I'm not going to watch Star Trek ever again!

[Saint Marcus]

yes you heard me! I'm not going to watch Star Trek ever again!

I just found out Ferengi is the Hindu word for European. Those damn yanks, making fun of us Europeans again.

I'm boycotting Star Trek now. Go Star Wars!



( )

[Dr Strangelove]

No, it's the Hindi word for "English". I learned this while watching the Hindi propaganda film "Lagaan". Think about it, "Ferengi" and "English" sound somewhat similar, don't they? Here's another big shock for you: "Yankee" is a corruption of the Delaware Indian word "Yengwi", which was their word for "English".

[Zkribbler]

Uh...actually it means "foreigner."

And d'ya think this might be a coincidence...or do you think someone at Star Trek is actually smart enough to speak Hindu?

[Lonestar]

Re: I'm not going to watch Star Trek ever again!

Originally posted by Saint Marcus
yes you heard me! I'm not going to watch Star Trek ever again!

I just found out Ferengi is the Hindu word for European. Those damn yanks, making fun of us Europeans again.

I'm boycotting Star Trek now. Go Star Wars!



( )

I thought you liked the Federation, it being a stupid Socialist state, much like Europe.

:: ducks&runs ::

[Jack the Bodiless]

...Heheh. Of course, it could be a coincidence.

But I doubt it. The British Raj appears to have been founded on the Rules of Acquisition.

[Saint Marcus]

Ferengi (hindi) from Farangi (persian) for European.

I thought you liked the Federation, it being a stupid Socialist state, much like Europe.

Yep. Like Picard said in First Contact: Money doesn't exist anymore in the 24th century, just Euros.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Uh...actually it means "foreigner."

And d'ya think this might be a coincidence...or do you think someone at Star Trek is actually smart enough to speak Hindu?

In the movie it was translated as "English". It could have two meanings, just like "Yankee" has now come to mean American or Northerner. Does the word "ferengi" predate the arrival of the English in India?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
No, it's the Hindi word for "English".

Drat! I cross-posted with Dr. S.

My authority is China Flyer, an Adam Horne Adventure by Porter Hill. IMHO a trash novel is much better authority than some propaganda film made by locals.

[Saint Marcus]

Ferengi:

corruption of the Chinese word for Europeans
Thai for foreigner
Hindu for foreigner
Malay for Portugese
French for traveler (???)

[Ecowiz Returns]

Go figure: there is a Malay word just for us, Portuguese!

What an honour!

[MOBIUS]

Just another bunch of limp d1ck Yanks who still have an inferiority complex with the 'Mother Country'...

Oh well - Ferengi and proud!

[Sandman]

Surely the fact that the ships are named U.S.S. instead of F.S.S. should be a giveaway.

To compound the silliness, whenever the captain meets a new species, they always give its full name as 'Federation Star Ship'.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Ecowiz Returns
Go figure: there is a Malay word just for us, Portuguese!

What an honour!

We have a word just for you, too!

It's "Portuguese"!

[Dr Strangelove]

OK, I'll concede, maybe Ferengi does stand for "foreigner". I seem to recall that during WWII Ray Bradbury served in the Pacific theater. He was in fact one of the lucky few who landed on Peliau Island in the first wave and lived to come home. Might he have encountered the word somewhere in the Pacific?

This makes Saint Marcus' complaint invalid though, unless he wants to complain about Yanks making fun of "foreigners" or "Portugese".

If the word was corrupted to apply to the Portugese specifically in Malaysia, might it also have been corrupted to refer specifically to the English in some usages in India?

[Boris Godunov]

I won't watch ST ever again just because it's boring.



(except DS9)