Rereading this, I’m now curious about wombat names, and how Digger knows that Helix is male. Or maybe she’s just guessing, and “he” is actually the Wombat gender-neutral pronoun?
Or, like many cultures around the world, certain elements in wombat names generally go to one gender or another. It’s also possible that when writing, wombats have a masculine and a feminine version of “I”, too.
Perhaps the name has a gendered element that Digger didn’t translate. Or – to fetch a bit farther – maybe only male wombats belong to clans, and wombatesses have a parallel structure.
I was kind of catching a hint of Shadowchild in the last bit, actually. And since Shadowchild in general reminds me of Gir, Murai’s crazy voice is considerably higher-pitched than her normal one. 😀
@Alex: /Yes/. But much less serious. GIR is a good (though not perfect) comparison, and oddly, I too hear her crazy-voice as having more of a lilt to it, and her normal voice to be a serious, or even melancholy or sullen, lower tone.
The giggle just sells it.
Awww…Murai’s cute when she’s crazy. (O_o Hmm…This could explain several of my ex-girlfriends…
Rereading this, I’m now curious about wombat names, and how Digger knows that Helix is male. Or maybe she’s just guessing, and “he” is actually the Wombat gender-neutral pronoun?
Wombat culture in general seems to be fairly gender neutral, so that might be the case.
Or, like many cultures around the world, certain elements in wombat names generally go to one gender or another. It’s also possible that when writing, wombats have a masculine and a feminine version of “I”, too.
Oh, no; Digger used the “W” word!
😉
Were the rhino droppings shiny before it ate the moon as well after, or just after from the moon’s luminescence?
I can’t be the only person who read that exchange in mony python voices…
‘It’s pining for the fjords!’
Digger is, of course, John Cleese.
Am I the only one that saw ‘fernfossil’ and immediately started coming up with conspiracy theories about that weird rock Digger picked up?
Does crazy Murai remind anyone else of River Tam from Firefly?
Well, it isn’t me; the fossilized ammonite was a critter, not a plant.
Perhaps the name has a gendered element that Digger didn’t translate. Or – to fetch a bit farther – maybe only male wombats belong to clans, and wombatesses have a parallel structure.
I was kind of catching a hint of Shadowchild in the last bit, actually. And since Shadowchild in general reminds me of Gir, Murai’s crazy voice is considerably higher-pitched than her normal one. 😀
I’m right there with you Alex
@Alex: /Yes/. But much less serious. GIR is a good (though not perfect) comparison, and oddly, I too hear her crazy-voice as having more of a lilt to it, and her normal voice to be a serious, or even melancholy or sullen, lower tone.
Mad Luc, not when I first read it, but I immediately went back and read it again to see if it worked.
It works.