• linuxgator@lemmynsfw.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    On DS9, they usually used the correct term inertial dampers. Whereas on TNG they couldn’t keep the two terms straight.

    • interolivary@beehaw.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ha, I never actually paid attention to that. I think the fact that I’m not a native English speaker could be why “dampener” never sounded weird to me.

      Although looks like the Oxford English Dictionary says both have the meaning “thing or person that has a restraining or subduing effect”, so I guess they’d both be correct in that sense?

      • linuxgator@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        Through idiomatic usage, dampener has taken the same meaning as damper, but as my dynamics professor was fond of saying, one of them terms means to slow motion, the other means to get something wet.

        • interolivary@beehaw.orgOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Heh, unfortunately there’s no fighting linguistic evolution. I’m a descriptivist so I can happily skip those battles – ie. I think a language is defined by a description of how it’s used, compared to prescriptivists who think that eg. grammars and vocabularies prescribe how a language should be used.

      • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’m such an idiot. I was thinking of Jeffrey Wright lol.
        Don’t mind me

        • interolivary@beehaw.orgOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          lol and here I was thinking I had a gap in my Trek trek meme knowledge.

          Also, don’t be too hard on yourself: considering the frankly ridiculous amount of information that we modern humans cram into our craniums, tripping up on an actor’s name is prettty minor 😀

          • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I was thinking why wouldn’t Wright be referenced in Risa for no reason? That’s ridiculous and completely normal haha