Linguistic tips and tricks · 6:06pm Nov 5th, 2016
This is a random collection of useful and relevant information on English usage and convention. New topics are added as they occur to me, so the reader may wish to check back at intervals. FanOfMostEverything also provides a grab-bag of English rules and tips, along with additional links, and of course the site FAQ is another good resource.
Titles • Wings • Whoa • Equine gaits • Hats and caps, jackets and coats • Fur and hair • Thee and thou • Noble and royal styles • Military ranks
Titles
Short works, such as short stories or individual chapters of longer works, take quotation marks. Long works, such as novels or feature films, take italics.
Wings
Aircraft have wingspans; creatures have wingspreads.
Whoa
The generally accepted spelling is whoa, and that also is the generally accepted pronunciation. For those who need a mnemonic, consider there is an organization called the Woodside Horse Owners’ Association.
Equine gaits
Terms for equine paces are thrown around pretty casually, but those who want a bit more rigor in their terminology can use this simplified list of rough equivalents.
Human:Equine
Stroll:Amble
Walk:Walk
Jog:Trot
Run:Canter
Sprint:Gallop
Hats and caps, jackets and coats
A hat has a brim all the way around; a cap does not. The differences between jackets and coats are more complex and varied, but a general rule of thumb is that jackets tend to be short (waist- to hip-length) while coats tend to be long (thigh- to ankle-length).
Fur and hair
Equines do not have fur!
Fur consists of two (or in some cases three) different types of hairs. Awn hairs tend to be short and frizzy, providing insulation against cold. Guard hairs tend to be longer, straighter, and stiffer, guarding the awn hairs against damage—hence the name. Fur is more useful to animals that need protection from cold rather than heat; among others that includes most predators, which tend to exert themselves in short bursts rather than sustained running, as large prey is more likely to do. Furry skin includes few—if any—sweat glands.
For a very large animal, the cube-square law and sustained exercise, usually escaping from predators, makes getting rid of heat a greater priority than protection from cold. Hair on the bodies of equines and certain other large herbivores thus is simpler, with only one type of hair that resembles guard hairs more than anything else; other hair types are in effect traded off for sweat glands, generally apocrine sweat glands. Humans have both apocrine glands (in the armpits) and the more efficient eccrine glands (on the rest of the body), which is why a sweaty human is merely inconvenienced, while a lathered horse is in significant danger of its health.
Thee and thou
Prior to about 1650, English, like most other European languages, included what linguists call the T-V distinction. In briefest terms, this linguistic artifact essentially splits the second-person pronoun into formal and informal versions. The former is used to be polite or to address a stranger or social superior, particularly a noble or royal, while the latter is casual and familiar, or used to a social inferior, most often a commoner. In today’s egalitarian social climate, the T-V distinction lingers on in some languages mostly as mere politesse, but in English it has vanished entirely.
This disappearance is the reason why, in modern writing, “thou” and its other forms all too often are misused. In fact, “you” actually was the formal version of the pronoun and “thou” the informal version, not the reverse! Hence, Our Pony Heroines might address each other as “thou”, but would address the princesses as “you”. In turn, the princesses would address just about everyone else, with the exception of similarly high-ranking individuals such as Dragon Lord Ember, as “thou”. (And it just occurred to me: consider that one says “Your Highness”, not “Thy Highness”.)
However, if one intends to parallel English development in Equestria’s language, only Luna in the modern world is likely to use the distinction. (And it is entirely plausible Celestia might have decided, at some point, the distinction was no longer useful, and encouraged her little ponies to give it up.) Flashbacks are another matter, of course, as are other ancient characters who, whether deliberately, from an isolation like Luna‘s, or because the pony language is not their native tongue, still use the distinction.
Thou is the subject form: “Thou shalt give it unto her.” Thee is the object form: “She shall give it unto thee.” Thy and thine are the possessive forms: “It is thy task” and “The task is thine”—the equivalents of “your” and “yours” respectively.
I’m sure I’ll get an earful from iisaw about this, too. He’s the real expert. Whew—iisaw gave me his seal of approval. I am pleased.
Noble and royal styles
A style is a method of correct address—what to call an individual by title or office. Styles are most widely known for their connection to social rank, but the concept applies as well to government officials, bureaucrats, military officers, and any other official position. A simplified list of spoken English-language styles for social ranks follows.
Emperor or empress (imperial): Your Imperial Majesty
King or queen (royal): Your Majesty
Prince or princess (royal): Your Royal Highness
Duke or duchess (royal or noble): Your Grace
Marquess or marchioness (noble): My Lord/Lady, Your Lordship/Ladyship
Earl/count or countess (noble): My Lord/Lady, Your Lordship/Ladyship
Viscount or viscountess (noble): My Lord/Lady, Your Lordship/Ladyship
Baron or baroness (noble): My Lord/Lady, Your Lordship/Ladyship
Baronet or baronetess (gentry): Sir/Dame (First or Full Name)
Knight or dame (gentry): Sir/Dame (First or Full Name)
“His” or “Her” can be substituted for “Your“ when speaking of a royal or noble rather than to that individual. Different styles might be used in letters or on envelopes, among other places. Many other ranks aren’t listed because they were rare or used only in small areas. Most titles are pronounced in English as one might expect—but viscount is pronounced vye-count.
