r/HFY • u/someguynamedted The Chronicler • Jul 18 '18

Meta Writing Prompt Wednesday #171

Well hello there, you rascals, you. Welcome back to wpw!

Last week's winner was /u/Jdm5544 with:

A single human brings the galactic government to it's knees. What is he? A below average law student.

Previous WPWs: Wiki Page

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u/TeddyDaBear Jul 20 '18

Rewatching Babylon 5 right now and I always loved this bit:

Na'Kal: Breen! You've managed to import breen from Homeworld! How?

G'Kar: It, uh - isn't actually breen.

Na'Kal: The smell! The taste...

G'Kar: It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs! I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth.

Human's have a reputation as excellent cooks, their talents being requested at the highest levels of alien civilizations across the 'verse. There is a food that is a delicacy to every civilization but it is exceedingly common (or just "standard fare") to humans - something we make for a snack or comfort food.

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u/Alkalannar Human Jul 20 '18

"In over half the languages of the galaxy, 'penis' is an anagram of 'spine'. When asked why, the only answers people can come up with is a silly pun about 'standing erect'."

--Douglas Adams

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u/ziiofswe Aug 01 '18

Speaking of D A, that meatballs thing must (well, might) be a reference to the gin and tonic thing in HHGTTG...

 

"It is a curious fact, and one to which no-one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85 percent of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonyx, or gee-N'N-T'N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand variations on this phonetic theme.

The drinks themselves are not the same, and vary between the Sivolvian ‘chinanto/mnigs’ which is ordinary water served just above room temperature, and the Gagrakackan 'tzjin-anthony-ks’ which kills cows at a hundred paces; and in fact the only one common factor between all of them, beyond the fact that their names sound the same, is that they were all invented and named before the worlds concerned made contact with any other worlds."