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Prepositional Phrase Equals Coolness

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number9robotic (Experienced Trainee)
#1: Nov 21st 2024 at 6:17:38 PM

Am I missing something? Is Prepositional Phrase Equals Coolness literally just "a cool word describing a concept makes it sound cool"? Is that not just how adjectives and language works? Why is this considered a trope?

Edited by number9robotic on Nov 21st 2024 at 6:18:24 AM

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Coachpill Taxidermy (he/him) from Gen Z Since: Aug, 2022 Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!
Taxidermy (he/him)
#2: Nov 24th 2024 at 9:22:17 AM

This is apparently a Garnishing the Story subtrope, which hints to what the issue is here; its other subtropes almost always have devolved into "X happens/exists". From my perspective, it's also kind of in the same ballpark of issues as One-Word Title, where the trope ignores genuine signifiers/figures of speech in favor of something that's defined by just...individual words being individual words.

I'm kind of iffy on something like The X of Y (which is apparently a subtrope of this itself), but I do think a legitimate case could be made for it being a trope since it's at least a stylistic choice, and the placement of words is consistent. Here, the preposition doesn't even have a specific spot; if we go by the definition of "trope" as "a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type, a linguistic idiom [etc.]" something doesn't add up, since the "linguistic idiom" in question isn't actually an idiom/expression to begin with, just a string of words where something (in this case, a preposition) bounces around in terms of whether it's actually a signifier.

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Nen_desharu Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto Since: Aug, 2020 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#3: Nov 24th 2024 at 3:00:28 PM

[up]I find it extremely odd that The X of Y does not include its Japanese equivalent "Y の X" (Y no X) for examples only found in Japanese but not in English such as 星のカービィ (Hoshi no Kābī, lit. "Kirby of the Stars"), referring to either Kirby's Dream Land or the entire Kirby franchise, which could strengthen the case of The X of Y being iffy, especially given that "Y の X" is generally inherently not tied to narrative structure as it is the normal construction for possessives and genitives in Japanese, though like English, it could lend a thematic or narrative air in titles of works, just not to the same extent as English though.

It would be great if we could discuss if "Y の X" constructions in Japanese work titles also lend the same thematic or narrative air as their English equivalents for the purposes of Prepositional Phrase Equals Coolness but Japanese if they fit or not.

Edited by Nen_desharu on Nov 24th 2024 at 6:23:03 AM

Kirby is awesome.
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