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BlankMind

Former Human

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Okay, stupid question, please don't kill me o.o
I'm writing something about Doom and I need to translate "Former Human", one of the thousand names of the Zombie man. Can someone explain me what this expression mean? I'm not a native english speaker, and I couldn't figure out a right translation (to my language) because I haven't understand what it means.
Thank you for the help, english masters o.o

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"Former Human" is not just one of the names used for this monster - it is the actual name used in the Doom manual. So the best way to translate it would be to look up the name used for it in the printed manual in the relevant language, as that would be the "official" name in that language.

I don't have a Portuguese manual, but in the Spanish one they are given as "Antiguos humanos", and in Italian, "Ex-esseri umani" - maybe that is of some help?

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Erstwhile, old, past, sometime, whilom are some synonyms.

Also, some related words (but are not synonyms, and have different definitions) are bygone, dead, extinct.

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Grazza said:
Spanish one they are given as "Antiguos humanos",

Really? That's wrong and retarded. It means "ancient humans" (humans from a long time ago). I'd use "anteriormente humanos".

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Actually, Ex-Human sounds quite appropriate, doesn't it.

Keep it up, I like the writings about Doom.

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Bank said:

Do you stop being human when you die?

Hey now, this was a translation thread, not a philosophy thread.
DERAILED!!!

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Bank said:

Do you stop being human when you die?


Yes, you become a former human. Therefore you are not a human, but you were once a human, making you a former human.

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Bank said:

Do you stop being human when you die?

In Doom 1 and 2, they don't die, they transform into devils, as they scream or moan very much like Imps, Revenants or Mancubi. But the Icon of Sin area doesn't spawn Former Humans. Odd. In Doom 3 they are zombies, but they aren't necessarily slain to become so. And they also have their demonic counterpants there, so we know how to separate them.

In Doom 1 and 2, they are Former Humans, because now they're demons. I'm pretty sure "Zombieman" is a nickname. Doom 1 came first, and they were called Formers there. In Doom 3, they are Z-Sec... That means "Zombie-Security"?

So if you die, you're still human - a dead one.

EDIT: Let me revise this.

In Doom 1 they're Former Humans and Former Human Sergeants. In Doom 2 they're Zombiemen, Shotgun Guys and Heavy Weapon Dudes. In Doom 3 they're, AFAIR, zombies, Z-Sec (Zombie Security?) and Chaingun Commandos (Commando not necessarily made up of humans).

Note how in Doom 1 they're formers -- demons now -- and how in Doom 2 they're zombies and still called names like "guy" or "dude" -- so they're zombies, undead humans. In Doom 3 there's a clear, visible difference of classes, when they are killed.

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printz said:
Odd.

It's not odd at all, because they're possessed humans, as opposed to demonic beings spawned in from hell (from the Boss' head).

Also, it's not that they're named one way in one game and another in the other. Both games' manuals call them "former humans", and the ingame cast screen names apply to both games, since DOOM II is the conclusion and second part of DOOM (it's a true sequel or "second installment"). The names in the manual seem more descriptive (and boring), while the ones in the cast screen are more like what the marine himself would probably call them. That makes sense, anyway, as the manual is something that you look at to get familiar with the game, while the ingame info is part of the game proper and helps create the actual setting.

DOOM 3, on the other hand, is a separate "remake" game, so the creatures there really change somewhat (although the former humans are hell possessed zombies in either case).

It's pretty clear the id guys were thinking of the demonic zombies in Evil Dead 2 when they added the former humans.

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myk said:

Really? That's wrong and retarded. It means "ancient humans" (humans from a long time ago). I'd use "anteriormente humanos".

I like Otrora Humanos, even though it's a rare term nowadays.

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yomoneyboat said:

Hey now, this was a translation thread, not a philosophy thread.
DERAILED!!!


The reason I ask is because former is indicative of being something previously but not currently. Is a zombie not a human? Or is it just a completely diverse race of anything that's not alive but not quite dead. If so, the naming convention would be correct, if not, than the word former makes no sense.

Case and point- Dog zombies. Still dogs, yet also zombies.

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Zaldron said:

I like Otrora Humanos, even though it's a rare term nowadays.


That sounds neat.

Otrora...

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Blankmind, what is your native language? It would make a translation alot easier if we knew what we were translating it to. I'd say zombie is a good term, seems fairly universal, or undead or living dead. I'll try my best to find a decent translation if I can find out what language it's going to be in.

Also, your English is really good for a person who learned it as a second language. Just change your "haven't" to a "can't" and you're good to go. Haven't is a contracion of have and not, which is past tense. Can't is a contraction of can and not, which is present tense. Example: "I haven't understood a word you are saying." They've been talking for a while, and you are telling them that none of it has made any sense to you. This is past tense. "I can't understand a word you are saying." You've stopped the person while they are talking, and explained to them that what they are saying is not making sense to you. This is present tense. I know alot of people have problems with the tenses in English, and it can be a complicated language to learn, so great job :-) I know how learning a second language can be hard, I've learned a bit of German and now I'm trying Russian. The problem with reading Russian is that you first have to translate it from cyrillic to english, and then translate the meaning of the word into English.

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I'm translating to Brazilian Portuguese. I used Ex-Humano (ex-human), it looked like the best translation for me (exactly like you guys have said later).

I don't have too much problems with English, just some words that are hard to translate or that aren't in the dictionaries that I use.

Well, I had stopped seeing this topic after my "Thanks" above, but now I came back and got really impressed about the discussion that it has become ^^

Well, going a little off-topic now, I have another translating problem. See this phrase about Demon: "they'll rip your fraggin' head off". I understood the sense of the phrase, but couldn't get the sense of "fragging". What does it mean? Synonyms would be nice :)

And thanks again **

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Fragging was also a term during the Vietnam war for when soldiers "accidentally" killed their superiors (hence why it is used in deathmatch).

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BlankMind said:

I'm translating to Brazilian Portuguese. I used Ex-Humano (ex-human), it looked like the best translation for me (exactly like you guys have said later).

I don't have too much problems with English, just some words that are hard to translate or that aren't in the dictionaries that I use.

Well, I had stopped seeing this topic after my "Thanks" above, but now I came back and got really impressed about the discussion that it has become ^^

Well, going a little off-topic now, I have another translating problem. See this phrase about Demon: "they'll rip your fraggin' head off". I understood the sense of the phrase, but couldn't get the sense of "fragging". What does it mean? Synonyms would be nice :)

And thanks again **


An alternative to fragging would be "frigging" "fricking" or "freaking", basically clean replacements for the word fuck, like leileilol said.

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Recycling topic for more a question. What is "'nuff said" used in many parts of the Doom Manual? An example is the description of Lost Soul: "Dumb, tough, flies, on fire, 'nuff said".

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Infinite Ammunition said:

"'nuff" in this case is shorthand for "enough," so "'nuff said" basically means "that's all you need to know" or "this subject [of conversation] is finished"


Oh, I see. I couldn't understand what the word "'nuff" was abreviation. Thanks.

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Jello said:

Example: "I haven't understood a word you are saying." They've been talking for a while, and you are telling them that none of it has made any sense to you. This is past tense.


Actually it should be "I didn't understand a word you said."

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