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Hello Internet
你好,互聯網
In my last video about Pluto you may have noticed,
在我上一個關於冥王星的視頻中,你可能已經注意到了、
that i said aloud the names of every planet except one:
我大聲說出了每個星球的名字,只有一個除外:
This one
這個
And that was no accident,
這絕非偶然、
but rather the result of carefull script editing.
而是精心編輯腳本的結果。
Because, where i grew up,
因為,我在那裡長大、
i learned that the name of the seventh planet
我知道了第七行星的名字
is pronounced "yoo-Rain-us".
發音為 "yoo-Rain-us"。
Of course to a kid "yoo-Rain-us" sounds an awful lot like "your-Anus",
當然,對孩子來說,"yoo-Rain-us" "聽起來很像 "your-Anus""、
which is how i and everyone i knew ended up saying the name.
這就是我和我認識的每個人最後都會說這個名字的原因。
Which is funny when you're a child, but becomes a bit of a problem, if you grew up
當你還是個孩子時,這很有趣,但如果你長大了,這就成了一個問題
and trying to teach scientific facts about the planet.
並努力傳授有關地球的科學知識。
for example:
例如
Uranus has a ring around it.
天王星周圍有一個環。
Astronomers have discoverd a dark spot on Uranus.
天文學家在天王星上發現了一個黑點。
Uranus is a gas giant.
天王星是一顆氣態巨行星。
Uranus is surrounded by methane.
天王星被甲烷包圍。
There is a solution to this problem, the alternative pronunsiation of the name,
有一個辦法可以解決這個問題,那就是對這個名字進行替代發音、
wich goes: YUR-in-us
其中去:YUR-in-us
And most scientists in public roles do use this pronunciation.
而大多數擔任公職的科學家確實使用這種發音。
But for me YUR-in-us is still problematic.
但對我來說,"YUR-in-us "仍然是個問題。
Sure, it's better then your-Anus, but it's still URINE-us.
當然,這比你的 "肛門 "要好,但還是 "尿道"。
And perhaps i'm just childish, but when someone else says YUR-in-us,
也許我太幼稚了,但當別人說 "YUR-in-us "的時候、
i still hear your-ANUS in my head and it just draws more attention to the unfortunate name.
我腦子裡還在想著你--ANUS,這隻會讓人們更加關注這個不幸的名字。
The tragedy is, it didn't have to be this way.
悲劇的是,事情本不必如此。
The seventh planet from the sun is unique because it's the first Planet we discovered.
太陽系的第七顆行星是獨一無二的,因為它是我們發現的第一顆行星。
For all of human history the sixth closest planets were big enough or bright enough to see with just our limited simian eyes.
在人類歷史上,最近的第六顆行星足夠大或足夠亮,僅憑我們有限的猿類眼睛就能看到。
But the next planet was to dim to see until our telescope technology got good enough for british astronomer Wilhelm Herschel to spot it in 1781.
但是,下一顆行星太暗淡了,直到我們的望遠鏡技術發展到足夠好的程度,英國天文學家威廉-赫歇爾才在 1781 年發現了它。
Understandably though he didn't think he discoverd a new planet, since from the rise of modern humans 50 thousand years earlier until that Thursday no one ever had.
可以理解的是,他並不認為自己發現了一個新星球,因為從 5 萬年前現代人類崛起到本週四,還沒有人發現過新星球。
But discover he did and so choose a name he must
但是,如果他發現了這一點,並是以選擇了一個名字,他就必須
and Herschel, being the good subject of the crown that he was,
而赫歇爾則是王室的好臣子、
christened his new planet "The Georgium Sidis", which means "The Georgian Star".
他將自己的新星球命名為 "The Georgium Sidis"",意思是 "格魯吉亞星"。
And the George in "The Georgian Star" was King George the third the reigning monarch.
喬治亞之星》中的喬治就是在位君主喬治三世。
While King George liked the name, the rest of the world did not
雖然喬治王喜歡這個名字,但世界其他地方卻不喜歡
and decided that perhaps Herschel wasn't the best guy to name the new planet after all
並決定也許赫歇爾並不是為這顆新行星命名的最佳人選
and quickly decided to come up with alternatives of their own.
於是,他們很快決定提出自己的替代方案。
One suggestion was Neptun, which is confusing to us now, but at the time the planet that would become Neptun had not yet been found.
其中一個建議是海王星,這讓我們現在感到困惑,但當時還沒有發現會成為海王星的行星。
A more obvious alternative was to name the planet Herschel after the man who discovered it.
一個更明顯的選擇是用發現這顆行星的人的名字 "赫歇爾 "來命名這顆行星。
Even in Great Britain the name "The Georgium Sidis" proofed a bit stuffy for some, so variance like "The Georgian Planet", or just "Georgium" were also used.
即使在大不列顛,"The Georgium Sidis" "這個名字對某些人來說也有點拗口,是以也有人使用 "The Georgian Planet" "或 "Georgium" "這樣的名稱。
Though never, as you might have heard, "George".
不過,正如你可能聽說過的那樣,"喬治 "從未出現過。
Sidenote here:
此處註釋:
While researching this video i found a lot of websites claiming that the seventh planet was almost named "George", but i was never able to find a primary source for this.
在研究這段視頻時,我發現很多網站都聲稱第七顆行星幾乎被命名為 "喬治",但我始終無法找到相關的原始資料。
As best i could tell searching from documents from the time no one ever suggested this name.
