My personal wish for the "Ransome uncensored" update

41

Other way around for me. I´m better at practice than in theory. I´ve always been much better at imitating others than I was at school, you know more like a little child does than a good student.

Anyway, I think we can agree on the fact that the confusion comes less from a grammatical point. But rather more from the way it is used in the title. Of course technically the caponians are mindbenders because they “bend minds” with their mind bending machine. But this was just the first time I´ve heard somebody refer to the guys in the noseglasses and sombreros as such. When I read that the mindbender teleports into the cave, I pictured that big machine suddenly appearing.

And you know where we would be without mistakes? Somewhere where we don´t have a “Mansion mansion”! :wink:

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42

Yeah, in fact I like that Ron doesn’t care too much about typos, I feel more “at home” eheheh…

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43

There is a tendency in german speaking forums to use one´s grammar or language or typos or whatever as an argument.

“From the way you´re incorrectly using your commas, I can´t take you seriously, therefore your argument is invalid.” Is something that is spoken all too often in german speaking forums.

Wheras americans just go:“I speak whatever way I want, thank you!” I tend to like that attitude, I mean as long as the point comes across.

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44

You are still correct, there is no real difference between alien mind-benders and mind-bending aliens.
(I also assumed it was about the alien lifeforms and not the machine.)

45

And it just occurred to me that an “Alien Mindbender” would be a great name for a mixed drink.

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46

In the title, yes. But in the game the “mindbender” is the machine and the aliens aren´t called mindbenders. It all makes sense still for the title and how it is handled in game.

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Take equal parts sushi, yak butter, french bread, exploded egg and peanuts, put them in a blender and your mind is sure to bend!

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48

Thanks but I’m good, I don’t want anything from that yak!

Maybe you are right, but since it’s plural I still remain with the aliens theory (although of course there could a lot of those machines all over the country).

If David still remembers where the title really came from?

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I never challenged that. Fact remains however that in the game the aliens are never refered to as the mindbenders, that´s all I´m saying. I never doubted that in the title the referece is to the aliens.

My theory about the title is that it probably came first before the aliens even had a name. The whole mindbending may have to do with “mind over matter” and people who claim to have extra sensory perception, telepathy, psychokinesis and stuff. You know like the way Uri Geller claimed to be able to bend spoons with his mind. I think that where that may have come from.

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Uhm… I’m not so sure about it.

Disclaimer: I’m italian too, and for a native italian speaker “the aliens who bend minds” is the most obvious translation.
And I’ve never thinked about it before, I just took it as it is, even if the title always seemed strange to me, comparing it with my limited knowledge of english grammar.

Please, feel free to correct me If I’m wrong

In the normal english construction the adjective comes first, and the noun comes after.
The adjective is always singular, while the noun can be plural

So “alien mindbenders” can surely mean “the mindbenders that come from another planet” where mindbenders is the noun and alien is the adjective.

If you want to translate it in “the aliens who bend minds”, You’ll have two nouns.
“alien” is the main noun, while "mindbenders would be what in italian is called “sostantivo deverbale” (literally “noun from a verb”).
There are various types of sostantivi deverbali in italian, and “mindbender” is a “nome di agente” (agent noun).

Translation example

English
Verb “to bend” —> noun “bender”
Italian
Verb “piegare” —> noun “piegatore”

So, since the main object (or subject, we don’t know since the title has no verbs) in this itranslation woul be “the alien”, while “mindbenders” is a noun, derived from a verb and referring to the alien.

But why the alien (singular) has a noun referring to him in plural, then?

So the subject(object) is not one, but more than one?

So the correct form to express “the aliens who bend minds” wouldn’t be

“The mindbender (sinngular) aliens (plural)”??

Or, even better:

“The mindbending aliens”?

So, I have to admit that I think that the translation that I assumed right for all these years is probably wrong.

PS: I see I’m not the only one indulging in huge OTs… :wink:

51

Even better for a drink: “Alien mindblender”

Too bad the quote gets lost.

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52

The confusing probably stems from the fact that the word alien used to be an adjective and ever since a certain 1979 movie has taken the form of a noun as well.

So alien mindbenders would have used to mean “the mindbenders who are strange/different” but the title now rather means “the extraterrestrial mindbenders”.

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All that said, even if his translation was wrong, @ZakPhoenixMcKracken is perfecly right in referring to the alien as “mindbender”.

Given the fact that “alien” is the adjective and “mindbenders” is the noun, nobody (except maybe @David) can tell if that noun refers to things or to people. Well, alien people.

54

Oh of course that´s technically right.
You know what else is right? Calling this guy “The Raider”

Same logic, right?

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That’s a provocation :relieved:

But the logic isn’t the same. If you say that in

"Indiana Jones AND the raiders of the lost ark"
Indiana Jones IS the raider,

So in

"Zak McKraken AND the alien mindbenders"
Zak IS the alien mindbender.

Logic… :grin:

56

I´m sorry but that´s not in fact the films title:

The Indiana Jones wasn´t added until Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, possibly in order to clarifiy that Indiana Jones is not in fact a Temple. :man_facepalming:

So my point still stands. Indiana Jones is one of the raiders of the lost ark.

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57

You got me!
:smiley:

But now, let’s open an OT-in-OT… just to be banned from this forum to life:

I’ve always supposed that the “raiders” were the nazis…

So, if you call the hero with the noun that refers to the villain, you can always call Zak a mindbender.

Not to mention the famous Ghost Pirate Guybrush Treepwood…

58

Just look what he does to all those poor animals!

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It was a family tradition in LFG

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Partly true. I believe the raiders are pretty much everyone in the film. The nazis, Indy, Marion, Sallah. Just everyone who is involved in the raid of the well of souls.

You know I can derail this even further (because it´s MY topic you see!) I only recently discovered that not even the creators know who exactly the masters of the universe are in He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe.

Never heard of that guy, might as well be a ghost pirate :grin: