This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
BT The P: I have to challenge on Chocobos. They aren't just a funny name on an existing creaturee, there's no such thing as a big, mount-worthy bird in the real world. The Cucuos from The Legend of Zelda, on the other hand, are just chickens with a funny name.
Susan Davis: They serve precisely the same function as horses, only they're different.
BT The P: See, I don't think function alone cuts it. The difference between something that is a horse with a different name, and something that serves the role of a horse is significant. There's a lot of instances where odd riding mounts are used to add some background to an otherworldly setting, but it can't qualify for this trope unless it's a horse that's not called a horse.
Take, for instance, the big, mouse-like draft animals that pull the caravan in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Would you say that it falls under the horse category? Or the ox, or the elephant? No, it's just a weird animal performing the function of a draft team, not another animal under an alien name.
I think there's a trope in there. Maybe Horse of a Different Color, to describe odd uses of non-traditional riding and work animals in alien settings.
Susan Davis: This is already a well-known trope, well known under specifically this name, and flightless fantasy birds substituting for regular steeds is one of the canonical examples of it. And "used to add some background to an otherworldly setting" is precisely the point — there's no specific furthering of the plot from them being different (say, if the rideable birds could fly a la Joust, or attacked foes with their beaks); it's just window dressing.
BT The P: I'd say a lot of Sci-Fi tropes are window dressing, so what? The point is, they didn't say, "let's call a horse a Chocoobo", they made a different animal bigger and gave it the horse's job. That's different. Either way, I've already added that other entry, see what you think, I believe there's enough of a distinction to warrant it.
The big sticker example is something like the Equart from Thundarr the Barbarian. Ookla rides it, even though there are horses in the setting, and it's just a horse with lizard features that happens to be strong enough to accommodate a Wookie, er, Mok. That's tough to classify.
...
I just checked the Turkey City link. They make a point that it looks and acts just like a horse, but Chocobos look and act like giant chickens with good training and saddle breaking.
Susan Davis: You've correctly pointed out, though, that funky steeds are a specific common application of Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" frequently found on TV, so Horse of a Different Color does have value on its own. I'd argue that it's a sub-trope of this one, but it's not a big deal.
BT The P: I'd say it's more of a mutual overlap, but I can compromise. My main point is, calling a rabbit a smeerp is cheap, but making up new critters is more involved.
Susan Davis: I think we've arrived at an important distinction. The original SFWA tropes from which this one was lifted are for written SF, in which dropping in a new critter that works just like a regular one is cheap. TV and games are visual media, though, and there really is some content to a new critter that just isn't there in print.
BT The P: Exactly. I think this one should stay just for the examples of "the same in everything but name" idea, and the minor visual change, but not behavior and function, and other entries can catch the rest that take more work visually and behavioraly. Basically, it's not this trope if it can be done using applied special effects on an animal, that the Humane Society approves. (So, a horse that's painted green, or a dog with Jetsons-style rings on its tail, can pass.)
Question: Is there actually an instance of a rabbit being called a "smeerp" in fiction or was it just made up to serve as the article title? If it's based on a real-world usage I think it should be mentioned in the article (or at least here to satisfy my own curiosity).
Gus, to Anonymous Person: James Blish writing criticism of science fiction under the name of William Atheling Jr, originated the term for an essay in The Issue at Hand (1964), a collection of his essays. I don't think anyone has ever used "smeerp" as a creature name in a work of fiction.
"...there's no specific furthering of the plot from them being different (say, if the rideable birds could fly a la Joust, or attacked foes with their beaks); it's just window dressing."
Dark Sasami: Um, guys...I hate to have to go back to the original point, but chocobos can fly, and that fact is the key to opening up new areas in certain Final Fantasy games. Also I don't remember ever encountering a giant fat horse that will store items for you, or discovering the "horse paradise" that is the home of the horse king, whom you must defeat in order to prevent all horses from being locked away from humanity. The chocobo == horse thing breaks down pretty quickly when you actually know what you're talking about.
You want a horse analogue? Go for "runnerbeast" from McCaffrey's Pern novels. Not to mention an awful coffee analogue while you're at it. Quit picking on the poor chocobos.
Ununnilium: Indeed. It's already on Horse of a Different Color anyway, so I took it out of this.
Scrounge: Should we move Jeremy, then? He's not a draft animal, which seems to be a requirement for Horse of a Different Color, but this trope seems to be about normal earth things with Speculative Fiction names. Jeremy is instead a weird bio-engineered creature that acts like a ca and serves as window dressig and comic relief.
Ununnilium: The point isn't "draft animal", the point is "other-worldly analogue of Earth creature". That said... yeah, IMHO, Jeremy isn't an example.