據我從當時的文件中瞭解到的情況,沒有人提出過這個名字。
I checked with the Royal Institution who, since 1799, has been promoting sciences awesomeness from the heart of London and whose videos you should now go watch,
我向英國皇家學會進行了諮詢,自 1799 年以來,該學會一直在倫敦的中心地帶宣傳科學的偉大,您現在應該去觀看該學會的視頻、
and they confirmed the name "George" was never on the table, because to so casual refer to the King at the time would have been disrespectful.
他們證實,"喬治 "這個名字從未出現在餐桌上,因為當時如此隨意地稱呼國王是對國王的不尊重。
And disrespect a monarch is never a good idea.
不尊重君主永遠不是一個好主意。
Especially one who is slowly loosing his mind from a genetic disorder, but that's a story for another time.
尤其是一個因遺傳疾病而慢慢失去理智的人,但這是後話了。
Anyway, another real suggestion for the new planets name came from Johann Bode who suggested the greek god of the sky.
總之,約翰-博德(Johann Bode)提出了另一個關於新行星名稱的真正建議,他建議使用希臘神話中的天神。
When a colleague of Bode discovered the 92 element in 1789, he named it Uranium to support Bode's choice and try and end the debate.
1789 年,博德的一位同事發現了 92 號元素,他將其命名為鈾,以支持博德的選擇,並試圖結束這場爭論。
Perhaps because these two were German it might not have occurred to them how the word would eventually be corrupted in english.
也許因為這兩個人是德國人,他們可能沒有想到這個詞最終會在英語中被篡改。
Though it's also hard to know how english speakers in the 1780's and 90's would have pronounced the name.
不過,我們也很難知道 1780's 和 90's 說英語的人會如何發音這個名字。
But since the word anus was in the language then,
但由於當時的語言中就有肛門一詞、
it seems unlikely, that this particular pronunciation would have been popular.
這種特殊的發音似乎不太可能流行起來。
It may also have been pronunced with a flat "a" to sound like yoo-RA-nus,
它的發音也可能是平舌音"a",聽起來像 yoo-RA-nus、
or something more like the Greek name oo-RON-ohs.
或者更像希臘語中的 oo-RON-ohs.
These names competed with each other over decades,
幾十年來,這些名字相互競爭、
for example:
例如
still in 1823, the Encyclopedia Britannica list the planet as "Herschel",
早在 1823 年,《不列顛百科全書》就將這顆行星命名為 "赫歇爾"、
notes the alternative names
注意到備選名稱
and then proceeds to carefully word the rest of the artikel to avoid naming the planet again.
然後在文章的其餘部分小心措辭,避免再次點名該星球。
With you a dear modern day viewer know that eventually this alternatives faded and left this name triumphant.
親愛的現代觀眾,你們要知道,這種替代品最終會褪色,並留下這個勝利的名字。
Which leaves someone like me with my terrible pronunciation longing for history to have taken a different path.
這讓像我這樣發音糟糕的人渴望歷史能走一條不同的道路。
The name "Herschel" might have made the planet sound a bit like a boring accountant rather than a very intresting planet it actually is,
赫歇爾這個名字可能會讓人覺得這顆行星聽起來像個無聊的會計師,而不是一顆非常有趣的行星、
but this would still be a much better name than what we have.
但這仍然是一個比我們現在的名字好得多的名字。
Neptune is obviously a fine planetary name though picking this might have just delayed the problem.
海王星顯然是一個很好的行星名稱,不過取這個名字可能只是延緩了問題的解決。
finally "The Georgium Sidis" is a bit awkward and in sillier moments i wish that Herschel had just been more direct and named it "King George",
最後,"The Georgium Sidis"這個名字有點突兀,在更愚蠢的時候,我希望赫歇爾能更直接地把它命名為"喬治王"、
because how fun would that make it to teach kids the list of planets today.
因為這樣一來,今天教孩子們行星列表該多有趣啊。
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, King George and Neptun.
水星、金星、地球、火星、木星、土星、喬治王和海王星。
In classrooms such an unusual name would change the planet from a thing to avoid to a starting point for a discussion about what makes that Planet different
在教室裡,這樣一個不尋常的名字會把這個星球從一個需要避免的事物變成一個討論的起點,討論是什麼讓這個星球與眾不同
and how astronomy and our view of the universe change and progress over time.
以及天文學和我們的宇宙觀是如何隨著時間的推移而變化和進步的。
But my impractical dreams aside we're stuck with this name,
但拋開我不切實際的夢想不談,我們還是得用這個名字、
which for me means choosing between the pronunciation which comes naturally and is terrible, or the unnatural awkward one which is still unsatisfactory.
對我來說,這意味著要在發音自然但糟糕的發音和不自然但仍不令人滿意的笨拙發音之間做出選擇。
So what's a man to do?
那麼,男人該怎麼辦呢?
In the end, probably follow the lead of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and avoid the name when possible.
最後,可能會效仿《大英百科全書》的做法,儘可能避開這個名字。
Which is a sad fate for the planet in our solar system with such an interesting story to tell.
對於太陽系中這顆有著如此有趣故事的行星來說,命運實在是太悲慘了。
Seriously people, could we at least agree to switch the pronunciation back to the greek oo-RON-ohs? It's clearly so much better.
說真的,大家能不能至少同意把發音改回希臘語的 oo-RON-ohs 呢?這顯然要好得多。