h a l f b a k e r yContrary to popular belief
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Why the frick does Wheland (or other homophones) turn up in SF so often?
I am reading "A Circus of Hells" by Poul Anderson the moon Flandry is sent to explore is called Whelan.
In Alien the company is called Weyland Corporation, ditto Predator.
And then we get the ragbag from wikipedia "Wayland,
a fictional planet in the Star Wars franchise"...Cadmann Weyland in Beowulf's Children..
Not to mention the the Lay of Weyland, which wasn't quite what I expected.
Anyway, something like copyright on the name is needed, so sf writers have to actually use their imaginations.
Wayland the Smith
https://en.wikipedi...i/Wayland_the_Smith
Maybe it's a nod to this Norse myth? [jutta, Oct 31 2016]
[link]
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<makes obeisance to She Who Must Be Obeyed> |
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How can I have never heard of Wayland, "the weird and malicious craftsman"? My whole life I have been digging stuff like this, but never Wayland. |
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Sometimes it feels like I slipped into a parallel dimension very similar to the previous one, but with some stuff that is new to me. |
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Wheland though isn't a homophone with weyland etc. because wheland has an h in it. Sloppy diction. |
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Possibly, the speaker is american ... not really their fault that they can't speak the language very well. |
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More deserving of pity than condemnation, but it's much more fun to condemn them anyway. |
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No no no. It's a cheap Disneyland knockoff--Whee-Land. |
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//How can I have never heard of Wayland// |
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He doesn't advertise. And you have to know the right people to get a franchise. |
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// He doesn't advertise. // |
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Not just that ... if you try to look him up, he's indistinguishable from all the other "Smith, W" entries. |
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One would think that reading (weird and malicious) after his name would give it away, but no. |
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//Copyrighting the name "Wheland"// |
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Presumably, the very fact that Wheland and its
variants are such common currency means that it
couldn't be copyrighted, no? |
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Incidentally, if writers want to nod to other Norse
characters of note, they could try Theothim (the
healer who dealt with Beowolf's piles, and also his
gout) or Aethryd Strangtherm (who worked both as
a hewer of wood for longboats and, in his spare
time, as a sort of agent for the Valkyries, ensuring
that went to the right battles). |
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My understanding is that the Valkyries had their own
transport. |
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Well, "ride" would imply bicycle, motorbike, or horse.
Or camel, I suppose, but camels seem awfully gangly
to be anywhere near a battle. |
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Pimp My Ride of the Valkyries. |
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No, but I think it made the cover of Newsweek. |
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Back then, of course, the mag was named 'Oldstrong.' |
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