Since tumblr is currently very excited about versions of Project Hail Mary we made up in our head, an interesting thought experiment might be: what would Rocky sound like if lexicologized and translated by someone else?
The meat of the story is linguistics being done by a non-linguist, which means that Rocky's use of language tells us something about Eridian language but tells us way more about Ryland Grace's translation choices.
Fffffffffff this dovetails so well with my unwritten space story where the team linguist is NOT the archeologist but rather the techie. Dr Zeke Arnolds my irritating beloved, you coulda been played by Ryan Gosling *wipes tear* .....man, Zeke woulda been so rude to Grace about literally everything. [Zeke Arnolds is of course named after the legendary Arnold Zwicky, styled after my irl colleague REDACTED, and fueled by the sort of linguist rage and pedantry you can only acquire in graduate school. Ah, memories...]
On a side note, Rocky is named after a common noun of English that presumably has nothing to do with whatever meaning is name has in Eridian. The name "Rocky" is corefferent with his actual name but it does not translate it. What if Grace's name is the same way? The name Rocky gives him doesn't mean grace, it means This Guy. But the point of the story is that these guys are exactly the same, so what if Rocky assigned him some epithet that was a common noun in Eridian, based on the substance he's composed of
Rocky: can't proceed. Grace all over floor.
Grace: I - what?
Rocky: not human Grace. Just grace.
Grace: ...describe what that word means
Rocky: small liquid contained. Grace.
Grace: ....
Grace: YOU NAMED ME PUDDLE
....okay this was in no way the point of the post but my new headcanon is that Grace's Eridian name is "Puddleglum." Because he is a sad contained liquid.
Grace: actually my name means "divine mercy freely given"
Rocky: Understand. Humans bad at names
