2016/04/22 [DMFA #1659] - The international language of love

[Tapewolf]

Well, that was interesting and fun.

From the Katbox version:

"For those wondering about Skirmish's language quirk, it's actually part of a vow she took upon leaving her particular amazon tribe's homeland. In theory while she knows what everyone else is saying, it is forbidden to speak to outsiders in her native tongue and sacrilegious to speak their language. So she more or less communicates via the tone of her tikkas and body language. She's been adventuring with Nite's crew long enough that they more or less got a good rapport."

[Cassi-kun]

Y'know, I'd always kinda wondered about that, since we've seen other Amazons speak English just fine.

Also D'AAAWWWW SO CUTE SKIRMISH

[Delian Williams]

What is this? Amber goes ahead and explains questions on katbox rather than making an QFtR strip?
The wand of motivation and/or cattleprod must have been upgraded.
(Ok... it's not the first time interesting stuff has been revealed in the katbox commentary.)

[justacritic]

So background landscape has no relation in foreshadowing whatever fate lies in store for them?

[Offbeatreboot]

Well, that was interesting and fun.

From the Katbox version:

"For those wondering about Skirmish's language quirk, it's actually part of a vow she took upon leaving her particular amazon tribe's homeland. In theory while she knows what everyone else is saying, it is forbidden to speak to outsiders in her native tongue and sacrilegious to speak their language. So she more or less communicates via the tone of her tikkas and body language. She's been adventuring with Nite's crew long enough that they more or less got a good rapport."

I may just be a big dumb dumb but I don't quite get if it's sacrilegious to speak in the language of whomever she's conversing with, or sacrilegious to speak in her own language? If it's the former then everything is all well and good. If it's the latter, what's stopping her from learning plain 'on English? Unless of course English happens to be her native language. Which is all kinds of funny to me for some reason.

[Tapewolf]

I may just be a big dumb dumb but I don't quite get if it's sacrilegious to speak in the language of whomever she's conversing with, or sacrilegious to speak in her own language?

I think it's something like:
*Her tribe's language is sacred
*It is forbidden to speak the sacred language in the presence of outsiders
*Speaking a non-sacred language is blasphemous

...just a guess because I'm not Amber, but it's internally consistent, plausible in terms of religious structure and would result in the situation we have here.

[Razmoudah]

Not that internally consistent.  Go back and re-read the first hundred or so strips.  There are Amazons there that are speaking English.

It's only internally consistent since Tikka was introduced.

[Tapewolf]

Not that internally consistent.  Go back and re-read the first hundred or so strips.  There are Amazons there that are speaking English.
It's only internally consistent since Tikka was introduced.

That may be, but it's not what I was saying.  The rules I suggested above are how I think Skirmish's tribe works, based on what Amber has said.  Other Amazon tribes are likely to have quite different rules, otherwise they'd be a nation rather than tribes.

[Offbeatreboot]

I like your explanation regardless. It answers the questions I had. So that mystery's solved, at least for me.

[Amber Williams]

Tapewolf has it pretty much right on the money.

And yeah, there are a few different types of amazon tribes...many of which have their own rules and traditions.  But sort of like the Mythos, they tend to get lumped into a conglomerate catch-all term of amazons.

[Razmoudah]

Ah, I wasn't aware that Amber was going with the multi-tribe, no true nation, route.

[Tuyu]

I wonder if it would be kosher for her to write, and if she's ever learned how...

But in the meantime...

...her tribe has TIKA BANNED themselves??? 

[Razmoudah]

?

Where do you get that idea?