Really surprised me. It’s an absolute banger.

Well that’s a tad extreme. But I take your point.

Yes, they’re human. One thought I had was quaternary makes it very easy to count very high on your fingers very quickly. With one hand you show 1 2 3 fingers, then close them and show the four with the thumb on the other hand. Then 1 2 3 again, and stick out the pointer finger to accompany the thumb, to show 2 fours. Another system is to point your palm towards yourself, and count the spaces between the fingers. The four of each set is the space between the pointer finger and thumb. So you can count 1 2 3 1, 1 2 3 2, 1 2 3 3, and so on. Apparently a tribe of native Americans used a quaternary system and used the spaces between the fingers, instead of the fingers themselves. Not sure how efficient it is, I just thought it was cool.

This civilisation counted seasons by the weather/sun/moon, so I doubt they would have a rigid system for seasons. Cardinal directions, though… yes, that’s the kind of thing I can build on! They were from a big island, with a lot of jungle and volcanoes etc so directions would be vital. Also, being islanders, seafaring would be part of the picture and of course navigation is vital when you’re at sea. And the Hindus have the 4 stages of life, so there might be a similar spiritual element as well.

You’ve given much food for thought. Thanks!

I’m still struggling to convert base 4 and decimal in my head, so I might just stay in my lane and take it slow 🤯

Hmm. Maybe they were experts at some precursor to quantum physics, and viewed nature itself as 0s and 1s?

That binary conversion made absolutely no sense at all to me, so I’ll research it now!

Edit: OK, it’s pretty easy once you know how binary progresses. I think this micro-science binary theory might have legs. Thanks for the suggestion!

Well this civilisation was from Earth, just not somewhere that exists any more. Like Atlantis. So that probably rules the moon theory out. And I don’t even vaguely understand the rest of what you said haha.

It’s vague now because the modern world has become too precise, too complicated. So my language “evolved” to discuss things in a more Zen kind of way. The old language (as I imagine it) was very gutteral and full of sounds most modern day people couldn’t pronounce. It evolved to a more modern day sound inventory to assimilate with the modern, technocratic population. It became private because the non-Atlandeans wouldn’t approve. Esperanto speakers were executed by the Soviets AND the Nazis, for example. It’s a way of keeping hold of their “Zen” lost world, and they don’t want it interfered with. So it’s not a terribly straightforward process to translate any of it unless you know it fairly well.

Assume you need to back up every statement you make.

Ooh, that’s a good one!

Actually, this has all been very helpful. As we say in my language: spaqi! (thanks!).

Well it avoids any technical/hairsplitty nuance. It’s intentionally vague, in a way that’s actually very expressive. The base vocab is unique to the language (“evolved” that way), and the more nitpicky the words get, the more they resemble pidgin English/German/French/Spanish/Italian. Then it seemlessly fades into English/whatever for technical jargon. It’s a sort of “intimate” language, meant for close personal relationships rather than to speak to millions of people.

I had a sort of fantasy idea for the backstory, but I don’t know if it’s stupid or not. I had the idea of the original Atlantis population survived in some way, a few people maybe. They have bred among themselves and other populations, lived among us in obscurity, hiding in plain sight, for many many years. So this language is their sort of creole, developed as they had to assimilate and learn other languages. The language has become anglified for broad communication (through necessity), but the intimate aspects are still true to their original language.

I’m not good at this stuff. Is that something of a starting point?

Edit: it’s also very melodic, and not gutteral. It doesn’t have the sounds th, j, r, sh, ks kh (like ch in loch), z, or ae as in cAt). So it sounds kinda like English, Latin, Esperanto, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Nordic, Irish, Russian, Japanese, Turkish… without really sounding like any of them.

Yes I’m trying to do that but I don’t know where to start. My strengths are linguistics and music, not storytelling. It’s a skill I have to find a way to develop. Maybe it just takes time.

Is it? I don’t know how that works. I barely know how to use Lemmy.

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How did you upload the pic? I can’t seem to upload pics anywhere on Lemmy.

The long branch is the long arm of altruism, the short branch is the short arm of altruism.

That sounds absolutely mental in the most wholesome way haha.

I trained most of them to aim their tail feathers away before they do, but yes, sometimes it just gushes out when it gushes out. They’re wild birds, it’s part of the package. But I do put a towel on my lap, so that makes things easier. Also no scratches on the legs if the birds decide to fight each other on my lap. They do that especially in spring, when the hormones are fluctuating.

I call all of them goobers, so “Mr Goober” is called Derfred. It is the goofiest bird I have ever seen. I suspect it might’ve hit a window or car or something at some stage and stayed a bit silly. Derfred even bites and climbs on other birds, just playing. But the other birds aren’t always prepared to put up with it haha. Poor thing. But Derfred is healthy and happy.

Here are names I’ve given to some of the other birds:

• Signore Salieri (has an unusually large beak and high “hair line”)

• Mr Faith No More (actually a girl, but looks a lot like Mike Patton. Sounds dumb but I swear it’s true).

• Mr Roy (has a rainbow-ish pattern on the head. Full name is Roy G. Biv).

• Cleopatra (a lady bird who gets a lot of attention from the boys, and takes no prisoners. She’s always very nice to me, though)

• Mr Blackbottom (he has a large black patch on his lower beak - completely harmless. Beaks are black as juveniles, then the black gradually fades as they get older).

• The Scream (a girl bird who enjoys landing on my arm, staring me square in the eye, flapping her wings and screeching at me. No other reason than to chat/play. Weirdo).

• John Deere (when I sing or talk, this goober stares at me like a deer in the headlights. As if I am threatening it. It knows full well I’m not threatening it, just a bit of a drama queen).

There are more but I can’t remember them right now.

I leave food and water out for the local birds, and sit outside under a beautiful big tree, and birds come up, eat the food, have a drink and a bath/splash around, then some of them land on me and we have a chat. I actually get a lot more sense out of those interactions than I do with any human where I am, so it really helps. One little goober gets a crazy look in the eye, then (most of the time) gently bites my finger and half rolls over. So I roll him/her over and tickle the belly. It’s hard to stay grumpy when you start your day like that!

The thing that helped me was “let go or be dragged”.

Death will happen whether I stress out about it or not. Stressing about it just contaminates the time you have. So I gradually learned to focus more on the “isn’t existence weird?!” than “death is coming”. And when you really get into the swing of it, your limited time becomes timeless.

Aha. When tech geeks meet theology. I like it!