"Do what the (k)night tells you..."

I was re-re-re-re-(well, you get the picture) reading Deep Wizardry, and it struck me for the first time that the prophecies that Peach gives Nita are weird. Why? Well, we know she tells Nita, among other things, "Do what the night tells you," which Nita later realizes is actually "Do what the knight tells you." And that means . . . Peach spoke in English.

Does this strike anyone else as just plain odd? She's a wizard's pet, like Ponch, and Ponch speaks Dog (yes, I know the language has a real name, but it escapes me at the moment). Shouldn't Peach speak Bird?

Or, since we know who Peach actually is (what was the term? --oh yes, "Saint ****** Michael the Archangel," right?), wouldn't you expect her to use the Speech? I mean, there are some times that you'd expect her to use English, specifically when she's imitating famous broadcasters. But the rest of the time, my gut feeling is that Peach would use the Speech, especially when she's using her premonitory skills.

Thoughts?

Oh! rowan tree.
How fair wert thou in simmer time,
Wi' a' thy clusters white,
How rich and gay thy autumn dress,
Wi' berries red and bright.

I was re-re-re-re-(well, you get the picture) reading Deep Wizardry, and it struck me for the first time that the prophecies that Peach gives Nita are weird. Why? Well, we know she tells Nita, among other things, "Do what the night tells you," which Nita later realizes is actually "Do what the knight tells you." And that means . . . Peach spoke in English.

Does this strike anyone else as just plain odd? She's a wizard's pet, like Ponch, and Ponch speaks Dog (yes, I know the language has a real name, but it escapes me at the moment). Shouldn't Peach speak Bird?

Or, since we know who Peach actually is (what was the term? --oh yes, "Saint ****** Michael the Archangel," right?), wouldn't you expect her to use the Speech? I mean, there are some times that you'd expect her to use English, specifically when she's imitating famous broadcasters. But the rest of the time, my gut feeling is that Peach would use the Speech, especially when she's using her premonitory skills.

Thoughts?

Oh! rowan tree.
How fair wert thou in simmer time,
Wi' a' thy clusters white,
How rich and gay thy autumn dress,
Wi' berries red and bright.

[PK]

I always got the impression that Peach did mostly speak English, actually -- being a macaw rather than, say, a canary, she can pronounce it passably. I'd imagine she can speak Bird too, but I don't know whether Nita and Kit would have picked that up as easily at first.

Then again, if you look at the excerpts, there's Dairine's "Leave the floor!" line, which is supposed to be in the Speech and nevertheless prompts the person she's addressing to levitate, not just refrain from removing the floor, which is what she meant. I'm not sure whether she mistranslated or if some puns actually work in the Speech....

[white tiger]

In High Wizardry when Tom and Carl come over to the Callahan's to tell them Dairine is a wizard Peach tells them a predction and it said that her(Nita's) parents jumped so most likely she was speaking english fluently.

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Suggestions Wanted!
Wash your hands!

I understand that Peach is able to speak in English. I just would have thought that if she were speaking to a group of wizards, she'd use the Speech. Apparently not, though. *shrug*

PK, I don't doubt that misunderstandings/puns are possible in the Speech, especially for someone like Dairine, who never really had to learn it. (I don't think "being" a Manual would help much in that regard, either.) But I wouldn't think the Speech has any homonyms. I mean, imagine if you said, like, "Grass, start growing," and it sounded the same as, "Grass, start jumping." Nita's lawn would be in shambles!

Oh! rowan tree.
How fair wert thou in simmer time,
Wi' a' thy clusters white,
How rich and gay thy autumn dress,
Wi' berries red and bright.

[PK]

Peach is Eccentric. *nods firmly*

Thank you very much, I have a very silly mental image of jumping grass now.

There do seem to be a number of levels of specificity, come to think of it. In Dilemma the Pig suggests that the universe favors young wizards in part because of a certain imprecision in their use of the Speech.... Perhaps some words are more context-dependent than others.

[Birdhead]

*nods* I agree with PK about the Speech... might be interesting to look at which words _are_ homonyms. Anyway:

My overall impression was that Peach spoke English
-Because it's fun.
-It makes her a more authentic parrot.
-So that everyone can understand her.
They're pretty weak reasons, aren't they? But I honestly think it was mostly to put people oiff the scent. Because N andK can't speak Bird and somehow I doubt even Tom and Carl are fluent, if she didn't want to speak in the Speech all the time/at all, it makes sense for her to speak English.
T

Tuibird in Aotearoa
Conservationist, Scientist, and proud of both!
Chocolate lover extraordinaire...
Ahahahaha, ahahahahaha, ahahahaha...
My mission: Bringing Maori to the world!
Spelling Freak and Typo Queen

[meteorite]

We were discussing resodding our lawn last night, and a special type of very hardy grass got referred to as super-grass. My husband said, "Now I have an image of our lawn flying away at night and fighting crime!"

"Thus is Balance maintained." A Wizard of Earthsea
"Condensing fact from the vapor of nuance." Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

[Birdhead]

*giggles* Random but amusing.
T

Tuibird in Aotearoa
Conservationist, Scientist, and proud of both!
Chocolate lover extraordinaire...
Ahahahaha, ahahahahaha, ahahahaha...
My mission: Bringing Maori to the world!
Spelling Freak and Typo Queen

[kite]

PK, I don't doubt that misunderstandings/puns are possible in the Speech...

I'm not so sure; it's probably a VERY specific language, given the possibility that any inaccuracy could be nothing short of disastrous. There's so much emphasis in wizardry on saying exactly what you mean, and exactly what you want. I'm afraid that those who are using computers to 'translate' for them may run into some bugs (anyone ever used the Babelfish translator online?), but in general, I suspect the Speech doesn't lend itself to puns, and is clear enough that it's unlikely to be misunderstood.

[Birdhead]

*snorts* Did you here the one about the space program? They wanted to translate the phrase "The flesh is weak but the spirit is strong" into Russian- the other main language for the space program. Out of curiosity, the man who translated it (he was presumably fluent) treid to use one of the internet translators. The result: "The meat is rotting but the vodka is strong."
T

Tuibird in Aotearoa
Conservationist, Scientist, and proud of both!
Chocolate lover extraordinaire...
Ahahahaha, ahahahahaha, ahahahaha...
My mission: Bringing Maori to the world!
Spelling Freak and Typo Queen

[Sam]

Back to topic(for now):In SYWTBAW when the tree speaks to N in the Speech she says it wasn't really speaking but using it's leaves to "speak" so if that is the way with all creatures (not using their leaves but movements) then is Peach was speaking in the Speech then K and N wouldn't have seen her. Therefore would not have heard her. Am I just correcting my mind (wich I do often) or does one of you remember to?


L8er

Sam (Hifun55)

[Sam]

Ok I know my last post is a bit late but could someone PLEASE answer my question it's driving me crazy (I'm already crazy enough I don't need to be anymore than I already am.)

~Sam (Hifun55)~
abreveation quen
"So," Harry said, "so does that mean that... that one of us has to kill the other one... in the end?" -HP year 5

[skybluice]

[Sam]

Thanks!

~Sam (Hifun55)~
abreveation quen
"So," Harry said, "so does that mean that... that one of us has to kill the other one... in the end?" -HP year 5