Stop replacing Hand with Hoof, you silly people! · 7:42pm Sep 19th, 2013
Okay that may be a bit rude.
But it expresses how I feel. And I freely admit to being guilty of the same thing - because, lets face it, it adds a little bit of instant flavour to the writing, and like all things is healthy in moderation. But... but... I've seen some pretty stupid replacements. "Hoof me X" (why not just say pass?) and so on.
Okay on to the proper thing. Hands up who knows the etymology of the word "hand"? Okay, yes, you're wonderful people, put your hands down because I'm going to tell you anyway. Oh and hands up who knows the etymology of "at hand"? You're wrong, shut up.
Hand. A noun. Descended from the Old English hond. Meanings: "hand; side; power, control, possession," from Proto-Germanic *khanduz (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch, German hand, Old Norse hönd, Gothic handus).
Side. Power. Control. Possession. Like "foot" originally referred to the foundations and bottoms of things and was applied to the human foot because it is a foundation of our body, "hand" referred first to positional and abstract concepts, and was applied to the human limb because it happens to fit many of those. It hangs at the side of the body, it confers the ability to possess and control things. It is powerful.
A large plurality of the words and phrases containing "hand" are derived from this older meaning. Phrases like "in hand", meaning "under control", or "at hand", meaning "nearby". If something is "at hand" it is "handy". The construction "on the one hand; on the other hand" derives from the abstract position of arguments or ideas on either "hand" or "side" of a proposition.
Other uses to derive from the use of hands, of course. "Handle" is the combination of "hand" and the suffix "le" (pipe down Art) indicating a tool - a "hand tool". However it's easy to construct an alternative etymology for such words if you so wish. Modern words derived from words that were themselves derived from the secondary meaning of hand take on aspects of the earlier meaning. "To get a handle" on something derives from the use of a handle, but it means "to gain control".
Give this simple truth, that "hand" meant something else and that "hands" take their meaning from that rather than any other way, it's possible to construct a logical etymology for just about any word or phrase that contains the word "hand" without having to involve hands at all, which means in turn that you don't have to replace "hand" with "hoof" in every single instance.
So stop it.
It's silly.
If you think on it...
There's really no reason they wouldn't know that word.
~Skeeter The Lurker
It just feels weird for someone to refer to a body part he/she doesn't possess. It'd be like a human using a tail-based colloquialism. Though I suppose there are idioms like "wing it."
...
Yeah, English is weird. This is what happens when you mug other languages in dark alleys and rifle through their pockets for spare vocabulary.
Which is precisely why the show does exactly this; because replacing 'hand' with 'hoof' is somewhat silly and funny, just like all the other horse puns.
Thoughts:
In canon, the ponies have said things like "give me a hand" or "hand me that."
People do use expressions like "shake your tail," even though we don't have tails.
The best ponified pun I've seen recently is handyman to hoofypony.
There's no etymological reason for replacing 'anyone' with 'anypony' either. Just flavoring the world.
Although it does get a little foalish sometimes...
Not nearly as bad as people using "flank" for butt (the flanks are the sides people not the rear) or even worse using "plot"! Nothing will get me to stop reading a story faster then plot jokes. Not quite as bad are people replacing curse words with "buck".
1361163
what you did there. I sees it
1361981 "I'll buck ye in'ta nex' thursday!"
"But why would you kick me for so long?"