Saga "Earthisms" that have taken you out of a SW film!

What "Earthisms have completely taken you out of a SW film... For example if there was a scene on Tatooine where a group of aliens were playing Basketball it would be too close for comfort with our world!

I'll start

TLJ - Finn calling the local security on Canto Bight "Cops"

 

Han calling the force in TFA- "Mumbo-Jumbo."

And in TLJ- Poe saying "I'll hold" for hux while he's tooling with Hux (Though I don't count the word tooling by the captain quite as an Earthism).

 

This is a weird one, but

When characters use the irl English alphabet despite the fact aurebesh exists and the SE of ANH in fact went far enough to replace an instance of it with aurebesh

So lines like Obi-Wan's "Do you have a plan B" or Poe's "Hux with an H" come across as iffy. One could argue the movies are translation conventions, but still

 

Definitely agree with the Poe/Hux prank at the start of TLJ

 

"...Your mother."
Lol... never thought I would hear that in a SW film.

And I recall a running joke on the forums about Panaka's "...we'll be sitting ducks".

Also, Anakin calls Padme an angel, then they turn out to be actual aliens that live on the moons of Eago.

 

Someone mentioned that the Canto Bight score contains a Brazilian hit song (confirmed by the end credits). That must be the worst Earthism so far!

This isn't exactly an Earthism, but "We live in a real world" shook me awake! I was like "Whoa! I'm not actually on Naboo. Thanks for reminding me ".

 

I don't usually mind Earthisms in Star Wars (and there are a lot actually), I like the way they can be used as examples of universal inevitabilities. Showing us that even though galaxies exit far, far away from each other, some things are bound to be more similar than we might expect. And also I understand that many of them are supposed to be seen as a shorthand transposition for our sake.
i.e. if Han said "Then I'll see you in Graxix!" We would've been even more taken out of the movie.

But with that said, the only time I ever raised an eyebrow and stopped for a second was for the names of a few Imperial Star Destroyers, mostly in books, that had very specific Earth mythology names like:
Titan
Chimera
Hydra

I understand their galaxy has ancient mythical figures & creatures like ours does, and are probably very similar in archetypal concept, since they come from the human mind, but to have the same exact name? No, it's all good.

There's also the case of Earth human names like:
Luke
Owen
Ben
Ezra
Sabine
Caleb (Kanan)


I also want to go on record stating I love Dex's Diner and the robot football for the reasons stated above, among many. Don't make me get out the big guns!

That's one of my favorite ones and favorite lines in the saga. A certain subtle kind of meta only Lucas could swing.
I love how the most dream-like of the six films is the one with this line, right in the middle.

Somewhat similarly, when I learned JJ named Ello Asty after the Beastie Boys album Hello Nasty it just felt a little... idk, weird. I know Lucas payed homage to his influences like crazy, but this lacked that 'certain touch'. A little too post-modern? And I say this as a Beastie Boys fan, that has nothing to do with it.

What I wonder is, would Lucas have used a cgi island for the ST, or shot at a location like Skellig Michael? Is it too recognizable?

 

Dex's American Diner in AotC almost took me out of the film (good thing Marty McFly didn't show up).

 

I’ve never been taken out of a SW film because of any, but the closest I’ve been is in TLJ when two people were referred to as snakes. Just made me think “Do they have snakes in the SW universe too?” There was on Dagobah in TESB, but still. Usually every species and creature is something alien, besides humans.

 

The tuxedos and dress shoes in the Canto Bight Casino! Ugh

 

Han's "Then I'll see you in Hell!" line in ESB on Hoth.

 

“...are microscopic life forms that reside within all living cells.”
"Oh I don't think so!!"
"Good call my young Padawan!"

 

- Hold for Hux
- Yoda's joke about "page-turners"
- Leia's soap opera slap on Poe

 

plus 'rose' and 'paige' from tlj

 

Right, I forgot about Rose! And I was just talking about this in regards to her name with some friends the other day. (And didn't know about Paige, I haven't seen TLJ). But this is a little different from all the others. This is not only an Earth name but also the name of an Earth flower. Isn't it pushing the 4th wall a little too much?

I also have a little thing about the salt foxes. Aren't they a little too similar to Earth foxes?

 

Isn't aurebesh just a font?

Well, there were ducks in the movie though. At least I recall some Star Wars-y ducks stitting in the water when the bongo surfaces on Theed.

 

yea! i think they're the most familiar looking star wars creature yet, unless there's some other creature i'm forgetting.

 

Basic is the most common Star Wars language, which is pretty much the same as English (with a few exceptions). Basic is written in Aurebesh, and each English letter has a 1:1 correlation with an Aurebesh character. There are some Aurebesh characters that are shorthand for common letter combinations, but they are not commonly used. Lastly, every time a letter is referenced in the Star Wars universe, it is an English letter. Perhaps the best example of this is R2-D2. The reason for this (if I recall correctly) is that Aurebesh was somewhat of an afterthought and not widely used until some time after the first movies.

 

The ducks reference goes all the way back to the ANH novelization. Ben mentions about how some people have an instinct for the Force, but still need to be taught. He tells Luke, "After all, even a duck must be taught how to swim." Luke's reply: "What's a duck?"
The book also mentions that Luke once had a dog. I wonder if it was named Indiana...

 

HOW THE HELL DID NOT THINK OF DROID NAMES AND HOW COMMON THEY ARE

I need to rethink everything I know about SW

 

Indeed, I remember that reference in the novel.

 

"I believe he's tooling you sir"

imagining GFFA characters going around calling each other tools is a little on the nose, considering it's quite a new earthism in itself. so was "such Spunk"

 

In general, I don't mind the occasional "Earthisms". I look at it as a form of translation convention, using terms I can understand to make the story more relatable. Otherwise, you end up in a "Battlestar Galactica" situation, spending time wondering just what a centon means.

I do think that the "holding for Hux" routine didn't really work for me, but that was more the style of humor than the use of Earth terminology.