Anyone else hate British cuteness?

[demonsbanenathan]

So... you realize "Mug" was originally a UK slang term for "Face", and then became generally a derogatory term ("you ugly mug") and therefore "muggle" sounds fairly rude to an English person.

Lots of rude phrases and words probably sound adorable to Americans, but they are born with an innate ability to patronise English people, so it's understandable.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Wait, what? You refer to Final Fantasy, so I assume you're fairly comfortable with Japanese pop-culture.
Aren't you also infuriated by the squeaky-voiced,cat-eared and borderline paedophilic visions of cuteness that pervade so much of anime?

 

[vectorspyke]

Original Post

Yes I despise British cuteness.

But to be fair I also despise American Modesty, German sloppy workmanship, French military prowess, Italian food, Japan's bizarre hatred of tentacles, Swiss partisanship, Vatican Cities atheism, Australia's high quality of acting talent, Norwegian hatred of fish and the Netherlands repressive drugs laws.

I think you just won the thread.

 

[Jason Fayers]

Okay so you think 'muggle' is a cute word, an you give me another example of this so-called 'British cuteness'?

 

[sumanoskae]

"Cara'sin" sounds stupid. It's incredibly awkward to say(which means you'll have to break the flow of reading just so you can figure out how the fuck to sound it out), lacks any impact or rhythm, and is entirely meaningless, it's only defining feature being how little sense it makes as a word. It's just weirdness for the sake of weirdness, the kind of thing someone would say if they were trying to make something sound foreign or mystical, but had no knowledge of foreign or mystic cultures.

"Muggle" roles comfortably off the tongue and is distinctive enough to remember, but structured in a familiar, so it isn't awkward to read. It also gives the impression of something that's low and petty.

If you ask me, I prefer if my fantasy words have some relation to reality, so that they can have some kind of symbolic meaning and be easy to understand and recognize. There's nothing that matches the special flavor of annoyance when half the words on a page are meaningless, awkwardly worded bullshit that all sound the same and I have to struggle to remember. It doesn't make me think about how "Mystical" and "Otherworldly" the story is, only how fucking stoned the people who approved their dictionary must have been.

 

[Sovvolf]

I'd love for you to come over to Britain and tell a Brit that his culture is too cute because of the whole muggle thing... I imagine he'd either give you a rather dull sneer or knock you on your arse and steal your wallet.

Got news for you mate, aside from being good looking chaps the only thing cute about our culture is our accents and that goes out the window if you enter Liverpool. We're pretty much notorious for being rather dull, cynical and blunt.

Or for added affect tell a fellow that his local football team is shite and see how cute us Brits can be. Its a no go area even if a good amount of us dislike football... its actually built into our blood to lay out anyone who makes fun of our team.

 

[Agent Larkin]

Original Post

Yes I despise British cuteness.

But to be fair I also despise American Modesty, German sloppy workmanship, French military prowess, Italian food, Japan's bizarre hatred of tentacles, Swiss partisanship, Vatican Cities atheism, Australia's high quality of acting talent, Norwegian hatred of fish and the Netherlands repressive drugs laws.

Well yep that wins the thread.

 

[ikabodjohn]

Muggle isn't to far removed from Zerg/Zergling(SC) and Nurgle(WH40K), would you call these things cute.

I'm English and there is a distinct lack of cuteness round these parts.

 

[MightyRabbit]

I can't get into Harry Potter, though I'm sure it's brilliantly written, just because non-magic users are referred to as Muggles. To compare, the Final Fantasy series has creatures called Moogles, but FF doesn't force us to take them seriously.

Again, it might just be the fact that I'm American. I'm used to mystical things sounding sort of Asian or Middle Eastern and putting apostrophes in random places. An ancient secret society should be called Kal'sur and the mystical weapon should be Dor'salim. So if non-magic using people in the HP universe were called Cara'sin instead of Muggles, maybe I wouldn't be posting this on the net, but as it is, Muggles is a word that forces me to accept the fact that I'm reading a book written for an 8 year old even though the later novels grow with the audience.

As it is, I hate British naming of Fantasy things. Posters should feel free to add their own grievances.

Muggle is cute? I believe Rowling took the name from the British slang term 'mug', meaning gullible person. Sure it's similar to Moogle, but 'harken' is similar to 'sparkle' and harken isn't cute.

