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RB_


Backflipping through reality at ludicrous speeds. What does RB stand for, anyway? | Ko-Fi

E

Silverstream learns an interesting fact about Smoulder's name. Naturally, she has to share!

Smoulder isn't too thrilled.


Preread by ChudoJogurt!

As featured by Equestria Daily! And again on Student Six Day!

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 49 )

Who is Smoulder and where's the OC tag for this story?
... :ajsmug:

RB_

11731565
Brick I swear to god I will choke you with a scone—

11731565

I think RB mentioned in the discord server that they're an OC sibling of Smolder and Garble.

11731569
Oh, that makes sense. The author doesn't do a good job introducing them, but I can forgive that in light of this being a good story otherwise.

RB_

11731569
11731570
I hate both of you.









Nerds.

"There's this old myth in griffon folklore that if you know something's true name, you can control it," Gallus explained. "So we have two names."

Huh. Don't see this idea used much anywhere on the site. Or I need to look more. Of course, whether that's a load of crap or not is anyone's guess of course.

The good stuff!

so what's Gallus' True Name?

Gallus real name is Boo? :derpyderp1:

Smoulder shot a piercing look at Silverstream. "You don't have to do this."

"I don't?" Silverstream asked.

"No!"

"Huh. The more you know," Silverstream replied, nodding. "Anyway..."

In one ear and right out the other!

Anyway, now I'm picturing Smolder introducing herself like General Yunan. :rainbowlaugh:

11731565
Nah, it's just the British edition of Smolder. :trollestia:

Why do you keep misspelling Smolder’s name in the synopsis?

"Smoulder has a full name!" Silverstream said at last, immediately changing back.

To be honest with you I never understood why they put the u in smolder it was kind of weird spelling

11731681
Technically, it's NOT a misspelling--"Smoulder" is just the UK spelling of "Smolder," like how the Brits will spell "color" as "colour."

In fact, etymologically speaking, the "smoulder" spelling came into existence first, as all of the differing American spellings historically came into existence much later.

11731703
It's a trait gleaned from the original French the word's roots stem from. English actually borrows quite a lot from French (long story how that happened), and it's where it gets some of its admittedly funky rules concerning vowels, especially the more silent ones.

11731571
Not gonna lie, my first assumption upon reading the description was that the British "u" was going to be the story's main gag. Sorry we Americans dropped y'all's letter in the pond.

Bias might be coloring my code of honor, but personally, I favor our spelling behavior. Please, please, please don't kill me for this.

11731650

Anyway, now I'm picturing Smolder introducing herself like General Yunan.

"Scourge of the Battle of the Bell! Defeater of the Terrible Trio! The youngest dragon to ever—"

"Smolder, we all chipped in on that."

"Oh, douse it, Gallus, you're no fun."

"The poses were kinda cool, though."

11731606

so what's Gallus' True Name?

Sadly, we're not his friends; it's not ours to know. :P

11731606 11731731
Well, obviously, Gallus's true name is *whisper whisper*

:trollestia:

Well then that was a pretty interesting story I've always wondered why some people in fanfiction stories spelled smolder with a u in her name unless that's how they spell it I've heard from different countries but the way how we spelled it it was without the u but anyway this was an interesting one and hearing the other kids talking about their nicknames or full names and I wonder what's Gallus second name is but I guess only his friends knows so clever anyway this was pretty good keep up the good work

This was delightful. Sandbar having a human nickname for Mysterious Reasons and Yona just being Yona after all the other reveals were both excellent.

How are you gonna misspell SMOLDER that many times. The Tag is right there!

11731830
That is the British spelling of the name

Smolder is not British, and changing someone else's name to fit your culture is problematic.

And Silver Sand would have been an awesome name, so it's a pity they talked her down so quickly.

"There's this old myth in griffon folklore that if you know something's true name, you can control it," Gallus explained. "So we have two names."

Is this an Eragon reference?

Smolder's full name is Smoulder, but creatures kept thinking she was British so she started a nickname.

11731907
It could also be a reference to Earthsea, or a reference to various places' folklore - one story as to why middle names exist is so that, if you accidentally tell someone your first and last name, they don't have your full name and thus can't use it against you.

Dan

Gallus is only half cat, so he only gets two instead of the standard 3.

11731892

Smolder is not British, and changing someone else's name to fit your culture is problematic.

Smolder isn't American, Canadian, or even real, either, so a minor tweak to the spelling of her name to fit the conventions of the regional variant of English in which this story is written need not be considered a cultural transgression. Some leeway should be permissible when this is done to preserve the literalism of their names and avoiding breaking suspension of disbelief in fiction.

11731907
Unlikely. The concept of true names has existed in folklore and religion long before that book.

11731707

Interestingly for at least some word that differ between English and American and American spelling is actually the 'original' the one that was used at the point of colonisation and the English spelling is the one which has altered over the years.

Dan
Dan #30 · Oct 26th, 2023 · · 1 ·

11731606
Clearly, it's Jugemu Jugemu Go-Kō-no-Surikire Kaijari-suigyo no Suigyō-matsu Unrai-matsu Fūrai-matsu Kū-Neru Tokoro ni Sumu Tokoro Yaburakōji no Burakōji Paipo Paipo Paipo no Shūringan Shūringan no Gūrindai Gūrindai no Ponpokopii no Ponpokonaa no Chōkyūmei no Chōsuke...kun.

11731941
...not really? Etymologically, the British versions were almost always the "original" spellings, in that they all came into existence sometimes as much as centuries before. Americans really just decided to change up some of them out of spite sometime around the late 19th century, early 20th century as part of a political statement to try and press this idea that the American spellings were somehow "superior," because America said so. But generally speaking, most of the changes were grammatically unnecessary and did nothing to change the pronunciations. If anything, it added a new layer of complexity to the rules of the language because it generated new exceptions to when and where certain pronunciation and spelling rules did or did not apply that users then had to try and keep track of.

Though American myself with the American spellings being the version of the words I'm most familiar with, I've sometimes had mixed feelings about whether or not even having American spellings is really worth it in the long run, particularly when it got enforced out of, in essence, political saber rattling.

But then again, it's historically not the first time politics meddled in the rules of English for the better or worst. Back in England sometime just after medieval times (if I remember correctly), as there wasn't yet a consistent consensus of the spellings for many English words at the time, the government of the day put together a group of people to sit down and, in effect, "finalize" these spellings. Which was probably a necessary thing as it boosted English's utility overall as a language, but historians have noted that some of the spellings they settled upon seemed a bit...arbitrary, and in some instances clearly were just mixing together all of the popular spellings of a given word into one version, regardless of whether or not it actually made sense that way. So I guess I don't really have room to be complaining about it anyway. :rainbowlaugh:

English's history is pretty fascinating, actually. :twilightsmile:

Thank Celly's Sun they weren't discussing tyres!! :rainbowlaugh: :trollestia:

11731817
There is probably a very human reason for Sandbar's name methinks. One of his parents isn't really a pony.

11731707
But Smolder is a name, name spellings supersede basically every rule in language. Like if someone's name was Perseverence, it doesn't matter it's a common misspelling of another word. The name is spelt like it is, changing it isn't problematic, it's just rude.

That said, great fic :rainbowkiss: I like how Gallus' secret name stays secret

11732393
Somebody had better tell the fandom to hurry up and start getting Cadance's name spelt right then, because despite the show settling on the "Cadance" spelling years ago now, I STILL see people occasionally spelling it as "Cadence" instead. Without anyone complaining, I might add. :raritywink:

Personally, I think people are making a mountain out of a molehill on this.

11731731

Sadly, we're not his friends; it's not ours to know. :P

i wanna be his friend tho
he's cool

I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS

11732278
Trust me that would explain a surprising amount about him.

Oh, that was delightful! Everyone was perfectly in character and absolutely adorkable!
Also world-building! Always appreciated <3

Smoulder, Vain and Glorious has the same charm as The Great and Powerful Trrrixie!

11732636
I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS
Smoulcellus ^w^

Yona's eyes suddenly got big. "Is that an invitation?"

She is formally invited to smash Sandbar's mother

This was so good! Great group banter, but I especially love when Gallus and Smolder tease each other.

11731650
Omg now I’m just reading it in Yunan’s voice 😂

11732051
British English has the u because the people who preferred the French-adjacent spelling were more popular than other spellings. "Color" and "colour" both appear in Shakespeare's first folios, as an example. One of the biggest influences was the Norman conquest, which sort-of standardized -our over -or or -ur.

Both Webster and Johnson's dictionaries were quite arbitrary in many words, mostly keeping to theme (even changing several spellings) to match what each considered 'proper'. As an example for Johnson, his dictionary had an extra u in words like "ambassadour" or "emperour" or "governour" (which has since been dropped) while Webster removed the u for pretty much every word that didn't fully pronounce the vowel (e.g. "contour" has the u, but "rumor" does not)

Strictly speaking, Smolder should be spelled without the u, because that's her name. "Honor" in British English is only used for Honor Oak, which is a district of London. And it's spelled that way because that's its name. Earl Grey tea is spelled with an "e" even in American English because that's its name even if American English prefers the spelling "gray".

But at this point I don't care overmuch so long as you're both consistent with your spelling, and use a spelling representative of the pronunciation instead of a separate word altogether.

11733093
In the end, I'm of similar opinion--so long as the spelling is consistent all throughout and still an accurate spelling in the greater grammatical sense...I don't think it matters so much, at least not for the purposes of a fanfic such as this.

Besides, as I already pointed out in another comment, the "that's her name" argument doesn't have as much weight with me as one would want because I've seen other instances in the fandom where name spellings aren't consistent with what canon has established, yet those often get a pass anyway. So, you know, doing differently for "Smoulder" here strikes me as a little hypocritical.

11731892
As far as we know, in-universe, her name could be spelt either way, or even "Cmmoel'dhar" or "SMLDR," because there was no written English in the show and the toymakers aren't exactly always consistent with the names.

11731565
I think that might be a doppelgaenger of Smolder who enjoys tea party a little bit more than she does in baseline reality.

Wonderful slice of life. Even after all these years :heart:

This was a fun read and now I’m compelled to read more stories with Silverstream in them.

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