Hunam

See also: Sayings

An abstract self-reference. Similar to referring to the self in the 3rd person but including much of society. Several possible uses:

  • True to its origin (explained below), a deliberate and comic misunderstanding of human customs.
    • “Hunams are very silly. Sometimes they misspel words.”
    • “The Hunams are watching MacGuyver again. Soon they will learn of our brilliant plan.”
  • A detached way of referring to ourselves meant to make it’s user seem slightly alien to the topic.
  • Suggesting that the author already has this ability or potential and politely believes that “other” people will eventually “evolve” it too
    • “To Troll on my newsgroups Hunams, is to face the Terror from Space.”

Origin

The term comes from the cult mid-1990s computer game Star Control 2 (shortened: “StarCon 2” or “SC2”). The game involved playing the part of a human captain trying to unite alien races against the evil Ur-Quan. One of the races encountered was the Spathi – a cowardly and chronically anxious species. Many of their starship captains mistakenly referred to humans as “hunams”, which was all part of the humor of the game. This game has now been made open source and is available for multiple platforms at this page (http://sc2.sourceforge.net/) on SourceForge.

See hacker-type for a perspective on this form of arrogance/comedy.

Additional usage

A speaker may also elongate and distress “human” as (phonetically) “huyewmahhhhn” for a use similar to “hunam,” taken from low-budget 1950s movies with aliens or robots.

Related

TakeDown.NET -> “Hunam