• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Did mermen ever really exist?

abaddon said:
How is 1961 in any way recent?
Click to expand...

I am embarrassed to say that I scrolled up and re-read the offending post several times to figure out whether it was actually discussing this same Vasa ship being "recently excavated." I went to that museum like 15 years ago I think.
 
Vixen said:
Aw. Sadly, I have two (rather long) legs so I don't qualify, I'm afraid.

I do have a 10-yards swimming certificate from age 11. Is that all right?
Click to expand...

Hello Vixen,

do not allow your fears to overcome your curiosity. The fact that you made this thread proves that you are a seeker! I am sure you qualify.

Come to Innsmouth and embrace the sea.
 
There are all sorts of sea monsters on old stylized maps from Medieval times and the Renaissance.

Like these things

In late poetical Greek mythology, ichthyocentaurs (Greek: Ιχθυοκένταυρος, plural: Ιχθυοκένταυροι), were a race of centaurine sea gods with the upper body of a human, the lower front of a horse, the tail of a fish, and lobster-claw horns on their heads. The best-known members of this race were Aphros and Bythos, two half-brothers of the wise centaur Chiron and the sons of the Titan Cronus and Nymph Philyra. Though little remembered, they were set in the sky as the astronomical constellation Pisces.
Click to expand...
 
Porpoise of Life said:
I've seen stone statues of mermaids, which lends credence to the suggestions that Medusa also exists.
Come to think of it, I've seen bronze mermaid statues as well, so there's probably some other kind of gorgon that can turn (mer)people into metal.

ETA: To maintain the scientific rigor of the OP, I am of course forced to admit that this can also be the work of the White Witch of Narnia, or some kind of basilisk.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the possibility of a cockatrice.
 
Porpoise of Life said:
I've seen stone statues of mermaids, which lends credence to the suggestions that Medusa also exists.
Come to think of it, I've seen bronze mermaid statues as well, so there's probably some other kind of gorgon that can turn (mer)people into metal.

ETA: To maintain the scientific rigor of the OP, I am of course forced to admit that this can also be the work of the White Witch of Narnia, or some kind of basilisk.
Click to expand...

CS Lewis wrote children' books, heavily drawing on mytholgy to preach a message.

And here's the thing, JRR Tolkein wrote Lord of the Rings which we all see as myth/fantasy, based on elves, orcs and goblins. Tolkein himself was a serious academian, whose fiction evolved purely as a result of his serious study of Finnish mythology (for example, The Sillmarillion).
 
Vixen said:
Hey, Peeps. I've just been reading up on C17 war ships and read the following about the ship Vasa recently excavated from the bottom of the sea, some 333 years after it immediately sank on its maiden voyage (it is now Sweden's #1 tourist attraction):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

So, even the Dutch - master ship-builders - took mermaids seriously.
Click to expand...

abaddon said:
How is 1961 in any way recent?
Click to expand...

Vixen said:
Hello? It sank in 1627 and only got dragged back up 1961.

Time is all relative but to me, anything after 1800 counts as 'recent history'.
Click to expand...

Did someone dive down after 1800 to add mermaids to the ship?

1627 is by your own admission, not recent.
 
carlitos said:
I am embarrassed to say that I scrolled up and re-read the offending post several times to figure out whether it was actually discussing this same Vasa ship being "recently excavated." I went to that museum like 15 years ago I think.
Click to expand...

I guess for the social media generation five minutes is a long time.
 
More than half a century is hardly recent for knowledge.

Especially for something that was well known for ages, namely that people drew mermaids.
 
Vixen said:
Hello? It sank in 1627 and only got dragged back up 1961.

Time is all relative but to me, anything after 1800 counts as 'recent history'.
Click to expand...
Unless you're hundreds of years old, this makes zero sense.
 
Drewbot said:
Disagree, especially for Elves and Dwarves, both of which live longer than Mer-species.
Click to expand...

That's right. Every Norwegian has seen a troll out of the corner of their eye, and the Swedes and Finns tomte/tonttu. In fact, when LOTR was translated into Finnish orcs were translated as tonttu, goblins.

Let's hear it for the little people.
 
Vixen said:
That's right. Every Norwegian has seen a troll out of the corner of their eye, and the Swedes and Finns tomte/tonttu. In fact, when LOTR was translated into Finnish orcs were translated as tonttu, goblins.

Let's hear it for the little people.
Click to expand...

Well then what did the goblins translate into?

If Orcs = Goblins, then there would be no distinction between the two races in the book.
 
Vixen said:
That's nonsense. You'll rarely find an historian over a hundred.
Click to expand...
********. Historians, despite what you may have seen on TV or in the movies, do not live in the past. They are also capable of understanding that "recent history" means recent. 57 years is not recent. 30 years is not recent. I did not recently use my 300 baud modem to connect my Commodore 64 computer to a BBS running on Color 64 software.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom