nikohesus said:
Also, what do you expect them to do? They made up the name, and somehow they had a 10 character limit and the word coffin has an "f". Why should PCi focus on such a small thing out of 649 Pokemon? And if Zekrom had been named "Negrom"- first of all, Negro is NOT a racial slur, Friend is. Negro was an archaic word used to describe black people. It is NOT offensive, and I doubt they really considered using that. The Pokemon Company doesn't even use the word "war" in a Pokemon game if it's intended for war.
I'm well aware of what the word "negro" means, thank you, and it seemed like a good choice for a hypothetical case because:
a) I was guessing someone would pull the "But 'friend' means cigarette in Britain or if you're an astute fifth grader, durr!" line in the same way that someone could (justifiably) point out that "negro" does in fact also mean "black" in Spanish.
b) I didn't want to write the word "Friend" on a Pokemon forum thread, although apparently you have no such concerns. Case in point, the poster above me took offense to my using the word "negro" in my previous point, if only for the hypothetical purpose of an argument.
Okay then, let's imagine a hypothetical in which the word "Friend" does indeed appear in a Pokemon name, somehow as a pun, and perhaps with some vagaries about pronunciation. Do you imagine that would go over particularly well, or even making it past the bad first draft stage? Again, to clarify for posters who might still be offended, I'm using the term here only because nikohesus has done so, and only because it's part of the rhetoric of the hypothetical situation in the argument being had. In no other sense would I use it, but, well, that's what's been put on the table.
I'll certainly give you that it would be worse if the word "f--got"--which seems less susceptible to the "it means 'cigarette' in Britain, or for astute fifth graders" defense, although it does get the "it means 'bundle of sticks' in Britain, or for astute fifth graders" defense--were embedded in a Pokemon name, as the "hard t" (or something) seems to designate this as a "harder" slur against gay people. Case in point, the mod system here replaced the word in question with a "
don't hate," when the word "friend" didn't get censored.
Furthermore, it's precisely because they won't even use the word "war" in localizing "Wargle" that I wonder why they didn't think more carefully about using the word "friend."
nikohesus said:
No, first of all the "offensive" word in Cofagrigus is not even pronounced "friend" and a kid who doesn't know how to pronounce it would ask someone else and receive the correct pronunciation. Secondly even when pronounced like that the word "cofagrigous" isn't so clear to others and I doubt they would really focus on the word "friend."
You have no idea how the name is pronounced--and none of us will until we hear it spoken in the TV show, or hear it elsewhere. That's been the case since first generation, and since then a lot of folks have continued to "mispronounce" names that don't sound like they look. Moreover, you don't control how people pronounce it--much less two days after the name is announced and you have no verification that you're correct. And the question doesn't really come down to pronunciation anyway.
nikohesus said:
You know what's funny? I highly doubt a homosexual person would be offended, and guess what, NO ONE IS OFFENDED. AT ALL. It is a common trait of today's society to search for profanity IN EVERYWHERE. IT DOES NOT MATTER. I'm sure they've noticed, but why should they care if a couple of people make a big deal out of it?
Whether or not some individuals find it offensive or not doesn't matter--that's subjective, plain and simple. My point is that it doesn't make sense for them to put a sexual slur (or any slur), however pronounced, into the name of a Pokemon, given that they're still apparently worried about naming things "Wargle," given that the target audience for the franchise is grade-school kids, and given that, well, it's just not very classy and they had any number of other options available to them.
nikohesus said:
And Axew? Offensive? Please explain this before I commit suicide.
If you'll read my post--instead of just insulting it--you'll notice that I qualified this statement with "if only for aesthetic reasons." That's called a joke, and it was meant to lighten the mood of my post. If you don't know what "aesthetic means," then I suggest you look it up. Like I said, this really isn't that big a deal, I just don't understand why people seemed to be harping on the very idea of having a discussion about the name. Point is, they could have localized the Pokemon in question as _anything,_ but they chose to localize it in such a way that--whether it's the correct pronunciation or not--includes a slur against gay folks. That doesn't strike me as the best choice.
nikohesus said:
I...I can't really say anything else to such a stupid post.
And that last sentence is why you're not really worth responding to in the first place, but I've gone ahead and done so anyway. Could you maybe, I dunno, chill out and be a bit less caustic in the future? Insults don't make your point any stronger.