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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 (nyiang nyiang) meow meow (nyiang nyiang) Hello meow Gorgeous! Delicious! No way!!! (or "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. This 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, What do you guys think?