Observations on a sacred something

[solo]

I've been staring at this object for waayyyyy too long. #subtitles It doesn't look like any tree-based substance to me, but rather like a deformed plastic dinosaur that someone stuck some (fake?) watercress on.

Also, can I just say that I giggle a little hysterically whenever I type 'Sacred Wood'? I am clearly twelve. But I do wish I could come up with a different term. Sacred twig sounds disrespectful, and it's hardly a branch. The hanzi is 木, which makes 'wood' eminently suitable; this is not a translation problem, it's a 'Solo's mind is in the gutter' problem.

Sacred deformed dinosaur...

Poll #22020

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 33

View Respondents

The Sacred...

View Answers

Wood (just get over it already)
10 (30.3%)

Twig
2 (6.1%)

Branch
21 (63.6%)

Wait, I have your solution, and I will tell you in the comments!
0 (0.0%)

ETA - the People Have Spoken. The Wood will henceforth be the Branch!

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

As much as I believe that basically anything gets better if you just add dinosaur, in the interest of not disrespecting ancient Yashou culture, I voted for 'Branch' to indicate that that wouldn't trip me, tone-wise. (I am also okay with the wood version, though. I am a mature teenager.)

Then again, have you considered that the dinosaur shape might be intenstional, and the snake tribe actually worship dinosaurs as a scale-y origin myth? I'm just saying.

[extrapenguin]

the snake tribe actually worship dinosaurs as a scale-y origin myth?
Oh no, I love it! It'd also explain some of the strife with the crows - after all, birds are directly descended from dinosaurs, unlike snakes!

(And who wouldn't want to resemble a dinosaur if possible? Zhao Yunlan should be glad there aren't any velociraptor Yashou...)

[jo_lasalle]

It'd also explain some of the strife with the crows - after all, birds are directly descended from dinosaurs, unlike snakes!

Some in the snake tribe consider this a lie and conspiracy, while moderate snakes try to emphasize the 'myth' part of the origin myth...

Maybe all velociraptors are Yashou! You just don't know because why would you transform into a human if your other option is velociraptor?

[solo]

The flower tribe look on with benign amusement because they know who existed long before dinosaurs.

[melannen]

(actually, dinosaurs predate flowers. I bet both the snakes and birds are super smug about this.)

[solo]

What, really? What did Brontosaurus eat??? (okay yes I could google this now...)

ETA: and I did. Right. I learned something! :D

[extrapenguin]

The top point against velociraptor Yashou is that we don't have velociraptors! Unless they live in Haixing's most distant forests? The real reason the Hanga died out is that they were eaten by velociraptor Yashou!

[jo_lasalle]

The pillars are in truth long-term emergency food storage in case another meteor hits.

[mekare]

Genius backstory!

[jo_lasalle]

👑🦖👑

[clevermanka]

I was at a con several years ago and the hotel soap was called "Aromatic Wood." I was so angry that nobody else thought it was as funny as I did (what the fuck, Sherlock fans, come on). I'm so glad to finally be among My People.

ETA: I would vote for an option Wood (never over it because I need to be able to laugh at anything I possibly can these days)

[tsubame_17]

O M G! AROMATIC WOOD?! Really?! It's always good to know I'm not alone in this

[clevermanka]

THANK YOU

GOD I FELT SO ALONE

[solo]

Really, never alone.

I came across a pub called St John's Wood recently and had to take a photo. Admittedly it was in Japan, where they can be excused for not knowing the nuances.

[clevermanka]

Well he was the best-beloved disciple...

[solo]

Indeed! That made it extra hilarious. :D

[solo]

Awww, just when I decided that The People Have Spoken and the object shall henceforth be a Sacred Branch, you make me feel bad about it...

[clevermanka]

Oh, no! No feeling bad! I appreciate the combination of slight embarrassment and appreciation for juvenile humor. WE CONTAIN MULTITUDES.

[solo]

Um, you mean we are Borg? ;p

[asya_ana]

I'm trying to remember if it's the branch itself that is special or the kind of wood. I might err on the side of meaning despite the lovely gutter evocations. However, between branch and twig I definitely like branch best!

[solo]

The hanzi really just specify 'tree, wood'. The 10k guy (names, IDKfrom names) explains to Zhao Yunlan that the seed came from the 10k woman's homeland, but that's all.

Yeah, I've come to like 'branch'.

[winter_blossom]

I vote for "branch." It technically isn't one, but that still sounds the best out of all the options, and makes much more sense than "wood," anyway. And "twig" sounds like an insult for a supposedly sacred object.

[solo]

I think I've come round to branch, myself.

Sacred twig sounds almost like an oxymoron, and definitely bathetic, so, yeah...

[ranalore]

My vote is wood because I'm twelve, but also because I actually wonder if it's meant to be a branch, or a kind of magical complete tree-in-itself, in which case branch would not be the right word.

::does not suggest fork or limb, though is so tempted::

[solo]

Limb... omg. Thank you for not suggesting it!

[ranalore]

Sacred log? she said unhelpfully.

[solo]

::sporfle::

[solo]

Regarding the magical tree-in-itself -- arrrrrgh metaphysics I can't.

You might have a point. I might ignore that fact. /o\

[ranalore]

I am just saying.v0v

[zairaa]

'Wood' it is, though I agree it looks more like plastic (and like a dinosaur). I have no idea why they couldn't find something more wood-like? Seems like not a very difficult prop to come by...

[solo]

Right? They could just have gone to a park and, idk, molested a tree...