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Playing With / Orphaned Etymology

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Basic Trope: Words in a work that name something real that is not present in a fictional world.

  • Straight: In Troperian Adventures a character orders Scotch, despite there being no such thing as Scotland in Troperius.
  • Exaggerated:
  • Downplayed: The issues are only visible in very detailed etymology. For example, the work uses "Pegasus" in the absence of counterpart myths linking them to "springs" or "lightning" or another language which is Greek by another name.
  • Justified:
    • Humans from Earth colonized Troperius, and they brought etymologies there even when the origins were forgotten.
    • Translation Convention is explicitly in effect — the Troperian term (presumably) has a different etymology.
  • Inverted: Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp".
  • Subverted: Troperius is eventually revealed to have a region called France.
  • Double Subverted: But France in Troperius is nothing like France in Real Life.
  • Parodied: In Troperian Adventures, characters talk about current situation of real-life Earth.
  • Zig-Zagged: ???
  • Averted: Everything is named after Troperian things.
  • Enforced: The author needs to have recognizable references, as Most Writers Are Human.
  • Lampshaded: "Why are French Fries called that?" "Gee, I dunno."
  • Invoked: ???
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: There is a law requiring that every name be easily explainable to anyone who asks. If anybody can't answer such a question, they must learn or relearn the reason at their expense.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Deconstructed: Characters can not understand the terminology that breaks from the established setting, thus making it harder to communicate.
  • Reconstructed: ???
  • Played for Laughs: When the character mentioned in Straight orders Scotch, they say "Can I have Scotch, which totally isn't named after some country that doesn't exist in this world?"

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