Same reason we keeps using those terms for centuries. It just stuck. Also spaceships .
11 Likes
Thing is, it’s a primarily english thing. And when you try to translate it into your language, it utterly sucks - it hasn’t gotten stuck there and thus it causes me a great amount of grief when I have to translate marine or marine military titles. You may consider my previous post a cry into the void.
too many customisation options that dont add anything to the story. Also due to the same thing the character seems to have no backstory at all. I want immersion. I want to believe that my mc was part of the world. like if you agree
11 Likes
Oh, then we should say space-port and space-starboard right?
Don’t know about spaceboard, but spaceport is a fairly legitimate word.
It’s also that the ultimate functions of space marines match up pretty well with traditional marines. Board ships, defend ship from boarding action, land and establish beachheads so that the main battle group (like the Imperial Guards in 40k) can come in.
The actual way you make the space version of an amphibious landing is quite different, but the analogy works pretty well.
9 Likes
“Space-port” and “space-starboard” were intended as parallels to the nautical terms “port,” meaning left, and “starboard,” meaning right, not to “port” meaning a place to dock a ship. In other words, this “space-port” is not the same as the familiar word “spaceport.”
(And yes, I am aware that the former meaning of “port” derives from the latter.)
4 Likes
It surprises me that it wouldn’t be the case in Russian, considering that the word космона́вт (cosmonaut) is derived from ancient Greek and means “universe-sailor.”
1 Like
If we have Space Marines, should we have Space SEALs? Or Space Spetsnaz? Space Paratroopers? Actually, ig that last one is basically the same thing as space marines. Drop pods and all.
Also worth noting that that the Marines weren’t always part of the Navy. I suppose you could just make it independent again and add space marines to them.
Because they’re ships and they tend to function in the same general role as naval warships. Troop transports, ship-to-ship battles, shore/planetary bombardment, etc. And the soldiers aboard them are often marines because they tend to handle marine-esque duties. Boarding and counter-boarding operations, establishing beachheads, etc.
And lots of science fiction books have an army in addition to the marines. In Starship Troopers, they’re all part of the Mobile Infantry. 40k has the Imperial Guard. David Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers are a mercenary armored unit.
Marines just tend to get the focus because the focus is usually on starships and naval soldiers are marines.
14 Likes
Why would the term “space” need to be added there though? Portside is portside, no matter what kind of ship you’re in. Unless the actual direction changes based on your position in space?
Some do have different special units.
I agree, and I wasn’t the one who proposed the terms. I commented only to clear up a point on which someone else seemed to be confused.
To the best of my knowledge, the terms “port” and “starboard” are among the nautical terms that haven’t been adopted or adapted for use in space.
Ah, right. Sorry about that. (And now I’m actually trying to think what happens if the directions do change based on the position in space, as if I didn’t have a headache already.)
I don’t know for sure, but the concepts of right and left are probably far more important to a sailor than they would be to an astronaut. The course of a spaceship is plotted in advance and largely controlled by computer; obviously this is untrue of traditional navigation. A ship on the sea regularly has to make small course corrections to account for wind and ocean currents and objects in the water; this isn’t an issue in the void of space.
Now, I don’t even know for a fact that they don’t use “port” and “starboard.” Maybe they do. But the fact that I don’t know for sure, testifies itself to the relative insignificance of the concepts in space.
1 Like
For navigation, sure, but I was thinking more about directions inside the ship. You might not need to know which thrusters are firing when, but you would need to know which specific parts need manual repair, and where your cabin is.
If you are doing some outside maintenance, you would definitely like to know which thrusters are firing when. So yea, sides of the spaceship must have their names.
Speaking of spaceships, sci-fi series will use the term aftdeck but not quarterdeck or poop deck. If they’re going to use the nautical terms, they should go all in.
1 Like
Ah, good point. (And now picture them being relative…)
I mean, you just have to anchor your sides to the guide marks inside the ship. Like slap lines of paint everywhere and just go by green, yellow, blue and red sides (if you are in zero gravity every direction is very relative).
I don’t need this kind of passive aggression in my life, you stupid forum engine.
15 Likes
I mean, sure, but I started picturing the absolute location changing based on the position in (hyper?)space, so that the red side suddenly is purple when the ship turns or something, and suddenly the thrusters that are firing (or need fixing) are on the opposite end of the ship.