Late Realization

flosch — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:37:24 +0000

I’ve known the term “Pandaren” for years. Not that I used it much, but I had heard it. It wasn’t until last night, when I was driving home, that I realized that the “ren” wasn’t just any fancy ending, but derived from the Mandarin word “rén 人” for “person, people”. (cf. 人民共和国 for “people’s republic”, and 人民币, “people’s currency that will soon be worth more than dollar and euro, because capitalism and dictatorship under a self-proclaimed communist guise works frighteningly well”)

So the pandaren are literally the panda people. Except in China, of course, because the word “panda”, according to wikipedia, is of uncertain origin, and in China they’re typically called 熊貓, which literally means “bear cat”. So bear cat people.

With a name like that, I’ll call bullshit if we don’t get another druid race choice.

mandarin – Random Waypoint

Late Realization