Talk:To Serve Man (The Twilight Zone)

message: "In addition, there is the question of why ”serve” should have the same dual meaning — ”aid” and ”cook” — in the Kanamits' language as it does in English."
I don't think it has to. If serve is one of the words in the "intergalactic Rosetta Stone", then it could mean simply cook and not aid, but the people reading wouldn't recognise that. They would translate the Kanamit word to serve without it needing to have a double meaning in Kanamit if that was the translation offered. --Switch 09:56, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: In the original short story they used a basic Kanamit-to-English dictionary provided by the Kanamit themselves to translate the title.  This is plausible (if an unfortunate coincidence) since it only needs the English word to have a dual-meaning to work.  But in the TV episode they have cryptographers (rather than linguists, oddly enough) break the alien language from scratch.  If this were even possible, the only way they could do so is through contextually understanding the meanings of Kanamit words which would completely bypass the English dual-meaning issue... --Irrevenant [ talk ] 03:50, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

text: It's actually the same meaning. A server serves someone by serving food to them. The difference is which role "man" plays -- subject or object. -- 184.189.217.91 (talk) 03:37, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I found this criticism odd, too. Even if you assume the word must have the same dual meaning in the Kanamits' language, what's so impossible about that? The same dual meanings often show up in different languages, and as 184.189.217.91 points out, the two different meanings of "serve" are not unrelated.--Martin IIIa (talk) 16:02, 8 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dual meaning 

message: What exactly is the famous line? There are several references to it in the article, but it is never quoted.
:Perhaps it's too much of a spoiler, although the trivia references really give it away. The famous line is "The booklet, sir – To Serve Man? It's... it's... it’s a cookbook!" Should it be added? Travisl 00:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I found constant references to a mysterious "famous line" annoying, as trivia references really aren't enough for someone like me, who has never heard this supposedly classic phrase. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.38.166.124 (talk) 18:10, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Famous line? 

message: This story is not original, it's lifted from one of C S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series - from memory I think The Silver Chair. In one well known episode in that book, a group of human children are doted upon by a group of friendly giants until one of the children stumbles on a book in the giants' kitchen called "To Serve Man" or something very similar, which turns out to be a cookbook.
I really think the article should acknowledge the likely inspiration for this episode. Gatoclass 12:31, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: You want a Wikipedia article to "acknowledge" a personal memory of yours? That's not how it's done. -- 184.189.217.91 (talk) 03:40, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Borrowed from C S Lewis

message: []
if anyone wants to work that into this article, that's the Treehouse of Horror episode/segment that parodied this episode. -TinGrin 18:14, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Simpsons

message: Is this right? I don't remember seeing this referenced in the game. I think maybe whoever added it is thinking of Icewind Dale? Does anyone know?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.77.80.29 (talk) 09:44, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Baldur's Gate II

message: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9139017@N05/3967563384/
Is this photo a still from the Twilight Zone episode?  I can't remember.  If so, I think it would be a good external link. However, I am unsure about Wiki policy regarding links to flickr pages. Is it necessary to notify JayInVienna about it?  Does he need to grant permission?  NinetyNineFennelSeeds (talk) 19:11, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Kanamits Offer Peace and Prosperity 

message: The following passage is inaccurate according to the reference it gives ():
Time Magazine claims this episode is the third best of the entire series, behind "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" and "It's a Good Life".
I would correct the article, but Time magazine seems to disagree with itself, as this link, , gives a different order.  Given the inconsistencies in the source, I decided to just remove the sentence from the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sp4cetiger (talk • contribs) 23:32, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: It's not really inconsistent because it's not a ranking. It's just a top-10 list. --Musdan77 (talk) 19:12, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Time magazine episode ranking 

message: To Serve Man sounds like a modern update of Lewis Carrolls 1871 poem The Walrus and the Carpenter... In the poem as you know, the pair came upon an oyster bed and tricked the oysters to follow them, unknowingly the oysters who followed against the advice and the disapproval of the eldest oyster... Yes, in the end the compliant oysters ended up as a meal for the walrus and the carpenter... Sound familiar???... 63.249.59.53 (talk) 18:01, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Walrus and The Carpenter similarity...