It looked like it was constantly in the process of falling over and just catching itself.

The quote is talking about humans, of course.

Misanthropic: Yea or nay?

4029881 No. More a ponies interpretation of our foreign walk-cycle. No hint of ill will is located in that sentence.

Um...no. Don't think things out of context plz.

It was describing bipedal locomotion from a quadruped's point of view. Of course it's gonna look weird.

4029881 This is an entirely perspective-oriented sentence. Why? Because everything that has a modicum of transportation that relies on lifting on limb and setting it back down on the ground a distance away, i.e. WALKING, is exactly that: a near-constant state of falling over and just catching itself.

4029881 Don't you have anything better to do?

4029881 Reminds me of going down stairs. You are literally falling and catching yourself. And if you fail to catch yourself, well... you've got a few more friends that would love to catch (or bruise) your unbalanced hide.

I'll admit that a human running while leaning forward might look like they are falling over and catching themselves, but I don't think walking looks like that at all.

4029912 Do you?

4029915 Yeah, I could see stairs being described like that, maybe.

No. That is actually our walk cycle. We tip ourselves forward and catch ourselves with the other leg, using the momentum to pivot to the next step.

4029921 Now that I think about it, how would a quadruped's walking cycle be described? If we are "constantly falling over and catching ourselves" then what are they doing? What are insects doing? Arachnids? I wonder...

4029921 You're spending time finding individual sentences and posting it for it to be declared misanthropic. It's like the Spanish Inquisition in a place where everyone's catholic.

4029881
Not Really.

And link to the story it is from please?

4029893 Yo, I gotta admit - your bio is badass. I happen to LOVE bacon, bro. Greatest in the morning, afternoon, and late at night! An all day snack!

4029928 Well, when a horse runs it takes all its hooves off the ground. It could be said that its throwing itself repeatedly through the air.

4029932 I only brought it up because I've seen basically this exact sentence in multiple stories and I don't think it's something anyone would think (pony or whatever) upon seeing a human.

4029935 Sure! The story is not misanthropic. I just don't think the one sentence is a good descriptor of humans.

4029881 Uh, no, since that's pretty much how bipeds walk.

4029924 That sounds more cool than it should to me.

4029881 That is how humans move. Nothing particularly mean there.

4029965
Try it sometime, while walking normally, stop one of your legs as your moving it forward. You will pitch forward, and if you don't catch yourself, you will fall.

4029881 Depends on the context.

That pretty much explains how bipeds walk right? Especially humans, seeing as how we don't use a tail for balance. It's a miracle of nature that we can move without falling over.

Thank you to everyone for your replies. It was a "yes" or "no" question, and you have made it clear the consensus is "no". That was the point of the thread, to get people's opinions and their reasons for them.

4030058 Thanks for your explanation; I get why people say it now, even if I still don't think the phrase is worth a writer's time.

4030417 There's no such thing as stupid questions, only stupid people who don't ask questions. The OP is my equivalent of late-night shitposting, so, despite your opinion, I think I've managed to keep it on an intelligent level.

The "is this misanthropic" threads are getting a tad out of hand.

4030641 I had to go to page four of the forum to get one other thread (not including the pinned thread) with misanthropy in the title. I'll admit I'm new here, so I don't know if there's been a lot of "is this misanthropic" threads going around, but I haven't seen any.

Unless you're counting the "Heresy" threads?

4031301
Bby pls that hurts me in the heart

4030058 uh.

actually, i just stand on one foot, with my other suspended wherever it was in my walk cycle. judging by my own observations, this is true of many people.
Sure, you can walk that way. but if you do a lot of walking, that'll start to hurt.
(the tipping point in my walk cycle is never more than a quarter inch before my forward foot makes contact, and is usually at the moment of contact.)

