History Main / InsistentTerminology

** Messianic Jews do not typically identify themselves as "Christians" -- insisting, instead, that they are "Jews who found Jesus". "Traditional" Jews will usually fire back with, "Nope, you guys are ''definitely'' Christians!" Given that acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah is ''the'' point of divergence between Judaism and Christianity... On the flip-side, there are points in the Literature/TheBible in which the early Church made clear distinctions between Jewish converts (which were still bound by traditional Jewish law such as circumcision), and non-Jewish converts (who were not). So, the distinction is not baseless.

** People with telekinesis ability are referred to as "biotics".

* Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah prefers to call his music (and in fact, the entire genre he plays in) "creative improvised music". He's on the record saying the name "jazz" is a "belittling, pejorative term".

* The "Só Levando" series.
** In a season, a hospital was illegally recycling gauze. The employee in charge of collecting the used gauze insisted on describing his job as a "gauze collector" but everybody else called him a garbageman.

* ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'':
** When dealing with the Emperor, it's never just [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels Horus]]; it's always ''Fucking'' Horus. He has good reasons to be mad even to this day, however.
** Marneus Calgar, the Chapter Master of Ultramarines, is not Marneus Calgar -- he's ''[[ShoutOut Papa]]'' ''[[Franchise/TheSmurfs Smurf]]''.

** Most famously, pro wrestling itself is "sports entertainment" (sometimes just "entertainment"). When a WWE wrestler is written to be "rebelling" against the company, they'll say "professional wrestling." Vince [=McMahon=] will say "rasslin" if he's intending to mock someone. (Wrestling/RoddyPiper was a mediocre rassler before [=McMahon=] made him a superstar, etc.)

* An ElvisImpersonator would generally prefer that you call him an Elvis "tribute artist".

* Weapons that aren't supposed to be used in a wrestling match are commonly called "foreign objects". During a period of time in which Wrestling/{{WCW}} was trying to present itself as a cleaner and more tolerant alternative to the WWF, these were renamed "international objects" because standards and practices didn't like that use of the word "foreign". This came about due to a miscommunicated directive to all Turner divisions (most specifically, CNN) to replace speaking instances of the word "foreign" with "international" in a news context. Nobody at WCW thought to get the directive rescinded in their case, and since they were in the middle of a financial downward spiral, it was easier just to go along with it.

* ''WebVideo/Unraveled'': PlayedForLaughs in an episode; "I'm Creator/BrianDavidGilbert, safety fan and bureaucratic wunderkind. Please address me as such."

* In the ''Wizard of Oz'' parody episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', Doctor Doofenshmirtz (playing the Wicked Witch of the West) is insistent that he's a warlock, not a witch and that his outfit is a robe, not a dress. The credits even list him as "Doofenwitch," with "witch" crossed out and replaced with "warlock".

* ''ComicBook/DeathsHead'': Death's Head of the Marvel universe (and occasionally appearing in the ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel Transformers]]'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'' comics when Marvel had the license), is a freelance peacekeeping agent. Some call him bounty hunter, but never twice, [[VerbalTic yes?]]

* WebVideo/Unraveled: PlayedForLaughs in an episode; "I'm Creator/BrianDavidGilbert, safety fan and bureaucratic wunderkind. Please address me as such."

* Speaking of scripted performances, don't ever use the word "script" around Wrestling/JimCornette in a wrestling context, unless you want to be on the end of [[Main/BerserkButton one his rants]]. Movies have scripts, wrestling shows have '''formats''', though given that wrestling formats now include stage directions and promos written word for word "script" probably is more appropriate.

* In ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheCelestialMadonnaSaga'', Moondragon is quite insistent that she's a goddess due to her psychic training.

* In ''ComicBook/BatmanSupermanWorldsFinest'', Batman is ticked off when he learns the Doom Patrol's leader routinely spies on heroes. Niles Caulder insists that he is merely "monitoring" them.

* The ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer: Season 8'' comics have Dawn cursed to turn into three things. She would like you to know that the second one was not a centaur, it was a centaurette, which is, as she defined it, a girl centaur.
* In ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'', Yankee Poodle's civilian identity Rova Barkitt insists that she is not a gossip columnist, but a celebrity interviewer.

* ComicBook/DeathsHead, of the Marvel universe (and occasionally appearing in the ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel Transformers]]'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'' comics when Marvel had the license), is a freelance peacekeeping agent. Some call him bounty hunter, but never twice, [[VerbalTic yes?]]
* Pfirsich Rommel in Donna Barr's ''ComicBook/TheDesertPeach'' wants you to know that his accessories are ''peach'' colored. Pink is tacky.
* In the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse, Magica De Spell is not a witch, she's a ''sorceress''.

* ''ComicBook/TheFoxHunt'' villain known as "The Mad Gadgeteer" would prefer to be referred to as simply "The Gadgeteer", with "Mad" giving off such an ''insane'' connotation and all.
* ''Comicbook/GhostRider'' antagonist and LegacyCharacter "The All-New Orb" literally always refers to himself with that full phrase. Others just call him "Orb" or "The Orb", but he's been very clear what he'd prefer to be known as.
* In ''ComicBook/GothamCityGarage'', Dick's electric batons are NOT called sticks. They're batons. Get it right.

* In ''ComicBook/GravityFallsLostLegends'', Ford's cursed trunk insists on calling comic books "graphic novels".
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' comics, the Nazi head-in-a-jar mad scientist Herman Von Klempt gets ''very upset'' if you call his ape a monkey.

* During the period where ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' was working as a Las Vegas mob enforcer under the name ComicBook/JoeFixit, his boss Michael Berengetti was often annoyed by out-of-towners calling the city “Vegas” in his presence. He wouldn’t explicitly say as much, but he would emphasize the proper name the next chance he got (i.e. “You must be new to ''Las'' Vegas.”)

* In ''{{Magazine/Mad}}'', this is often used for humor. For example, one article described wealthy people's activities less bluntly than poor peoples' ("When you're poor, you vomit. When you're rich... you succumb to a sudden attack of nausea.") Another article tells people to think of others' behavior in worse terms than their own--others are pushy, while you are assertive.

* Max from ''ComicBook/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' dislikes being called a rabbit, and instead prefers the term "Lagomorph" or "Hyperkinetic Rabbity Thing." He dislikes being called a "malefactor" too. But for ''really'' insistent terminology, just use a really weird or long word around him. He hates that even more.
* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'':

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* In ''ComicBook/SuperDinosaur'', Elliot insists he be called by his codename of the week.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* In ''ComicBook/TransformersTransTech'', Shockwave will have you know he's not "evil", he's "morally ambiguous".
* ''ComicBook/{{Varmints}}'': Opie insists she and Ned "borrowed" the large bearded man's horse, when it's clear that they stole it.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman''

* Even though it's now commonly known that professional wrestling is a scripted performance rather than a competitive sport, some fans and industry professionals are ''very'' adamant about clinging to jargon that previously helped disguise that fact. Officially, wrestling has "{{heel}}s" and "{{face}}s", not "heroes" and "villains"; it has "angles", not "storylines"; it has "swerves", not "{{plot twist}}s"; and it has "booking", not "writing". Probably overlaps with GrandfatherClause.