I think David hit it on the nail. Artists take alot of liberties with whatever they write and generally try to appeal to the largest audience, assuming all things are equal. Sometimes though their works are so entrenched in an era or place that colloquialisms pervade. If the units can help lend to the theme they'll run with it, otherwise they are merely incidental. Naturally a French Sci-Fi book will feature the futuristic society as French-speakers, conversely we see old units with medieval/middle earth settings.
I have to wonder if books translate the units along with language when they're marketed overseas. Best regards, Bernie On Sun, 05 Nov 2006 20:48:09 +0000, "David King" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > But surely fantasy novels are not set in the world we live in. And > things that are set in the past, or in foreign lands, or alien worlds, > to be totally realistic, would not even use the English language for > dialog. > > So whatever we read, or see in the films, is translated in our modern > English language. It also makes sense, therefore, to translate > measurements into modern English, i.e. metric. > > I saw a Bible film once, and two priests were talking and one said > something about the temple being a few metres away. If he had used > cubits it would be in the right context, but no one understands cubits. > If he had used feet or yards, it would be out of context and not up to > date with the modern world. By using metres, it is just a translation of > what would have been used back then, just as the words they spoke were a > translation of the ancient Hebrew. I rather think that in things like > that, if they are going to insist on realism and use things like cubits, > they might as well have everyone speaking Hebrew. Just as for films set > in the past, if they spoke the language of back then, or even a foreign > language, then we would not understand. Everything has to be translated > to modern language including measurement units. > > At least in the world of sci-fi in the USA, it is mostly metric now, > such as Stargate SG1 and Star Trek (not so much the original series > though). In the UK, the sci-fi series Doctor Who (2005-2006) was rather > lacking in metric but its spinoff series, made by the same people, > called Torchwood, has so far been very metric. > > David K > > > Remek Kocz wrote: > > > > I honestly don't mind the use of Imperial measures in fantasy novels. > > They're after all set in a medieval-like environment, when those > > measures were used. Let's hope that someday, the only use of USC will > > be in period novels meant to depict our times. > > > > Remek > > > -- Bernard Rachtmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Email service worth paying for. Try it for free