And much of Britsh fantasy and science fiction names are derived from European languages. 'Excalibur' (not cute) comes from 'Caliburn' (not cute) etc.

Hell, Tolkien created half a dozen languages on the the bones of atrophied European languages. Sindarin is based on Finnish, Quenya on Welsh, Rohirric on Old English etc.

And look at Dr Who, names like Skaro, Gallifrey, Jagrafess et al, they're not cute.

On the other hand, a lot of American authors don't have the same grounding (conscious or subconscious) in old languages to make fantasy names with the same etymological veracity. So a lot of fantasy fans all over the world dislike the system you described, because it's associated with the pulp fantasy genre.

And if she had called them Cara'sim, she'd be breaking the rules of her own narrative. The wizarding world of Harry Potter was built very much on old British folklore, design, etymology and attitudes. To most of the world (and I think most of America is included there) Muggle is a perfectly acceptable fantasy term. Though I can't deny some names were designed to be endearingly eccentric.

Though seriously, who doesn't wanna hug a Dalek? Those cute little genocidal pepper pots of hate, xenophobia and burny laser death ^.^

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

While where at it...
I hate America's obsession for making everybody fat.

 

[intheweeds]

They don't just apply cute names to things like the Japanese do, but apply cuteness and expect everyone to take it seriously.

Japan would take issue with you ignoring Hello Kitty. I could begin to bombard you with other images from Japanese culture, but when i think of 'cute', Britain is not the first country i think of. I would imagine i'm not the only one who would agree that Japan's cuteness goes faaar beyond just naming things. It's common knowledge enough that i don't feel i need to prove it with multiple images...

I can't get into Harry Potter, though I'm sure it's brilliantly written, just because non-magic users are referred to as Muggles. To compare, the Final Fantasy series has creatures called Moogles, but FF doesn't force us to take them seriously.

The only example you give is one Harry Potter word you don't like. Personally I don't like it either, but it's one author naming one thing. If you don't like Harry Potter, fine, but I'm sure most Brits would take issue with the fact that you read one book and now you think you know 'British cuteness' whatever that is.

 

[cthulhumythos]

As an American, I do like British culture, especially comedy, but I can't get over their obsession with making everything cute.

I'm not even sure if cute is the right word, it's just the best word I can muster. They don't just apply cute names to things like the Japanese do, but apply cuteness and expect everyone to take it seriously. I can't get into Harry Potter, though I'm sure it's brilliantly written, just because non-magic users are referred to as Muggles. To compare, the Final Fantasy series has creatures called Moogles, but FF doesn't force us to take them seriously.

Again, it might just be the fact that I'm American. I'm used to mystical things sounding sort of Asian or Middle Eastern and putting apostrophes in random places. An ancient secret society should be called Kal'sur and the mystical weapon should be Dor'salim. So if non-magic using people in the HP universe were called Cara'sin instead of Muggles, maybe I wouldn't be posting this on the net, but as it is, Muggles is a word that forces me to accept the fact that I'm reading a book written for an 8 year old even though the later novels grow with the audience.

As it is, I hate British naming of Fantasy things. Posters should feel free to add their own grievances.

what? dude, the japanese are the cute ones. british people have awesome accents that make them sound intelligent and distinguished.

btw i'm american.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuteness_in_Japanese_culture

it even has a wikipedia article!

 

[Sinspiration]

British cuteness?
Im British and you've lost me already. XD

Yeah me, too..

 

[Flames66]

As an Englishman can I just say WHAAAAAAA?!?!

I've never heard of this making everything cute thing at all, ever.
And with the example of muggles, I always thought it sounded more derogatory than cute.

I was thinking that. There's a word starting with n and with the same number of syllables that spring to mind, and the theme of them being looked upon as inferior reinforces that slightly.

 

[mephistophelesees]

British and cute? i'm British and geez, have you seen our teeth

 

[Andalusa]

Like every other Brit commenting I am going to say: what the fuck? British cuteness?

 

[Rafe]

Englishman here and I genuinely don't know what you're talking about. Are we all being damned for J.K Rowling's naming of specific terms within Harry Potter?

 

[Nudu]

...British cuteness?

I'm confused. Britain is the one to the east. Japan is the one to the west.