"Cut That Out!" Part 1 · 11:27pm Sep 12th, 2012
Dear fimfiction.net,
Stop making angry posts when the author of a story refers to, to use a recent example I saw earlier today, feet. I know they're generally called hooves, but "feet" is still a valid way to refer to them. Don't believe me? Ask a farrier. A horse's hooves can be referred to as "feet," and that is perfectly fine.
Don't waste your time and the time of everyone else reading the story by posting an outraged comment about how angry you are that he didn't call them hooves like you wanted him to. It just makes you look overly sensitive and too easily offended. On top of that, this particular example makes it clear that no matter how devoted you may be to cartoon ponies, you don't know very much about horses.
A more common example is the outrage evoked when an author uses the words "anyone," "anybody," "someone," or "somebody." "It should be SOMEPONY!" they scream.
No, it shouldn't. Not necessarily, anyway.
While the words "anypony," "somepony," and "nopony" exist in the universe of the show, they are not the only words employed. The show itself is littered with instances where a character will say "anyone," "somebody," et cetera. At first, someone complaining about an author not using "somepony" sounds like a stickler for the show's canon, but if they really were such an attentive fan of the show, they'd already know that "somepony" doesn't have to be used.
In fact, if you think about it, when you take into account that there are non-pony characters in the show, "somepony" could be construed as a racist term. The show doesn't use the word in this way, but a sentence like "Everypony is invited!" could imply that non-ponies are not invited and not welcome.
Those are my thoughts for the moment.
Until next time,
Cut That Out!
