Yaki Pirates

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nithilak
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Yaki Pirates

Post by nithilak » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 03:40

Somehow, since their original introduction to the X Universe, it has only just struck me after playing X4 Foundations.

What is the intended meaning of "Yaki" in Yaki Pirates?

The Japanese word 'Yaki' means: grilled, broiled, or pan fried over an open flame.

Grilled Pirates
Broiled Pirates
Pan Fried Pirates

Which do you like best? I would love to hear your opinions.
Personally I cant fully decide between 'Grilled Pirates' or 'Pan Fried Pirates.'

Just food for thought.
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adeine
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by adeine » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 04:20

I think it's probably meant to be a name instead of 焼き. 矢貴 (~honourable dart/arrow) or 八鬼 (eight ghosts/devils) seem piratey enough.

If it's a word it could also be 夜気, meaning something like the atmosphere/stillness of night.

builder680
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by builder680 » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 05:31

Maybe it means they're going to grill/broil/pan fry their enemies. There should be an infomercial.

Or maybe language has evolved in the ~thousand-year gap between now and the game's setting, and Yaki "now" means superwtfbbqpwn in the "present" dialect.

Panos
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Panos » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 11:15

nithilak wrote:
Fri, 1. Oct 21, 03:40
Somehow, since their original introduction to the X Universe, it has only just struck me after playing X4 Foundations.

What is the intended meaning of "Yaki" in Yaki Pirates?

The Japanese word 'Yaki' means: grilled, broiled, or pan fried over an open flame.

Grilled Pirates
Broiled Pirates
Pan Fried Pirates

Which do you like best? I would love to hear your opinions.
Personally I cant fully decide between 'Grilled Pirates' or 'Pan Fried Pirates.'

Just food for thought.
Why you think is Japanese and not Greek? :gruebel:

Yaki (Γιακί/Γιάκι), was a plaster-cloth made of materials put on people for long periods of time mostly to get rid of bad spirits or make them better without allowing to be removed until they became well. (we are talking about pre 1900).

"Το φοράς συνέχεια σαν γιακί" (you wear this constantly like yaki) is something both my grandmas used to say when they usually saw me or my brother wearing the same jacket or jeans.

Yaki in X4 are using implants which are attached to them permanently.

Alan Phipps
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Alan Phipps » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 11:25

@ OP: Now if the Yaki once had a Boron pirate branch then maybe the word you mention could have been applied more appropriately ? (Mixing powerful electronic implants and swamp water could have caused issues too.)

Maybe Yaki is more of a descriptive slang or nickname derived from the term Yakuza?
A dog has a master; a cat has domestic staff.

dtpsprt
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by dtpsprt » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 12:33

Panos wrote:
Fri, 1. Oct 21, 11:15
Why you think is Japanese and not Greek? :gruebel:

Yaki (Γιακί/Γιάκι), was a plaster-cloth made of materials put on people for long periods of time mostly to get rid of bad spirits or make them better without allowing to be removed until they became well. (we are talking about pre 1900).

"Το φοράς συνέχεια σαν γιακί" (you wear this constantly like yaki) is something both my grandmas used to say when they usually saw me or my brother wearing the same jacket or jeans.

Yaki in X4 are using implants which are attached to them permanently.
It certainly does not derive from Greek. If it is/was used in Greece at some point or territory it's origins are either Turkish (more probable) or Vlach (native North Macedonians). I can tell you that as a Greek of Constantinople ancestry...

dtpsprt
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by dtpsprt » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 12:36

Alan Phipps wrote:
Fri, 1. Oct 21, 11:25
@ OP: Now if the Yaki once had a Boron pirate branch then maybe the word you mention could have been applied more appropriately ? (Mixing powerful electronic implants and swamp water could have caused issues too.)

Maybe Yaki is more of a descriptive slang or nickname derived from the term Yakuza?
Please can we leave the Boron "jokes" out of it? This seems to be Egosoft's job...

Ranting aside I believe that you are right in Yaki deriving from Yakuza, which is a word that can not openly be used just like Mafia since we all know that those tow (hypothetical) organisations do not exist...

nithilak
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by nithilak » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 16:36

Yaki may be a word with meaning in many languages...however the races in the X series mirror specific real world cultures to an extent...Turky and Greece arent one of them...So my assumption is that the inspiration of the name "yaki" is inspired by the Japanese word yaki, since there is in fact an entire race in the game that mirrors ancient japanese culture. To assume it is because they wear tech, when the example you gave is a cloth, not a wearable tech, I would assume this is far off, since also,, everyone (with the exception of a some Teladi) wear clothing.

The original post was only meant as a light hearted joke..not meant to start a cultural argument 🙄
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nithilak
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by nithilak » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 16:55

Since it seems so important now lol, i did further research on the word. I originally based my assumption on the fact that i know yaki as a japanese word...however..

