Rename Most Common Superpower?

Here we agreed that Most Common Superpower is about superpowers giving large breasts. But the name doesn't really indicate that. It's not intuitive, and even for those of us who would think of the most common superpower having to do with figures, the fact that we needed a thread to clarify it makes it clear the name might not work as it is.

I propose Power Gives You Boobs, a take on Power Gives You Wings. But what would you all suggest (yes, keeping would count as a suggestion)?

But it's not "superpowers give big breasts." It's "superpowers and big breast go together." No causation, just correlation.

Keep. This name has, quite simply, caught on. Yes, it's sometimes misused, but it isn't that bad.

DQZ, if you want to convince people it's being misused, you'll have to gather the hard data to support that. People tend not to believe it otherwise. And it may turn out to be not as bad as you're assuming.

Why are you assuming "misused" is my argument? That's not the only possible rename argument (and shouldn't be, because that would make a rule).

I'm going by it not being clear, and that there was a thread where we couldn't even agree on the definition until well into it. I think there was another one as well.

And if my suggestion implies there is a causation, then there are names that don't imply that.

It's not about how superpowers gives one large breasts... it's how superpowers and large breasts go hand and hand. Examples should be about someone with some form of power who also have large breasts. This would mean that a character like Lina Inverse would be an inversion... The most powerful magic-user on her world and yet, she's flat as a board.

edited 22nd Jul '09 12:45:45 PM by GameGuruGG

Keep. I haven't seen a convincing argument for misuse.

If a trope is unclear, then that should be borne out by misuse, no?

No, it's very clear... The whole idea that superpowers can give a person boobs can only be applied to Catherine Fairchild of Gen13, where big boobs IS one of her powers. Not enough for a trope itself.

edited 22nd Jul '09 12:55:14 PM by GameGuruGG

I would argue that Fairchild is a lampshade hanging of our Most Common Superpower trope, anyway.

It needs to be cleaned up, not renamed. The name isn't so much the problem as the description. While it mentions comic books and superpowers, it never outright says that "Super Girls have Super Boobs," and this

It should be noted that outside fiction, this 'power' is uncommon, but not necessarily 'unrealistic' - women matching this kind of physique do exist in real life, but not to the extent that is often depicted in comic books and other such media.

(my emphasis) is actively misleading, as it makes it seem like it's just about that physique, not that physique and super powers.

I would vote to keep the name, but mainly for reasons unrelated to clarity. Though I suppose that's not a very useful answer.

Well I agree that cleanup is also needed badly, Wulf.

But I don't like that some of you are implying misuse is the only argument for a rename. Especially since we're renamed for other reasons.

I'm not implying that at all. But you're claiming the name is unclear and another person is claiming it's not because it's "caught on." The only way to resolve that other than shouting back and forth "I think it's unclear/I don't" is to show that the general public finds it unclear.

edited 22nd Jul '09 1:12:47 PM by ccoa

While not the only one, it's the best one.

• "This name is too long" and "This name is not memorable" are both personal problems, as what's too long or unmemorable to one person may not be to another (see Super Punk Octo Pudding Gas Mark Seven).
• "This name is named after a character" is better, but if the character has a unique name and is popular may still not require a rename.
• "This name is in a different language" is something a lot of people don't see as a problem.

Just that we had at least two threads where we couldn't even agree on it, and some of us were really thrown that it was named for a line that referenced a different trope.

In short, my angle is that the name is not intuitive. If you want to go by the angle, of misuse, don't tell me to look that up when I didn't bring it up.

You brought up misuse, which actually means you have to prove it isn't being misused if you're insisting on that.

And if it turns out most of the wicks are correct, that would actually be an argument that the name isn't that much of a problem.

In this particular case, I don't think misuse has anything to do with the name. The problem is the description not ever clearly saying what the trope is about. We have the Calvin And Hobbes quote saying one thing, the body saying somethinge else, and a closing statement saying a third thing.

I'm not insisting on anything. If a name is truly unclear/unintuitive, it will be misused. Finding that misuse proves your argument.

I was trying to help your case, but I see that is probably a lost cause.

At any rate, there is no way to show if the confusion in the recent thread was due to the name, write up, or both. In my case it was the description.

edited 22nd Jul '09 1:23:32 PM by ccoa

I think "too long", "named after a character" and "in another language" are pretty strong strikes against a title, since such names are likely to be unmemorable for a reasonably large percentage of readers.

edited 22nd Jul '09 1:24:50 PM by BobbyG

But Most Common Superpower doesn't apply to any of those three possible strikes. People complain about misuse, but to determine that it is the name causing the misuse, we NEED a clear definition, which this trope arguably doesn't have.

edited 22nd Jul '09 1:36:44 PM by GameGuruGG

What's too long for one person may not be for another. I've seen a lot of people say "names in other languages aren't memorable" (or maybe just the same ones repeatedly), and yet all the alternate language rename polls getting renamed just for that I've looked at had renaming the old name in the negatives. I will grant that that could be because people watching the page know the names and don't see the reason to rename it, but unless we can get a new system in here, there's no way to prove it one way or the other.

Character names, while generally a bad idea, do have some good ones, but being named for a character and being used correctly 95% of the time is better than not being named for one, and being used correctly 10% of the time.

DQZ, "unclear" isn't a reason to rename a trope all by itself; it's only "it's being used wrong" that works as an argument.

Because, see, if you say a name is unclear and it's being used right, obviously it's not unclear.

Wulf, perhaps we should just drop the Calvin And Hobbes quote as part of the cleanup. It probably causes even more confusion than the title.

And I suggest we limit examples to playing (Power Girl would count as an Exaggerated Trope).

Ccoa, if that's your intention it's a good idea to make the intention clear. Being a message board makes it hard to come across subtly. I mean this from personal experience.

I think most people understand that large breasts have something to do with the trope, they're just not sure what. So I'm all for clarification.

Okay, let's clean up the page, and then see if it needs a rename after it.

But I still say a name that actually gets specific about the trope is better.