Term Humanoid

Is the MC humanoid? In which case she could use whatever-her-race-is-called-oid/esque/-shaped?

it's -oid btw. Meaning like or as. Thyroid- like a shield.

Well then you can only use it is your book isn't told deeply from the MCs point of view, or if she has learned the word somewhere.

I'll give you the same answer I give most 'can I use this word' questions. If your MCs aren't human and have no contact with humans, it's unlikely that they're going to be speaking English at all. In effect, what you are providing is a translation of the 'original'. So, they wouldn't use any of the words you do in your book. What makes the word 'humanoid' so different?

OK, I am coming at this from a different view, similar to what JimmyB27 offers.

You note she has an advisor who later takes her to earth where she interacts with Humans, but much later in the story.

This would imply to me that earth is not unknown on her world, even if she and those she knows have never seen an earthling. Humanoid does not have to mean Earthling in and of itself, and there can be lots of different types of hman-ike races. In fantasy fiction, Elf's, Orc's, Fairy's and even Hobbits are all humanoid in appearance, though certain species of humans would not think of them as human.

I think it's good that you worry about what terms to use on your non-earth world, but sometimes you can carry this too far. Think of names given to trees on earth, like oak, elm, or pine tree. Do they have these trees on your world? How about titles to those who are family members, mother, father, brother, cousin. Are you worried that these terms are the same on your world?. Do inhabitants of your world even get married, which is a very earth like term. For me on my world, I never use the term marriage, husband or wife. Instead, I use the generic term bonded and mates. Its the same thing, but the reader gets the flavor of another world, which is really what you are trying to create, IMHO.

See the point? If you start worrying about if every little word is earth-like, you can drive yourself crazy. Some terms and names you can borrow and others you should clearly avoid. I don't think humanoid is one of those you need to avoid.

Whatever you do, be consistent with what you use and do not use. Hope this helps...

The thing is, a race with no contact with humans would not have a word equivalent to humanoid. So yes it is different to using our words as a stand in for their words when refering to familiar objects. New objects need to get names with reference to a presumed expert, important features or a familiar object.

When the Brits arrived in Australia they turned to the Polanesian guide and asked what a local animal was. He said 'I don't know'. Which in his language came out roughly as Kangaroo. otherwise I suppose they would now be called long-tailed jumping dogs.

bipedal? with two arms and a proportionate head... how would you describe a human. describe the aliens and the next race "look very similar to us"

It would be in reference to the key differences between humans and nature life forms. When white people came to New Zealand the common names used were based on the main different between them and maori--that they were pale. The term still used 'pakeha' means white, but there is debate as to whether it refers to ghosts or a nasty pallid kind of insect.

So if the locals are hairy, they might be called the baldies. If the are quadriped, the rearers. Etc.

Veinglory,

I would agree with you if not for the OP's statement. "Eventually, she has an advisor who takes her to earth..." This implies her world is not totally void of knowledge of other worlds, other races, even if the MC is not experienced with them.

Like I said, making up names and terms helps to bring a flavor of another world. But sometimes it can be carried to far. Are we supposed to make up names for every tree, bush, plant, animal, mineral, etc that populates our non-earth world? If so, then the author is going to have lots of slow narrative places where the they have to explain what the term means by showing the earth like equivalent.

Of course, in my WIP, my world is a seeded world, so I am able to cheat... lol. Still, I use a mix of terms that are and are not earth like. Take for instance, I never use the term potato, instead I call them tubers and my readers really like this fact. But I don't do this for every nut, fruit, vegetable or plant only for ones that have a specific reason to be mentioned.

I think the whole point of terminology use is to give the reader a feeling of this ain't Kansas anymore. Calling trees on a foreign world, Oak or Pine, does not tell the reader that it is a specific type of Oak or Pine, but gives the reader the generic feel for the type of tree it is. Telling the reader its a Ugga Bugga Tree does not show me what type of tree it is and too much of this will make me stop to wonder what the hell the writer is painting.

Of course, all of this is just my humble opinion and different readers have different taste...

Then it would depend on which is true. Because my feeling was that when MC meets the humanoids they are a total new thing never seen in life, pictures, descriptions. Because if her people know about humans somehow, yes, they will have a word for them and go--'oh, look, it's one of those humanoid things I've heard about'. If not, not.

Agreed, it will depend on the circumstances of her mentor and who the mentor is...

if it's told in past tense then could the term humanoid then be accurate? because it's like reflecting with new knowledge?

if the narrator know how the story will end and has by the point where they're narrating from learned of humans and humanoid as a word then it would make sense.

though if i met martians that looked like humans i would then describe saturainians who looked like both martians and humans as martianoid...

veinglory said:

The thing is, a race with no contact with humans would not have a word equivalent to humanoid.

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I disagree. If these aliens are humanoid, why wouldn't they have a similair word that means 'looks broadly like us'?

The first question I asked was whether the aliens are humanoid, and they are not.

pretticute80 said:

This may be a silly question and it quite possible have been answered but I wasn't for sure. If there are no humans in my story how would I describe my aliens who for the most part resemble humans. I wanted to use the term humaniod but then realise it would not be a term my MC would use to describe others as she is from a race that does not have any interaction with Earth or human.

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If you think a question's already been asked and answered, you might want to search the forum to see. You know, keyword "humanoid," etc.

Having said that, what's the name of your race of critters? "Humanoid" means "resembling a human," so you can easily come up with a neologism of your own that makes sense without sounding too goofy. If they call themselves the Whangdoodles, then something that looks like a Whangdoodle could be Whangdoodloid, or Whangdoodlian, or Whangdoodleform, etc. etc. Find a suffix or prefix that means "resembling" or "similar to" and attach it to your race name.

If I remember correctly, Larry Niven once used "Kzinform" as the Kzinti version of "humanoid."

veinglory said:

The first question I asked was whether the aliens are humanoid, and they are not.

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So you did. Some inconsistency here, I feel.

pretticute80 said:

If there are no humans in my story how would I describe my aliens who for the most part resemble humans

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JimmyB27 said:

So you did. Some inconsistency here, I feel.

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I don't any inconsistency. The story is about some people who don't look at all human who meet some people who look somewhat human.

veinglory said:

I don't any inconsistency. The story is about some people who don't look at all human who meet some people who look somewhat human.

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You're right. I'm misreading.

*Shuts up and sidles out of the room.*

I'd go with Ted's idea. He said it rightly.

Right Said Ted.

("I'm...too humanoid for my shirt, too humanoid for my shirt, so humanoid it hurts...")

*Sidles back in again.*

Maybe you could name them after whatever is the major difference between them and MC's species. Say the MC has four legs, for example, she could refer to them as 'Twolegs'.

Or something.

Having re-read the thread, because...you know...I have no life...

DON'T use an equivalent of "humanoid." Humanoid is a species-centric description, and the MC here doesn't know humans. The MC would describe the new species only in terms the MC could understand. So the real question is not "how to describe vaguely human aliens," it's "what does the MC look like, and what is his/her field of experience with other life forms?"

Are there animals on its world that resemble the new species, or animals the MC has encountered elsewhere? If not, the MC might attempt a purely objective description. "It balances on two limbs, has two other, more specialized limbs above the first pair for manipulation, the whole topped by a knob containing the major sense and speech organs, in dimension about 3.5 fnarg high and .75 fnarg in width..."