Jefepato: As far as I can see, Jeremy has nothing to do with any part of this trope. I'm removing the example.
Fast Eddie: Do it like this:
- * Webcomic example: Not exactly on another planet, but Jeremy, the creature nature never intended, from El Goonish Shive
is basicly a cat with hedgehog spikes.
Scrounge: Thanks, Eddie. I know Jeremy belongs in some category of weird critters but for the life of me I vcan't figure out what.
Sniffnoy: Mix-and-Match Critters
Lale: "* Avatar: The Last Airbender does this as well, featuring Platypus Bears, Saber-tooth Moose-lions, and Elephant Rats. This is then Subverted when the Earth King holds a party for his pet bear, prompting the characters to say "This place is weird"." is not a case of mundane animals with funny names.
Fast Eddie: Pulled h**p://areasofmyexpertise.com/images/lobster_pic.gif. Too wide, hotlinked.
- Futurama: All together now: DEATH BY SNOO-SNOO!!!
- Actually, this doesn't count due to that particular joke being derived from a real world dirty joke involving two explorers, the tribe that captured them, and two choices: Death or Snoo-Snoo.
Trogga: I think it still counts, mainly because I've never heard of that joke.
Sotanaht: Removed the Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind example under the same justification as Chocobos above. With "Horseclaws" it's as almost exactly the same (the resemblance to Chocobos is uncanny), both the "horseclaws" and "foxsquirrel" mentioned are almost opposite the trope, their name is as mundane as possible to apply to an extraordinary creature, as opposed to an unusual name for something that is, for all intents and purposes, a normal animal.
Fast Eddie: Pulled from description ...
- This isn't unheard of in Real Life; many plants were originally given names reflecting what their discovers were reminded of back home, even if it wasn't related to that plant at all. (The "Turkey" was originally something quite different, the Helmeted Guineafowl.
Actually, it does have to do with the SPACE-Whatever examples. I'll put it back in with that explanation.
- Truth in Television both in the form of phenomena such as Gratuitous English (or Fangirl Japanese) and in the French government's attempt to create new French nouns wholecloth, such as "Ordinator" in place of "Computer".
No.
No, no, no.
Okay, actual explaination: This isn't this trope. These have nothing to do with creating a fantasy world, especially not Gratuitous English. New French nouns are closer, but still not "changing the name of something in order to make it sound more space-y/fantasy-ish/whatever".
Fast Eddie: Before putting it back in again ... please help us understand what the Guinea Fowl -vs- Turkey, Corn -vs- Wheat thing has to do with gratuitous use of odd names in fiction.
Geoduck: Aww.. I suppose the new pic is more appropriate, but I'm gonna miss the ceremonial jackflappen.
Fast Eddie: Fixed. The xkcd dude has his own website. No need to monkey with ours.
Grimace: On that note, I added a short mention and link to (what I presume to be) that comic: the Fiction Rule of Thumb. This page made me think of it, and its kind of amusing. But anyone can feel free to take it out if they think it's unnecessary.
Furi Kuri: The jackflappen picture/caption combo is made of win. I opened this page, laughed, came back much later, looked at it again, and laughed even harder. Never change it.
Seven Seals: His Dark Materials should be mentioned, but even though I know there are others, the only example I can remember is "ambaric" (for "electric"). The fun here is that Pullman isn't putting in gratuitously different words, but you only know this if you're linguistically inclined (I guess this could be called a Lingual Bonus).
Trogga: What is the difference between this and Not Using the "Z" Word?
Daibhid C: When you're Not Using the "Z" Word, you've got a well-known fantasy creature that you, your audience, and probably your characters know is a well-known fantasy creature, but for some reason you don't use the traditional name for it. When you Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp", you've got an animal on an alien or fantastic world that is identical in every respect to a real animal, but is called by an exotic name.
And when you Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit", you've got an animal that is nothing like a real animal, but is nonetheless referred to as one.
They can overlap: if you have a flying lizard that breathes fire and you call it a Yennotark, then you're not using the Z-word(or the D word in this case) and calling a rabbit a smeerp. If, on the other hand, you call it a Zalnavian Crocodile, then you're not using the Z-word and calling a smeerp a rabbit.
T-Jack: I will dare to challenge the Cave Story entry. Mimigas sure do look like rabbits, but that's not what this trope is about. Mimigas are not animals, they're a humanoid sapient race, and thus closer to the Rubber-Forehead Aliens than this. You could replace the Mimigas with Ferengi and it would not change the story whatsoever (well, if the Red Flowers made the Ferengi hulk out). Do the same with real rabbits and congratulations, you have just broken one of the best freeware games ever made.
