The many terms and abbreviations of the Arena [1 so far]

[Taffeta]

Personally I have no issue with those terms when correctly applied to the generation(s) that spawned them, I just have a really violent hatred of anachronism. I hate terms being backdated to apply to generations that predate those terms as it is a symptom of the world seeing the original My Little Pony through the lens of FIM. Logically they are all separate generations with their own key features that each should be recognised for and respected for...and for that reason I like terms to be used for the right generation they apply to. So Cutie Mark applies from G3 but is not appropriate to me for anything before that.

I don't like the idea that all generations before G4 are proto-G4 leading up to G4 and the use of terminology is part of that.

Symbol isn't really a nostalgic term - I don't suppose for anyone. Hasbro's term was rump design or rump marking, but collectors defined symbol in the middle/late 1990s because it was a more generic term. There are people who don't use or like it though and that's fine. There isn't an official term for a G1 marking but then again the term Cutie Mark happened in G3. Because 'cutie marks' (especially in G4) have special and specific connitations, backdating the term is anachronistic. (That's even if you don't think it's a silly term, which some people do and some don't).

I'm a historian...I guess that's how I think about things. I have similar twitches with people calling the Japanese warriors I study 'samurai' when the western concept of what a 'samurai' is dates from much later and when the term has different connitations. For me it's a matter of historical integrity. You shouldn't look at generations with hindsight of other later generations but for themselves in all their glory and so preserving the right terms for the right generations allows us to do that properly without disrespecting any generation.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Well, you could acknowledge the thing that inspired them by calling them brands, but I don't think anyone wants to do that. I know I don't.

I don't really care for applying G4 terminology to everything or using G4-isms in speech. For me it plays too much into bronies' idea that G4 is the only worthwhile generation and their egotistical delusion that MLP fandom belongs to them.

[Jennifer2004]

I think it is just a cute thing to use EveryPony like here on the forums!
Not only to address to other people here....but that really Every Pony (G1/G2/G3/G3.5/G4 AND Fakies!) is Welcome here!!!

I have always thought the same as you say above Lady Arachnia.

I honestly didn't realize it offended people. Gotta say I definitely did not expect that.

~Jennifer

[Leave a Whisper]

@taffeta and @zeldatheswordsman I want to you both.

[northstar3184]

I don't. I think its annoying.

Agreed. I find it silly and when people use it I find it hard to take them seriously :/ but its not as offensive to me as brony, pegasister or cutie mark when applied to G1 collecting. So I dislike it but I can tolerate it, I just twitch when I see it. Whereas anyone talking about G1 symbols as cutie marks is a whole other rage-event in my little geekish brain.

With the term "brony", I hate when I hear it applied to just any male MLP fan. I've been a fan of MLP since the 1980s, long before the brony subgroup formed.

[Sunset]

I don't find "every pony" offensive per say.  I just feel like the use of the term suffers from over use.  Like with the Smurfs where every other word is.... Smurf-ified.  Cute on occasion, increasingly annoying when heard constantly.  I mean, it's cute when they pony-fie words on the show if it's clever or makes sense because they are ponies and thus don't have human features (like swapping "hands" for "hooves".)  But "everybody" and "everyone" and various other similar words should be perfectly acceptable in FiM cause those words are not human exclusive.  Plus there are a ton of non-pony species populating the FiM world.

[Baby Sugarberry]

I don't. I think its annoying.

Agreed. I find it silly and when people use it I find it hard to take them seriously :/ but its not as offensive to me as brony, pegasister or cutie mark when applied to G1 collecting. So I dislike it but I can tolerate it, I just twitch when I see it. Whereas anyone talking about G1 symbols as cutie marks is a whole other rage-event in my little geekish brain.

All of this.  'Everypony' makes me cringe, and assume the speaker isn't a legally old enough to drive.  I wouldn't call G4's markings 'symbols' anymore than I find it appropriate to call G1's 'cutie marks'.  Different gen, different terminology.  Same with shoehorning all MLP fans into the 'brony' label whether they want it or not.   

[Carrehz]

I don't find "everypony" *offensive* per se, I just find it extremely irritating. (Plus it doesn't even really make sense, if you think about it.. I mean, we don't say "everyhuman", after all. What's wrong w/ "everyone" or "everybody"? Ponies have bodies! And wrt it being used outside of the show.. I'm not a pony, I don't want to be called one :p) Same w/ the other pony versions of normal terms, sometimes it works but most of the time it just makes me cringe. Like Sunset said, it works when used sparingly, but apart from that.. @_@;

I don't like the idea that all generations before G4 are proto-G4 leading up to G4 and the use of terminology is part of that.

[Broken Irishwoman]

I hate anything G4 with a passion, so needless to say I can't stand the terms either. Especially when used on anything G1.

On a different note: I always thought "cutie marks" were the hearts on the hooves of G3 ponies? I see it being used everywhere as a synonym for symbol now, but for some reason I seem to recall the hoof hearts were actually called cutie marks. This must have been around 2008, 2009. Anybody who can confirm/debunk this?

[RoseNoire]

Oh, well, I would have never guessed such simple words could upset some people here. Sure, I wasn't aware "cutie mark" was only used after G3 but, come on, they are just ponyfan vocabulary. At least everyone understands each other even though "Symbol" is self-explanatory enough. Maybe you're taking it a bit too seriously with your idea of anachronism. I never though of that, this idea just flew over my head.  I don't see the point in feeling anger or even hatred for some wording. Anyone using "everypony" or "cuttie mark" for G2/1 never meant to upset you, they are just using their terminologies.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Mirnyj]

Here at the Arena we do appreciate every generation and we do believe that fans of all generations can co-exist in peace and learn from each other. I'm locking this one now.