earth isnt called earth

[jj90]

ok so i take it you have all seen a film where aliens of some sort come to earth and call it earth.


what if earth has another name? what if it was abandoned by other beings and they called it something else?

and who decided it was to be called earth???

 

[happysock]

I did!

OT i have no idea we just call it earth if there are aliens they probably have a completely different name for our solar system and planet

 

[Amnestic]

ok so i take it you have all seen a film where aliens of some sort come to earth and call it earth.


what if earth has another name? what if it was abandoned by other beings and they called it something else?

and who decided it was to be called earth???

We did. We're the rulers of the planet so we decide what's what. You don't see ferrets objecting to our naming patterns.

 

[Lord Honk]

well, if aliens from the omega 18 nebula in the xan'gon galaxy can speak fluent american english, what keeps them from calling earth earth?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

It's the official name because we say it is.

Exactly this. If life evolved on Mars and said they called Mars something else then we'd probably have to call it that instead.

 

[Sulu]

Every inhabited planet out there would be called the alien language for Earth or whatever the word for ground or soil is. I don't know why Star Trek/Wars always refer to a planet by the species that comes from it (Kardasia, Romulus) and even the aliens themselves go along with it!

 

[oppp7]

As the only citizens of Earth, we get to name it.

 

[Volstag9]

did you ever try looking it up. the internet has PLENTY of information!

 

[Monocle Man]

I can't see your problem.

America used to be called "Where dragons be", "World's End" and later "India".
I'm also pretty sure that the Native Americans called their home something else than "America".
And the French don't call the "United States of America" "United States of America", they call it "Etats-Uni".

Europe used to be divided differently than it is now with different names, too.

Names are given by the ones who talk about it.

 

[Aptspire]

like The Ark in Halo?

 

[Proteus214]

If intelligent extraterrestrials found Earth, I doubt they would even have a name for it just as we don't have a name for half the stars in the sky. A vast majority of them are cataloged as serial codes to us. I'm sure if we discovered intelligent life in one of those solar systems, we would end up naming their planet whatever its natives call it.

 

[zauxz]

As the only citizens of Earth, we get to name it.

Hmm.

I disagree. We should call earth "moo"

 

[Woodsey]

And to the OP: Earth is called Earth, not earth.

And I think the word originates from German. Apparently it's over a thousand years old.

 

[delet]

It's the official name because we say it is.

Exactly this. If life evolved on Mars and said they called Mars something else then we'd probably have to call it that instead.

No. We'd beat it into their heads that it's called Mars before they let 'em change our planet's name

 

[Fbuh]

The name Earth comes from the Anglo-Saxon erda, which means soil or ground. It evolved to eorthe in Old English and to erthe in Middle English.

And to the OP: Earth is called Earth, not earth.

And I think the word originates from German. Apparently it's over a thousand years old.

German and English have the same roots, but evolved differently due to geographical and cultural differences. For instance, there are many basic German words that are similar in English, such as the German word durst which means thirst in English. Interestingly, especially in America, a lot of 'th' sounds are being pronounced as 'd' amongst the verbally inexperienced. It looks like America is turning the English language back into German.

 

[Danik93]

the real name on this planet isn't "Earth really" it's Tellus! but i dunno why we call it earth...

 

[FallenRainbows]

Terra. Mehehehehe

 

[lwm3398]

We are only described as Mostly harmless.

In comparison to what the universe might be, the universe is much more dangerous.

 

[Jamash]

I believe that Earth used to be called Terra, back in the day.

However Terra is just the Latin word for Earth, so there's not much difference.

On a slightly related note, as anyone seen the Godzilla film, Invasion of the Astro-Monster?

Scientists discover a new planet, which they name Planet-X, and send 2 astronauts to investigate it. When they get there they are greeted by aliens who say "Welcome to Planet-X".

It always tickled me how the aliens called their planet 'Planet-X' as well, they're just as unimaginative as the Earthlings.