A pony might address one of the sisters first as “Your Royal Highness” and after that as “Ma’am”. Addressing her first as “Princess” or “Your Highness” would be quite informal, though a student or close friend might be allowed to do it. For the new princesses, who might not rank quite as high, one idea is to use old European styles of “Serene Highness” or “Illlustrious Highness”, with just plain “Highness” being lower still.
A prince/princess or duke/duchess may or may not rule a sovereign (independent) country. A sovereign prince or princess rules a principality; a sovereign duke or duchess rules a duchy. A non-sovereign prince or princess usually is the son or daughter of a king or queen, and a non-sovereign duke or duchess is a noble. The sister princesses, of course, are sovereign and technically rule a principality. Whether the Crystal Empire (which isn’t really an empire) is a separate sovereign state, or part of the principality of Equestria (which is an empire), isn’t clear.
Military ranks
Going into detail is beyond the scope of this brief summary; suffice it to say any military-oriented Web site should provide a flood of information, including all the weird little traditions and curlicues that have grown up over centuries of military history. Following are lists of English-language army and navy rank titles for commissioned officers and enlisted personnel, along with a few bits of important information. The emphasis is on ranks that existed during the late nineteenth century, the time period Ms. Faust apparently had in mind when she created the pitch book for the series. Pay-grade abbreviations (the “O” and “E” numbers) are listed as a convenience, though they were not introduced until late in the twentieth century.
Like any other title, a rank is capitalized when used as a form of address: “I’ve assigned you to command the mission, Captain.” A rank is not capitalized when not used as a form of address: “The captain took command of the mission.”
Commissioned officer ranks, highest to lowest (army, navy)
O-11. Field marshall (UK) or general of the Army (US), admiral of the Fleet (UK) or fleet admiral (US)
O-10. General, admiral
O-9. Lieutenant general, vice admiral
O-8. Major general, rear admiral
O-7. Brigadier general, commodore
O-6. Colonel, captain
O-5. Lieutenant colonel, commander
O-4. Major, lieutenant commander
O-3. Captain, lieutenant
O-2. Lieutenant (UK) or first lieutenant (US), Sublieutenant (UK) or lieutenant (junior grade) (US)
O-1. Ensign/cornet (UK) or second lieutenant (US), midshipman (UK) or ensign (US)
Notes on officer ranks
1. O-11 ranks are assigned only in wartime.
2. It may seem peculiar that “major” outranks “lieutenant”, but “lieutenant general” outranks “major general”. This came about because the last rank originally was “sergeant major general”, but that was too cumbersome, so it eventually got abbreviated.
3. The UK rank of ensign was for infantry officers, while cornet was for cavalry officers. Both ranks were folded into “second lieutenant” toward the end of the nineteenth century.
4. In US Navy parlance, a midshipman is a male officer candidate still in the academy, not an actual commissioned officer, which I imagine creates no end of confusion in allied operations and exercises.
5. The episode “Testing Testing 123” threw around both army and navy officer ranks with wild abandon. I winced. A lot.
6. By rights, the ancestral pegasus military dictator Hurricane should be titled General Hurricane, not Commander Hurricane, and so I did in my short story “The Farmer in the Dell”.
Commissioned officers receive their authority directly from their sovereign government through formal documents called commissions. The sister princesses probably issue the officers’ commissions for the Royal Guard and EUP Guard.
General ranks as a group don’t have a special name. Colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major are field ranks because they usually are in the field (while generals may be at headquarters planning strategy). Captain and lieutenant ranks are company ranks because they are in company-size units or smaller.
Commodores and admirals used special flags to show what ships they were on, so these ranks are called flag ranks (and the ships are called flagships). Captain, commander, and lieutenant commander are senior ranks. Sublieutenant/lieutenant (junior grade) and midshipman/ensign are junior ranks.
Enlisted ranks, highest to lowest (army grades, navy rates)
E-6. Sergeant major, chief petty officer
E-5. First sergeant, petty officer first class
E-4. Staff sergeant, petty officer second class
E-3. Sergeant, petty officer third class
E-2. Corporal, leading seaman
E-1. Private, able seaman
Notes on enlisted grades and rates
1. Strictly speaking, “ranks” apply to officers, while “grades” or “rates” apply to army or navy enlisted personnel respectively, but nobody really seems to bother much with that distinction.
2. During the twentieth century, as military forces grew beyond the ability of existing organizational structures to handle, three additional enlisted tiers were added gradually, usually but not always near or at the top. The six tiers shown above were the state of things in the late nineteenth century.
You're right on the money with thee and thou. There are a few weird exceptions (this is language we're talking about, after all), but those are the basic rules for Lunaspeak.
4286632 Whew! I was afraid I’d goofed somewhere.
In the NATO rank scale, what you listed as O-11 is actually OF-10 and what you listed as O-1 and O-2 are both OF-1, with one being Junior and the other being Senior
Only six countries have ever had a rank that corresponds to OF-11 (six-star general): the United States (General of the Armies, held by George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, as well as Admiral of the Navy, held by George Dewey in the Spanish-American War), the Soviet Union (Generalissimus Sovétskogo Soyuza, held by Stalin), the Italian Empire (Primo Maresciallo dell'Impero, held by Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini), Nazi Germany (Reichsmarschall des Großdeutschen Reiches, held by Hermann
GöringMeyer), and Imperial Japan (Dai-Gensui, reserved for Emperors of Japan)5772827
This is true; I was listing US pay-grade abbreviations, which are a bit simpler and more familiar to me.