I've been recently thinking about fictional languages and all the interesting things that can be done with them. I'm going to admit that occasionally I'll watch a fansubbed anime or read manga where it's either been translated by a non-professional or a very thorough professional, and has subtle notes on the nuances of Japanese that doesn't come through when translated. Often times these are marked by an asterisk with a footnote along the lines of "this is a pun; the word soandso also means so and so" or "sounds like soandso" This is where the technical (and the geeking it up) comes in: would it be overly geek to have someone, say, introduce themselves: "greetings, I am* Alexander Gray" followed by the characters being a little perplexed. Or a man telling a women she is his moon**, prompting the humourous response of "You're not my father." The various nuances that a language has may not be carried over (the moon pun wouldn't be as funny if you were to read the footnote as it would if you had prior knowledge, and the man using the wrong gender wouldn't be as unusual to you (Especially with English not having gender for the most part), but while it may not convey the same sense it would within the constructs of the fictional world, it would (I assume/hope) give the reader a stronger feeling of reading something that doesn't take place in the real world. But is that too geeky? I mean, even in the bible there are the footnotes that point out the words for Peter and Rock sound the same in Greek. *and then at the bottom of the page have a footnote reading: "the verb to be is used in it's feminine form. Throughout the story Gray uses patterns of speech traditionally used by females." **the words for moon and daughter are pronounced the same way (cf. English Son/Sun)
I honestly don't think too geeky exists. There will always be someone out there who understands what exactly it is you're saying, despite the degree of geekness. If I'm understanding correctly, Air (TV) had quite a few notes at the beginning of each episode, and I found them to be quite fascinating honestly. I don't think it'd be too geeky, as long as it wasn't all like that, considering it might tire the reader. (And frustrate them if they didn't get it before reading the footnote). Or who knows.. maybe people like that.. I guess it all depends on if you're willing to take the time to actually do all that work.
nah, just as not everything is a pun or based on some grammatical quirk, it wouldn't be used but for some plot reason, a sort of "speak friend and enter" thing. Though I have thought before of a footnote laden fiction book, but that's a tale for another time.
