corners always add up to 180° drilled into you", that's a little freaky.

That's because you're switching from Euclidean Geometry to Spherical Geometry. Same reason why map projections always have distortion.

[Tarmor]

Galaction, Rune, Non-Euclidean...

They don't sound like names for fish!

[Rogar Demonblud]

That's supposed to be Sci-Fi-ish, but JeenLeen's fingers couldn't keep up with their brain.

[comicshorse]

Cyclopean architecture just means the building was put together without concrete or other form of mortar

[DavidSh]

The Roman poet Horace was a Venusian.

(Venusia was a city in southern Italy.)

[Xyril]

That's supposed to be Sci-Fi-ish, but JeenLeen's fingers couldn't keep up with their brain.

Can somebody spin off a separate thread for cool Sci-Fish names?

[Rogar Demonblud]

Eh, given topic drift we'll get there shortly after the mandatory Star Wars digression.

[Peelee]

Eh, given topic drift we'll get there shortly after the mandatory Star Wars digression.

Speaking of, I remember the first time reading Jurassic Park, InGen hires Grant as a consultant and calls at all hours about weird things, like phoning him at 2 in the morning to ask about T-Rex juvenile hyperspace. When the EPA agent he's telling this to asks, Grant just replies that it's a fancy word for behavior as if it were plotted/graphed out.

[DavidSh]

Can somebody spin off a separate thread for cool Sci-Fish names?
The only name for a fish I can think of at the moment is Wanda, and there's no science involved. And, I suppose, Eric.

[Xuc Xac]

Cyclopean architecture just means the building was put together without concrete or other form of mortar

The defining feature of cyclopean architecture is that the stone blocks are huge. They usually don't have mortar, but the important thing is that the blocks are so big that they must have been put here by giants because humans could not have lifted them.

The cyclopes were the "ancient aliens" of the ancient Greeks.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I remember a Discworld early book where the floor of a cursed temple is described as being made of pentagonal tiles with no empty space. This is all I can contribute to the conversation.

It's the first book (The colour of Magic), and the Temple of the Sender of Eight (aka Bel-Shamharoth) has octagonal tiles rather than pentagonal as the octogon replaces the pentagon for mystic geometries.

It has to be said that they tessalate just as well as pentagons, though.

[Tarmor]

It's the first book (The colour of Magic), and the Temple of the Sender of Eight (aka Bel-Shamharoth) has octagonal tiles rather than pentagonal as the octogon replaces the pentagon for mystic geometries.

It has to be said that they tessalate just as well as pentagons, though.

They do, but require a small square/diamond in between... the book suggests there are no diamonds, but the tiles still fit smoothly together.

Sci-Fish names: Scalia, Carpio, Siluris, Galaxias (this actually is a fish). In most cases their actual scientific name qualifies.

"Why can't he say eight?"

[Khedrac]

Why has no-one mentioned the sci-fish called "babel"?

As for terms that sounds better than they are, some of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos should count as sci-fi and he was very fond of using obscure adjectives that were actually quite tame in meaning:

gibbous - (of the moon) between half-full and full
rugose - wrinkled
squeamous - scaly

etc.

[VoxRationis]

From Mass Effect Andromeda:

A minor antagonist has the name "Invictor." Why it is that he, a resident of the Andromeda galaxy, has a Latin name, is not explained, but the name sounds superficially impressive. It's got the voiceless consonant cluster to give it a crisp sound and that delightful -tor suffix we all know and love (particularly Star Wars' Imperial Starfleet - Executor, Devastator, Imperator), which lends itself well to being pronounced dramatically while taunting the protagonist. Even better, it has the morpheme vict-, which even a grade schooler can identify as meaning "win" or "conquer."

Of course, anyone with even a middle schooler's knowledge of Latin can tell you that the in- prefix serves as a negative, and that -tor suffix is an agentive, so what the name "Invictor" really means is "one who doesn't win." It's appropriate in its own way, since the character is utterly inconsequential and serves only to get killed by the protagonist in a minor side mission, but it contrasts with the tonal presentation of the character, and it boggles the mind as to why the character would be named that in universe.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Probably hung on the character by somebody who 1: knew Latin and 2: did not like him. And 3: knew he wouldn't get it.

[Metastachydium]

Of course, anyone with even a middle schooler's knowledge of Latin can tell you that the in- prefix serves as a negative, and that -tor suffix is an agentive, so what the name "Invictor" really means is "one who doesn't win."

Except probably not. While the word invictor was apparently never used back in the day, its female equivalent, invictrix did, in fact, very much exist as a post-classical epithet of Fortuna. It essentially meant 'unbeatable'. Language is weird like that.

[SirKazum]

Except probably not. While the word invictor was apparently never used back in the day, its female equivalent, invictrix did, in fact, very much exist as a post-classical epithet of Fortuna. It essentially meant 'unbeatable'. Language is weird like that.

So, kinda like how "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing?

[Rater202]

Knull, The King in Black is the God of the Symbiotes in Marvel Comics. He is a Mythos inspired Eldritch Space God...

(In fact, Donny Cates has referred to an upcoming event starring as being "Heavy Metal Cthulhu Dark Horror")

His name is a Scandinavian verb analogous to a certain four-letter verb that refers to the act of fornication.

[Metastachydium]

So, kinda like how "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing?

Nah, I'd guess they just contaminated victrix with invicta and ran with it.

[Fyraltari]

So, kinda like how "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing?

No that's because "in" in "inflammable" means "inside". "Inflamable" means "can be inflamed" and "inflamed" means "inside the flames" i. e. "on fire".

[Ajustusdaniel]

"Non-Euclidean" is something that crops up a lot in sci-fi as well as existential horror - usually in association with something like Cthulhu or the Great old Ones, stuff like that to imply bizarre and terrifying places and things that can't actually exist.

Technically though, it can just mean "curved", like the angles between two places on a sphere rather than a cube. There's a little bit more to it, but generally it refers to measuring geometries between three points (x, y and z) rather than just two (x and y) so it's only bizarre and alien if you happen to be a Flatlander.

The thing with non-Euclidean geometry is that we've more or less figured out how it works and incorporated it into our models of the universe. But before that, Euclidean geometry- that is, geometry as described by Euclid's axioms was assumed to be universal. For all intents and purposes, mathematically, we kind of were flatlanders.

The following is an excerpt from a mathematician to his son, warning him not to dedicate himself to the search of a proof for Euclid's fifth postulate (the one that gave everyone a lot of trouble)-


You must not attempt this approach to parallels. I know this way to its very end. I have traversed this bottomless night, which extinguished all light and joy of my life. For God's sake! I entreat you leave parallels alone, abhor them like indecent talk, they may deprive you from your time, health, tranquility, and the happiness of your life. That bottomless darkness may devour a thousand tall towers of Newton and it will never brighten up in the earth... I thought I would sacrifice myself for the sake of the truth. I was ready to become a martyr who would remove the flaw from geometry and return it purified to mankind. I accomplished monstrous, enormous labors; my creations are far better than those of others and yet I have not achieved complete satisfaction. For here it is true that si paullum a summo discessit, vergit ad imum*. I turned back when I saw that no man can reach the bottom of this night. I turned back, unconsoled, pitying myself and all mankind... I have travelled past all reefs of this infernal Dead Sea and have always come back with broken mast and torn sail. The ruin of my disposition and my fall date back to this time. I thoughtlessly risked my life and happiness - aut Casear aut nihil.

A blog called Coins and Scrolls talks about this in a little more depth in a post called "Non-Euclidian Horror: The Writhing Spheres," but I can't post a link at the moment.

[Peelee]

No that's because "in" in "inflammable" means "inside". "Inflamable" means "can be inflamed" and "inflamed" means "inside the flames" i. e. "on fire".

Psh. What do the French know about Romantic languages?

[Fyraltari]

Psh. What do the French know about Romantic languages?

The vulgar parts, of course.

[Peelee]

The vulgar, parts of course.

https://gifs.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/faeeace892bd4d78d3ba07d2fd64b63e.gif

[Wraith]

Why has no-one mentioned the sci-fish called "babel"?

This one depends on what you think is "non-cool". In the Hitchhiker's Guide series the babelfish is a tiny creature that is inserted into a being's ear and it excretes language into their brain - literally, alien language goes in, and it poops your native language out for you to hear.

{scrubbed}


squeamous - scaly

etc.

I looked this one up too, because I remember the same story. Apparently it was very old fashioned word for scaly even by Lovecraft's time in the 1920's - he had a thing for archaic words - but nowadays its more readily a scientific term for a type of epidermis. It's not just "the creature was scaly like a fish", but "it literally has the skin of a fish". A small semantic difference perhaps, but a different and quite mundane implication. :smallsmile:


The thing with non-Euclidean geometry is that we've more or less figured out how it works and incorporated it into our models of the universe. But before that, Euclidean geometry- that is, geometry as described by Euclid's axioms was assumed to be universal. For all intents and purposes, mathematically, we kind of were flatlanders.

It's fairly clear, I think, that Lovecraft thought he was making up a word and didn't realise that it had a real-life meaning. We know what he's trying to say - that the perception of the subject was bizarre and didn't conform to what we recognise as normal dimensions - so I didn't mean to bring it up out of mockery. It just amused me.

I did a bit of a binge on the subject after reading more of this thread. Non-Euclidean geometry was barely recognised as a true discipline until the 1830-1850's and Lovecraft was an indifferent High School student before dropping out of university, so even in the 1920's when he was writing it was a fairly niche, specialised subject that he probably wouldn't have had much exposure to.

Just goes to show - stay in school kids, or you too could end up like H.P. Lovecraft. :smallbiggrin:

[SirKazum]

It's fairly clear, I think, that Lovecraft thought he was making up a word and didn't realise that it had a real-life meaning. We know what he's trying to say - that the perception of the subject was bizarre and didn't conform to what we recognise as normal dimensions - so I didn't mean to bring it up out of mockery. It just amused me.

Speaking of making sense of what Lovecraft meant with "non-Euclidean", using what we know about actual non-Euclidean geometry (as well as general relativity, as it happens), I like the paper that Benjamin Tippett, of the Titanium Physicists (https://titaniumphysicists.brachiolopemedia.com/) podcast, made about it: Possible Bubbles of Spacetime Curvature in the South Pacific (https://arxiv.org/abs/1210.8144). He goes to the text of the story "The Call of Cthulhu" and uses General Relativity as a possible explanation for all the phenomena it describes, going into detail about how everything works. BTW, he's also done similar papers on Superman's powers and how the TARDIS might work.

[Ajustusdaniel]

Why has no-one mentioned the sci-fish called "babel"?

As for terms that sounds better than they are, some of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos should count as sci-fi and he was very fond of using obscure adjectives that were actually quite tame in meaning:

gibbous - (of the moon) between half-full and full
rugose - wrinkled
squeamous - scaly

etc.

Neil Gaiman has a bit of fun with this in a short story, with a barfly in Innsmouth, England, translating a bit of Lovecraftian prose as "The moon was almost full, and everyone was bloody peculiar frogs," or something of that nature.