Dec
3rd
2019
Ok, which one of you horsebuckers is this? · 6:15am Dec 3rd, 2019
From Slate's Dear Prudence column:
Help! I Work With a My Little Pony Superfan Who Wants to Be Called "Starfire."
(I support it, for the record. Treat people the way they want to be treated and be an adult about it.)
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Trick Question · 478 views
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#irl
#brony
#culture
#name
#identity
#transpony
#slate
#dear prudence
#keep going
The article makes a really good point that you can just shrug this off as Hippy Parents, too. And you could. I've seen at least one name in the workplace where I went 'Yep, parents were naming them something they thought sounded cool' and it didn't make me blink.
[searches, finds, and reads]
Huh, interesting. :)
As you should know there are people that still can't accept anything that is DIFFERENT or seen as different
Here is your list of suspects for StarFire.
You have your work cut out for you. There are over twenty 'starfires' in the first two pages.
Not a very original username.
5163633
"Mom, why is my sister named rose?"
"Well your father was the one that named her. And your father likes roses. Now run along, Bukkake."
5163682
The Teen Titans factor doesn't help. Maybe just call the coworker Coriander?
Link for those interested in reading the Slate column: https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/12/brony-names-workplace-identity-pronouns-advice.html
5163683
I regret that I can upvote this only once.
5163682
Lockheed F-94 was "Starfire". It'd make a pretty cool pegasus name.
5163633 5163669 5163678 5163682 5163692 5163728 5163738
I have no idea why the url link was not working on the header text. I moved it to the normal text and now it will take you to the article.
I can see Prudence's point. If 'Starfire' is a white-shoe lawyer at a multi-million dollar law firm.... no. That's gotta be in the Top One Hundred Law Firm Employees Who Will Never Argue A Case Before SCOTUS. If Starfire works retail (sorry) at Lowes or Starbucks, no prob. If Starfire works middle-management at General Motors.... Well, he/she should probably use a different name or a shortcut like "Star" or something like that unless they're in Marketing. Those people in Marketing can be awfully strange. After all, they had to market the Pontiac Aztek.
Because of course people are going to judge/censure you on a meaningless combination of sounds.
Instant litmus test: Would you rather hang out with someone named Billy-Bob or Moon Unit?
5163754
I agree, but I think this is the direction our culture is headed and I feel that's a good thing. People should have control over their identities, and it isn't unreasonable to ask somepony to call you by their chosen name. That's like, way easier than pronouns even.
5163817
I've no issues with the idea of chosen names/identities, or even that they change with time and context (being furry helps with this, I'm sure), but consistently using proper names in place of pronouns would be quite awkward.
5163892
No, I mean it's harder to learn to use "her" and "she" for somepony you have perceived as male than it is to call them a new name like "Sarah". The pronoun thing is automatic and is harder to retrain.
5163754
I frequently introduce my Trixie as "Trixie (or Beatrix if she's gonna be a lawyer or something.)"
5163745
Oh, thanks; I did wonder why there was no link. Looks like I'd indeed found the right page, though.
5163780 "Your Honor, the defense counsel for this case will be Billy-Bob with Moon Unit as his subordinate counsel, and... No, the defendant is not pleading guilty, and please stop laughing. We're his cousins, and... Yes, in fact we are married, but I fail to see what that has to... Look, Your Honor, if you're going to laugh like that, I'd like a short recess."
5163904
(Even if lawyers did go on a first-name basis, which I presume they don't generally.)
I, for one, would heartily support Trixie the lawyer.
5163908
"...a short recess so we can copulate."
This reminds me of Old Man Waterfall from Futurama.
Old Man Waterfall: That's right, I'm a polygamist.
Crowd: Boo!
Old Man Waterfall: Yet I would gladly eat a flag myself, had I not used my intestine as a rope to hoist a flag made of my own skin, if it would protect the freedoms of the proud people who salute that flag.
Planet Express Crew: [Cheering]
Old Man Waterfall: Freedom such as polygamy.
Crowd: Boo!
Old Man Waterfall: I rest my case. [Leg falls off as he sits] Oh.
5163633 20 years from now there probably will be people in the workplace with that name, because of brony parents.
5163939
I heard a mother refer to her daughter as Cadance the other day. The ages of both individuals appeared to be in the correct range.
5163900
Ah. Never mind.
I very much agree, Trixie. They are still a person and deserve respect and inclusion.
Isn't that the way we should all be?
Well, sadly, people are not the character naming system in Legend of Zelda. Oh so sadly.
Come. Everyone commenting here knows they have limits to what they'd regularly call someone. :P The question is, who decides those limits, you or me? Hell if I know.
We can say they should be the adult and just call us whatever, but then we could be the adult too and just not care when someone doesn't. At which point it boils down to having an argument over which of us aught to be the adult. It should be both, shouldn't it? Because there's limits to both sides. No one wants to be taken advantage of and be forced to call their coworker Sparkles McButtMuffin, and also no one wants to be called by their embarrassing middle name just because their coworker finds it funny. Neither side has carte blanche to do whatever they want.
I could say something about compromise, but in this fandom I'd be preaching to the choir.
Or I could mention ye olden brony motto.
5163948 Hm...
Wonder what the numbers are now.
5164006
Social Security has up to 2018:
Ranked 488
Edit to add, without comment:
Cadence 488
Kadence 893
Kaydence 519
5164066 You forgot one :)
5164003
Wait, I can't play life a second time on hard mode by naming myself ZELDA?
If I'm not on Wolf Hard Mode, please explain this crippling pain in my left lung over the past two weeks. Checkmate, azeldists.
hee hee, 'wolf hard mode'
5164066
5164006
Yes, but what about Cadance?
5164066
I remember a psych study from about a decade ago that suggested people with cutesy misspellings of their names had lower self esteem. Like, Bryan rather than Brian, that sort of thing.
5164093 trying to remember the name of the fic that wound up with Cadence spelled about fifteen ways, and ended with Shining Armor sleeping in his bubble because he knew exactly how Cadence would get her revenge if he didnt.
5164003
I can tell you're not furry. :) In general, so long as it's not like 40 syllables long, and not made to be deliberately annoying, I'll use it. Why not? It's their name, at least in that context and time. Now, if it has weird stuff like clicked consonants, or obligatory nasals or aspirates (I've encountered all), then I'm not going to make a very determined effort at pronunciation, nor will I show great patience at being corrected. For a short name with ordinary sounds like "Starfire", though, why wouldn't one? It's no more onerous to say than "Theodore", or "Victoria".
5164006
Cadence is a nickname, though. The princess' actual name is Cadenza, which is something rather different.
I'm curious too... How many people know someone named Cedric, or Wendy, or Bambi? These are all names that were invented to give a literary character a unique name within the last 200 years or less. By contrast, you will have to go a long way these days to find a Publius or a Gaius, although these were at one time the most common names in the civilized world. Pony has, I think, kicked a big enough dent in society that you'll see kids being given Pony names for some time, and some will probably persist many lifetimes after most people have forgotten whence they came.
5164092
I think this is what you did in your previous life.
5164117
But you list several parameters, so there are limits to what you'll regularly call someone. You're simply applying your own personal standards. And fair enough. :) But why can't anyone else do the same? To you, Starfire isn't deliberately annoying, but to someone else it may well be.
We're all playing the same game here. Everyone simply has their own house rules. ^.^