Call a Pegasus a Hippogriff: Difference between revisions
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When a completely fantastical character is named after a commonly-known creature, see [[Call a Smeerp a Rabbit]], which is a sister trope. The title is a takeoff on [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]], and is a reference to one of the best-known examples.
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' there's an in-story example when the group encounters a monstrous dog creature with multiple heads. Nodoka, being the high-fantasy book fan, identifies it as Orthrus by its snake-head tails. But at the same time, it has three heads total like Cerberus (whereas Orthrus had two), so she can't really identify it as anything. {{spoiler|This probably serves as a [[Chekhov's Gun]] because the person who conjured it (it was actually an illusion) was just a child with likely not much knowledge on mystical consistency}}. Note that in some myths, Cerberus is depicted with a snake tail or with snakes on his back.
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* There are carnivorous "Alicorns" (also called "One-Horns", but guess what unicorn means) in the ''Elvenbane'' series as well. Traditionally, this word refers to either [[Winged Unicorn|winged unicorns]] or the horn of a unicorn, although it's likely a result of centuries of [[Recursive Translation]] from English <-> French (unicorn -> ''une icorne'' -> ''l'icorne'' -> a licorn -> alicorn).
** Some of the main characters are shapeshifting superintelligent dragons who are, in some details, [[Our Dragons Are Different|quite different]].
* In ''[[The Carpet People]]'', there's an enigmatic, prescient race which most people would call "[[Our Elves Are Better|elves]]" based on the description. Instead they're "[[Our Wights Are Different|wights]]", which more commonly refers to minions of [[The Undead]]. (At least in the modern era, thanks to ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' -- "wight" is an archaic word meaning "a person of a specified kind, especially one regarded as unfortunate".
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Get a drink for this one. In ''[[Dungeons
** Ditto for ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] III''.
** Incidentally, the word "Gorgon" literally means "horror".
** The use of the name "gorgon" for a bull-like creature comes from a particular medieval bestiary, which used that name for the catoblepas as a reference to the whole "kill with a glance" thing.
* Lamia in ''[[Dungeons
* At least one article in ''Dragon'' magazine has suggested that game masters use this trope in-game to screw with their players' expectations, perhaps justifying it as disinformation spread by [[Genre Savvy]] monsters.
* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' calls vampires' mortal servants "ghouls".
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* ''[[Homestuck]]'' has [http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Lich liches] that could be much more comparable to gargoyles (though the wings are not part of the monster design; they come from the prototyped crow).
** While we're at it, the trolls are are a race of [[Cute Monster Girl|Cute Monster People]] whose infant forms are reminiscent of [[Bizarre Alien Biology|insects]] and whose life cycle and physiology is [[Expospeak Gag|just a tad]] [[Art Major Biology|strange]]. While not a full example - [[All Trolls Are Different|myths about trolls rarely agree on anything]] - the ''Homestuck'' depiction was intended to be rooted more in the idea of [[Troll|internet trolls]] (that's all the characters were before [[Andrew Hussie]] decided to make them relevant to the plot), and as such are certainly divorced from the traditional brutish, man-eating monsters that live under bridges.
* Brooke from ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' and her people are called "melusines," even though traditionally, "Melusine" was a specific individual - what she was was a "nixie." It would be like calling gorgons "medusas." [[Oh, Wait!]], [[Dungeons
== Web Original ==
* [[SCP Foundation]] has an in-universe example with SCP-953, [[Yokai| a kumino.]] Personnel are advised to ''never'' refer to her as a kitsune, because she ''really'' gets angry at humans who call her such. Should anyone ask what the difference is, protocol says to explain that a Navajo would likely be offended if mistaken for a Cherokee, and that this is similar. Indeed, mistaking a kumiho for a kitsune would likely be the last mistake a human would make, as a kitsune is ''far'' more likely to be friendly to humans than [[Exclusively Evil| the sadistic and homicidal kumino.]]
== Western Animation ==
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* Sirens are often portrayed as being mermaid-like in appearance, even though they were originally closer to harpies in the myths.
** Not to mention languages that conflate the two names.
* The chimera is often portrayed as being similar in body structure to cerberus, with the goat head, lion head (which is often depicted as a male lion's head in modern media as opposed to the original female lion's head where the beast was generally considered in Greek mythology to be a female), and a dragon head all together in the front http://anwoanimalworld.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/new-chimera-dragontoy-miniature-has-3-heads/. In original Greek mythology the chimera had the body and front head of a lioness, a snake for a tail (which is still present in modern depictions), and a goat's head on its BACK at the center of the spine https://web.archive.org/web/20120104021705/http://cs.fit.edu/~ryan/chimera.html
** To confuse matters even more, the term "chimera" is often used as a generic term to refer to ''any'' [[Mix-and-Match Critters]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Name's Not the Same]]
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