Talk:Deculture

Yeah, so I've tried to Google this damn word to no significant avail. This wiki being the natural place to look for a definition, I figured I'd make the talk page. What is the meaning of "deculture?" How is it used? What is its history, where did it come from? Questions I can't answer. The only answer I've been able to get is that it "sort of means 'cool,' but is really untranslatable." That's a copout. "Untranslatable" just means "it takes more effort to explain to you what the word means than I'm willing to put into this."

So... any takers?

--Irinami 20:17, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Good question. My take that it's same kind of "Oh My God!" exclamation (but having the Protoculture as key - we can easily assume the impact that the discovery of the Protoculture had on religion), but in a more versatile way, like "cool" or "awesome" - just like you said - almost becoming a slang. Just like when Ranka Sings, and her manager exclaims it like saying "Oh, the power of the Protoculture", or Kuran (or Klan?) exclaims in zentran "Yahk Deculture" (just like "Hail Deculture/Protoculture"?). That's what's my guess, but I don't know either. I created a blank keyword page for it, just in case.

PS: How can I create Talk pages for pages that doesn't exist yet? I mean, I know that I can simply make a Talk:something page, but is there some way to locate "orphan" talk pages? --Verythrax Draconis 11:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I think I found a better theory about Deculture: I just watched the episode 37 of Macross 7, where Exedore exclaims it after discovering some protoculture items - so it's older than I imagined. I suppose it's a Zentradi expression, like "Oh, culture!", since the definition of "culture" was alien to them - and caused the cultural shock when they saw Minmay singing. And later it became a slange, from that many years with the 2 races co-existeng together. --21:17, 7 November 2008 (UTC)Verythrax Draconis

Guys, I've been looking for the meaning of this word forever and still haven't found a real answer for it. I must agree with you guys in that I always thought the word was just an expression, but the more I watch Macross and see how it is used the more I doubt it is just an expression. In the DYRL? Miria says "The Hell with Protoculture!" (after killing Kakizaki), but then kept exclaiming "Deculture!" during her battle with Max... why did she kept exclaiming "deculture" after referring to humans as "protoculture"? Why do they tell you at the end of Macross Frontier episodes: "See you next Deculture..." what do they mean? Also, in Episode 01 "Close Encounter" Ranka sings to Alto "Niang-Niang, Niang-Niang, how are you?" then she asks "Gorgeous, delicious, and deculture?" What the HECK??!! Is deculture a noun, a verb, or an adjective??!! It seems like it is all of those, but how? I think we don't yet know the real meaning of the word... --eckergus 12:20, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

I interpret the word to mean as follows, Deculture is used to destroy Protoculture. The songs are weapons to distract and leave the enemy powerless so they can be easily defeated, e.g. The Minmay Defense. To say something is Deculture is to say it can overpower and send a person into a base raw emotion, kind of like “Love is blind”. They loss controller over themselves and are entranced by the one with the Deculture. You can either get a high or low depending, the high of love or the low of loss. Protoculture is intellectual while Deculture is emotional. Whether this is the intended meaning I don't know it's how I see it used. --Wizartar 14:05, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Looking for this word i discover it looks french (i'm french and was quite surprised there was some of this language in the anime). What it means is like "unculturing", a thing that alter a culture. If we agree on saying zentradi got a "war culture", we an see songs and love between men and women like fact that are destroying/altering that culture -> deculturing. I think by extension we can call deculture anything that is altering (in any sense, good or bad) the in place culture ... deuclturing may just be living culture in the end --charchess 1435, 03/14/2010

--Miragetetra

So I believe the first time I've come across the word "Deculture" was during the first Human-Zentran war (The Original Macross series). The Zentraedi used the word "Deculture" generally for phrases like "Impossible", "Unthinkable", "Unimaginable" or "Unbelievable". The word also had a different meaning if prefixed with the word "Yakk" as in "Yakk Deculture" meaning "Deplorable", "Disgraceful", "Disgusting".

You'll find that later on in the Macross Universe, "Deculture" becomes a Zentradi slang word for the phrase "no way" (disbelief); for example, say I go to a concert and the band's final song is my favorite song, I might exclaim "Deculture!!!" meaning "No way!!!" which is an exclamation of awe and slight disbelief at such good fortune. The context is important.

An example reference to the slang version of this word is in the Nyan-Nyan song that Ranka sings in Macross Frontier. The Lyrics are

Ho chi, lai, lai mei kyun,nyang. nyan-nyan, nyan-nyan Nihao-nyan, Gojyasu! Derishasu! Dekorucha!!!!

Which would translate to (if you use the slang version of Deculture):

Good Eats, come, come, Pretty Girls too! meow meow meow meow Hello meow Gorgeous! Delicious! No way!!! (Unbelievable!!! if you want to be a little more formal)

The lyrics are a play on words and switch between Cantonese, "english" (romanjinized english), Japanese and Zentradi. The song supports the theory of the slang version of "Deculture"

This also explains what is meant when Sheryl Nome, in the series "Macross Frontier", asks the crowd if they are "Culturing". Since "Deculture" is usually disbelief, "Culturing" can be translated as "Believing" or "Having Faith". Thus it can be said that Sheryl is asking the crowd if they are "Believing" or "Having Faith" in the magic of the show or her "anything is possible" theme.

This also would explain the root word "Protoculture" as used in the Zetradi context. Proto-"foremost" or "earliest form of" and culture. The first race in the (Macross) universe and founders of the Zentradi race are literally the "Protoculture Masters" or "Masters of the earliest form of culture". It's likely that the Protoculture Masters (PCM) saw technology as a part of, and natural evolution of, culture. So assessing a races technology would be no different then assessing the entire culture of the race from a philosophical point of few. Hence why all PCM technology is refered to as Protoculture.

All of this is speculative but that is my theory