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lakingsif Since: Dec, 2012
2017-04-17 12:55:24

main page

OH MY GOD; MY PARENTS ARE GARDENIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!!!!
Arivne Since: Jan, 2001
2017-04-18 02:39:41

Just BTW, the male head of a monastery is an "abbot".

supergod Since: Jun, 2012
2017-04-18 06:06:03

I don't think it's an example of You Keep Using That Word if it's just a name. That's a bit like saying the Chicago Bulls aren't really bulls.

Edited by supergod For we shall slay evil with logic...
Madrugada MOD Since: Jan, 2001
2017-04-18 06:47:08

^ That would be my concern. It also sounds like the setting is either future or alternate reality, so it may be justified if there's been a language shift implied.

There's also the question ofthe spelling, since it's spoken. The head of a monastery is an "Abbot" (2 'b's 1 't'), but "Abbott" (2 'b's, 2 't's) is a not-uncommon surname and might, for some reason be what the whole group has adopted as a name.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010
2017-04-18 07:20:57

It's more Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit". It's taking an unfamiliar position and giving it a familiar name.

The same setting calls peasants "cogs" and the same. It's set in the distant future and language has evolved.

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Madrugada MOD Since: Jan, 2001
2017-04-18 07:41:12

Thank you for clearing that up, ~larkmarn! Although it sounds more like "Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp"" than vice versa: the same thing has a different name, rather than different thing/same name

Edited by Madrugada
AzureOwl Since: May, 2009
2017-04-18 08:00:03

So the consensus is that the use of the word abbot (the double t above was a spelling error on my part) to refer to the individual monks is not a misuse of the word, but instead a deliberate choice by the writers?

If that's the case then maybe I should add it to the examples under Unusual Euphemism on the same page, where terms like Cog, Clipper, etc. are explained.

Edited by AzureOwl
Madrugada MOD Since: Jan, 2001
2017-04-18 09:28:13

Those don't appear to be good fits for Unusual Euphemism, either, though. They aren't euphemisms ("a word used in place of another one that is considered vulgar, embarrassing, or insulting") at all. Well, maybe using "dolls" for "prostitutes" but that's kind of a stretch as a euphemism. They are Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" — giving the same thing a different name in order to make it sound like it's not quite the same thing.

Edited by Madrugada
GnomeTitan Since: Aug, 2013
2017-04-18 09:34:04

This could be an outright mistake by the author, but I think that's unlikely. If it's deliberate, it seems a case of Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp". It's not an Unusual Euphemism unless the work makes a point that "monk" is an ugly word in-universe, so people call them "abbots" instead.

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