Yaki,,, origin is hebrew....it means "supplanter"

Supplanter - noun. someone or something taking the place of another, as through force, scheming, strategy, or the like.

since they are Pirates, it seems this is most likely the reason for the name...so it would SEEM that all of our previous assumptions are incorrect...im going with this one...but again, the original intent of the post was really just silliness.
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nithilak
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by nithilak » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 17:02

Despite having figured that out...im going with
Pan Fried Pirates....I just think it sounds funny
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Geek » Fri, 1. Oct 21, 17:37

According to the X timeline :

(...)Moo-Kye (Argon female and ruthless pirate) forms the Yaki (from Argon word Yakuza – mafia – Yaki means "Many Mafia")
Right on commander !

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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Steel » Mon, 4. Oct 21, 17:30

Geek wrote:
Fri, 1. Oct 21, 17:37
(...)Moo-Kye (Argon female and ruthless pirate) forms the Yaki (from Argon word Yakuza – mafia – Yaki means "Many Mafia")
This is 100% accurate.

nithilak
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by nithilak » Mon, 18. Oct 21, 18:28

interesting..so the writers, took a multi-national word, that just so happens to mean supplanter in hebrew, which is a good way to describe a pirate orginaization, but wrote in a fictional version of the japanese word yaki, which essentially means cooked over an open flame, because in Argon, primarily an english speaking race that developed a few slang words alternate to their english speaking ancestors, changed the meaning of a real japanese word to have an alternate meaning 🤣 That is all interesting to kniw in terms of back story. Reading up on X-History is something Ive been wanting to get around to for some time now...However, my inquiry was rather about why the writers chose to give them this name, not the fictional back story as to how they obtained the name.
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Geek » Mon, 18. Oct 21, 18:47

X lore claims that the (fictional) Earth was dominated economically and scientifically by Japan from the 21st century.
As a result, japanese words start to be used in other countries and cultures (just like english words do in the real world), including the future Argon colonists.
Yakuza is a real japanese word for "mafia". I do not know if the collective "yaki" exists or is made up, but it is clearly well suited for that organization.
Choosing a japanese name make yaki easier to differentiate from the generic pirates, while being allowed by the lore.
Right on commander !

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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Steel » Tue, 19. Oct 21, 10:30

Accurate again (above).

Fictionally, as described, the influence of the Japanese culturally and economically brought a world where the language and certainly slang, seeped into "English". So you could imagine a world where many words that were true Japanese language or Japanese slang, became a normal part of the "global" language spoken.

It was from that background, the idea spawned.

Moo-Kye (founder of the Yaki), was a self proclaimed leader. But in essence was a victim of greed by the profit guilds, who put profit before life and set pricing to leave her people stranded in the silicon mines on Odysseus Five. She saw her people starve and die. In fact, her partner died in her arms. She vowed revenge. So she effectively became a "trade union" rep, who then went military and joined the pirate guilds together to form one large, co-ordinated unit which became a "race" in itself. She then went on the offensive.

Obviously I love seeing how the Yaki have grown into the game series and what Egosoft do with them. But to answer the question, the word "Yaki" was a play on the word Yakuza and was completely "made up" by me at the time. Any reference to any other meaning is purely coincidental.

nithilak
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by nithilak » Thu, 18. Aug 22, 22:59

Well that is fascinating!

So you are the original author that came up with the Yaki story line for Egosoft? I certainly did not expect to get a post response from you! I'm nearly speechless. And thank you, for actually answering a question involved. Even tho it was not my original intent to go there lol.

Well,, this definitely went further than I anticipated. Yaki actually really is, and has been for an incredibly long time,, and even tho Im online right now Im not going to look up the history of the word, again.. , but like most things in Japanese language,, it hasn't changed in a very long time,, if ever at all, and does indeed mean "cooked over open flame" and so the word yaki can be applied to various forms of cooking as long as an open flame is involved, as i stated in my orginal posts lol..
We have confirmation from the original author that the inspiration is indeed JAPANESE! not greek or hebrew lol
That being said, Yaki does sound better than Yaku, and a little less obvious, a little.

Im still going with 'pan fried pirates" :D
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Alan Phipps » Fri, 19. Aug 22, 19:19

Remember that the Yaki have been in X games a lot longer than X4 has been around. :wink:
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Re: Yaki Pirates

Post by Steel » Tue, 30. Aug 22, 17:43

nithilak wrote:
Thu, 18. Aug 22, 22:59

So you are the original author that came up with the Yaki story line for Egosoft? I certainly did not expect to get a post response from you! I'm nearly speechless. And thank you, for actually answering a question involved. Even tho it was not my original intent to go there lol.
Yes, I worked on the games starting with X-Tension and notably X2. Over 20 years ago! I really like where X4 has gone overall and obviously it's always great to see things you have been a (small) part of breath life, as the Yaki have done.

You can still buy the original X-Universe book written at the time on amazon, but I have the PDF still somewhere if anyone wants it, send me a message. I'll dig it out and upload it.

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