I'm writing a story set in Equestria in which a pony viewpoint character encounters a ponified Sonata Dusk, and describes her in narration. So how would you say a pony would describe the main feature of Sonata's manestyle? 'Ponytail' of course sounds a bit strange from a pony, when they'd be likely to just say 'tail,' but of course Sonata has an actual tail as well, so that's not too clear. It could still be 'ponytail' to differentiate it from 'pigtail,' but it still sounds strange to me.

Could be a more generic term like 'tied back' or 'pulled back,' but 'tied back' could sort of be used to describe Applejack's too, so it's hardly specific. I wondered about 'horsetail' to mean the same thing but with the different animal to set it apart, but I can't see why that would make sense for them to think of as a term.

I suspect 'ponytail' is the best thing to go with, since we all know what it means. I am considering 'tied back' too.

Any thoughts, anypony?

6046196
A Whip?

6046212 Have to say that's not a term I've heard before, and searching 'whip, hair' on google mostly brings people flicking their hair side to side or front to back, often when it's wet, so I'm not sure how widely that term would be recognised?

6046196
A pony tail. This is because it really does resemble a pony's tail.

6046217
Oh, I thought we were being creative since the ponies might not call it a ponytail XD

6046218 Indeed it does, but why would ponies specify it being a pony's tail? Why wouldn't they just call it a tail, meaning a pony's tail by default since they're all ponies anyway?

6046225 Sorry, I should have been more clear: I was hoping there might be alternative terms that might still be recognisable At the point in the story Sonata is introduced, the POV character doesn't know Sonata's name, so it's important that she's recognisable from the description.

6046282
Ah I see

6046282
Yeah they might call it a tail, I can see that. However you might confuse some readers that way as well.

6046288 I completely agree. So the question becomes whether it's better with the familiar term of 'ponytail,' even if it doesn't make much sense, or to pick something different.

6046320
I don't know of anything else you could use. I think you're stuck with ponytail to be honest. Maybe not though.

6046334 Sadly I suspect you're right. Thanks for your help anyway though

6046336
You're welcome. These things do simply happen sometimes.

Maybe like manetail? Like, she now has two tails, because she has her actual tail, and a tail in her mane.

She's got a 'high ponytail' in a lot of shots.

6046350 That's a very good idea; I think that option would make the most sense from the ponies' perspective. Whether it would be clear what it meant when reading is hard to gauge, I'll try switching it between that and the aforementioned 'ponytail' and 'tied back,' see what reads best in context. Thanks!

6046350
Now that is a good suggestion Bolt. Well done man.

6046488
I agree, go with mane tail.

6046196
The ponies of Equestria put the word 'pony' everywhere in their common vernacular. The show is filled with pony-based puns and wordplay. "Everypony" "Businesspony" "Pony-Pedi" "Snowpony" "Wingpony" "for pony's sake" "pony of ceremonies" "pony-up" etc. Not only would they use the word 'ponytail', they would say it with inflection straight to the audience.

6046600 Interesting point. Most of those examples, though, are in place of man/woman/person/body. So it's everybody, businessman, snowman, wingman, master of ceremonies, man up. So if the hairstyle were normally called a humantail, I could absolutely see them changing it to ponytail. But since it's already that, it seems rather odd.

I can't think of any other existing things using the word pony that crop up in the show, though they've done it once or twice with horse, like 'never look a gift horse in the mouth.' 'Hearts as Strong as Horses' still works, too.

So I'm not certain about ponytail as a hairstyle name, because if a pony referred to a ponytail, they'd mean an actual tail on an actual pony.

I would just say secured into a single tail

6046732
"Pin The Tail On The Pony" replaced "Pin The Tail On The Donkey" not "Pin The Tail On The Man" so there is precedent for non-conventional replacement.
Of course, that still replaces one word with another. But my point is that since they already refer to things with the word 'pony' anyway, use common horse-related idioms from our world without changing them, and also consistently lampshade their own use of tropes (we don't normally wear clothes and the Cloudy Skies and Open Skies joke in Tanks For The Memories), I don't think any of them would have a problem with calling it a ponytail.
As for the whole "if a pony referred to a ponytail, they'd mean an actual tail on an actual pony", context clues should tell us what was meant, even if 'ponytail' referred to both. Besides, calling it a 'tail' sounds more natural than 'mane tail' or whatever.
Anyway, the only reason I bring all this up is that I'm saying you have nothing to worry about with calling it a ponytail.

6046794 Fair point, that's a good answer, thanks!

6047173
No problem.

6046196
I agree with 6046794 in general reasoning/intent. To add to it. A lot of what we see or hear onscreen doesn't make much sense if you attempt to follow the path of logic you presented. A path of logic similar to TheIrisianPrincess's fits better.

The difference is, you're attempting to build off of a pony-centric world, and think of terms/names that they'd come up with on their own.

The show doesn't do that. They take stuff from our world, and part of the humor of the cartoon is how they include recognizeable stuff. They have regular screwdrivers on the show. Now imagine an earthpony trying to use one, with hoof or with mouth. Despite the fact that ponies have amazing and often stretchy dexterity with their limbs, it seems unlikely they'd develop something requiring twisting motion like that on their own. There are more complext screwdrivers that work like old crankhandle drills. Something like that would be far easier to use for a pony, and would be the default.

If you take a lot of the stuff seen and heard on the screen as "this is meant to be recognizable to the audience first and foremost" then you get a better sense of the logic the show uses. A weird-looking crankhandle screwdriver would draw attention, because of how odd it looks. Doorknobs don't draw attention, but weird pony-friendly versions being commonplace would draw attention. A world designed by ponies for ponies would look very alien to us. So, they go the route of familiarity, and let things be "normal or common" so that humans looking at them don't bat an eye. If something is supposed to draw your attention and look weird, then they'll make it weird-looking or sounding.

6047807 That is a very persuasive argument; thank you for posting it I had not thought about it from that angle before of analysing the show's approach like that, and doing so explains a few other choices they made too. Thanks for taking the time to explain it like that.

I think ponytail- it does still look like a pony's tail.