RE: Re: wandering [OT] [was: B5 Ship Figures]

>> That's the other thing I don't get.	What is it about apostrophes
that makes people want to put them in the names of alien races all the
time?

Because we don't see them used this way in English words, they are a
cheap way to indicate "this isn't English" without having to come up
with a non-English sound--but we do see apostrophes in contractions and
possessives, do they don't throw you off the way seeing other symbols
would.
  Real non-English sounds (eg the high/low/rising/falling tones of
Chinese, or the clicks and pops of some south African languages) are a
pain to represent to an English speaker.  And when you see a name like
X! or Hrska, most people are going to stop and wonder "how the heck do I
pronounce that?", which interrupts the flow of the narrative.	 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at