I've often wondered where the idea that our walk cycle would appear as a barely controlled fall to those not familiar with it came from. My best guess is Xenophilia. which is funny, because its only Lyra who comes up with the description, in that story.

for me, use of this description is meh-worthy, right up there with ponies being able to infer omnivorous diet from our dentition, something that is unlikely, as equines have canine teeth too. (mostly the males, less than 28% of mares have them, but still)

by the way, the story that triggered this thread is An Academic Visit

4031301 Nitpicking? I won't say I'm not. Anti-misanthropy? This group is founded on anti-misanthropy. Try-hard? The sentence stuck out to me while reading, and it has done so the other times I have read essentially the same phrase in other stories; I dislike it for a variety of reasons and applied "misanthropic" to it since it does not cast a favorable light on human movement.

I care enough to start a thread on it, and other people care enough to reply to that thread.

I don't find it particularly amusing, although I suppose unorthodox fits it well enough.

I'm not a species narcissist, thank you very much.

It is clear you have a lot of experience here.

4031321 Is that a volcano behind that dapper snowman?

4031478 4030058 I'll admit I don't really know enough language about physiology to communicate across the web about how humans or any other creature moves in detail.

But moving to yrfoxtaur's next paragraph, 4030910's reply indicates that the general phrase may predate Xenophilia, but we'd have to know when the documentary in question released to be sure. I don't think hunting that down is really worth our time, though.

Agreed.

Yes, that is the story. I linked it in one of my replies earlier, but I did a terrible job making it visible... My fault. My link is up under the "Sure!", which I have now underlined to make it a little more obvious. The story has promise, I look forward to seeing where it goes.

4031644 Oh, I am sure the idea predates the story, for exactly the reason you mentioned. But the idea was never presented, prior to Xenophilia, as being the perspective of non-humans. At least, not to my knowledge.

I suppose there might be an obscure sci-fi story out there with some alien race making the same observation, but since i am trying to figure out how it became prevalent in ponyfics, i don't know that it would be relevant.

4031661 Ah, I didn't consider that restriction. It probably was Xenophilia.

I can't recall off-hand seeing it in any sci-fi, although I haven't read many stories that seriously talk about first contact between humans and non-humanoid aliens, especially from the alien's perspective.

4031676 Dude, chill.

4031688 Don't abandon us friend! Your well worded statements are a credit to our cause!

4031702 Yeah, I prefer general equality over unilateral superiority. Then, if one group/race/species/whatever is ahead, it's because they've worked hard to become so.

4030533

There's no such thing as stupid questions, only stupid people who don't ask questions.

Amen to that, bro.

4030417 4031301 4031676 4031688 4031702

...

I fucking love you, John.

4032207

Eh, I've become a lot less pro-human as well in the recent months. I haven't really put much thought to it either... it does feel kind of like I'm stabbing people in the back, but fuck, I'd rather be truthful than live in a fantasy-world where anything that isn't 186% pro-human is declared "Heresy!".

4032233
4031688
Looks like i was right.

4032258

About what?

4032263
This.

4032277

Eh, we're not directly against humans. We're more or less... neutral.

We know humans are capable of and do a lot of good... just, there is a fuckload of bad shit as well.

Well, at least that is my viewpoint on it, I can't speak for John's views.

4032295

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. 

4032287

We know humans are capable of and do a lot of good... just, there is a fuckload of bad shit as well.

Full agreement.

4029892 This.

4032295 Also, Hood, I forgot about this till now, but I found you a song.

4032378

Eh, the Super Bowl isn't much of a celebration to me.

I mean, even though I pretty much know that the Seahawks are going to repeat (unless if the Patriots bulls some real bullshit like fucking more inelligable receiver shit) so it's not too exciting.

4032881

lelno, it's just a regular game. Just beacuse it's the Super Bowl doesn't mean I'm going to go full 'Merican on it.

Though, I'll be in the Skype chat as I watch it... whoever wants to enjoy it can... well, be there.

4032907

Ha! You live in Canada...

4032925

Everyone gets Super Bowl Sunday off in the US...

4032948

Yeah, I'll be on Grey's ship. It's on my application now so...