Call a Pegasus a Hippogriff: Difference between revisions

Could be employed just to underline in red crayon that [[Our Monsters Are Different|Your Monsters Are Different]]. Alternatively, of course, the writer [[Did Not Do the Research]] -- ''or'' did [[Viewers Are Geniuses|a little too much research]], finding an extremely obscure name or form of a familiar creature. This is a common cheat when fishing for names for [[Palette Swap]] [[Underground Monkey|Underground Monkeys]]s.

This isn't quite [[Sadly Mythtaken]] as the very fact that the writer ''knows'' that mythical creatures have specific names implies doing some research. (Sadly Mythtaken is more for [[The Theme Park Version]] / Disneyfication of classic myths.)

In case you're wondering, the most commonly accepted generic term for [[Winged Horse|Winged Horses]]s is "''pterripi''". However they're often simply called "pegasi/pegasus" after the most famous example -- seeexample—see [[A Kind of One]].

Compare [[Istanbul (Not Constantinople)]], which is similar but for place names.

** Actually Pliny the Elder mentioned Pegasi living in Aegypt. So the idea of numbers of Winged Horses existing is [[Older Than Print]].

* An older example is Frank Stockton's short story, ''The Griffin and the Minor Canon'' from 1885, in which the eponymous monster -- bymonster—by its description -- isdescription—is [[Our Gryphons Are Different|clearly a dragon]]. The story might actually be considered a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on this trope, as the dragon sees a statue of a griffin and assumes that (since it also has four legs, wings, ''etc''.) he must be of the same species and that "griffin" is what humans call him. Got all that?

{{quote| It had a large head, with enormous open mouth and savage teeth; from its back arose great wings, armed with sharp hooks and prongs; it had stout legs in front, with projecting claws; but there were no legs behind,--the body running out into a long and powerful tail, finished off at the end with a barbed point. This tail was coiled up under him, the end sticking up just back of his wings. <ref> Oddly enough, though, in a later passage, "The monster had just awakened, and rising to his fore-legs and shaking himself, he said that he was ready to go into the town." It has fore-legs and no hind-legs?</ref>}}

** Similarly, in ''[[Xanth]]'', despite having clearly done the research (Anthony had the [[Snakes Are Sexy|Naga]] being snakes with human heads rather than alt-named Lamia), the creatures he calls Pooka are... ghost horses bound to the living world with chains swathed around their bodies, who can't talk and have very shy temperaments. And can somehow reproduce (then again, [[HotImprobable Skitty-On-WailordSpecies ActionCompatibility|it's Xanth]].)

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] was fond of using "worm," the Middle and Modern English cognate of Old English "wyrm", to mean "dragon" or "serpent". "Worm" in the sense of "dragon" is attested as late as the mid-19th century in Northern English, as in the ballads of the Lambton Worm and the Laidly Worm, so the Good Professor wasn't just making it up as he went along.

* [[Hell's Gate|Arcana]] has "[[Unicorn|Unicorns]]s," which resemble the usual image of unicorns only in that they have a single horn and are roughly horse-sized and shaped. They are black, with disproportionately long legs, powerful hindquarters, and ears like a bobcat -- andbobcat—and possess a mouthful of long tusks and sharp, carnivorous teeth.

* 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).

* 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".

* Get a drink for this one. In ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/gorgon.htm gorgons] are a variation on the creature known as the [[wikipedia:Catoblepas|catoblepas]] in more classical bestiaries. The creatures that resemble the [[wikipedia:Gorgon|Gorgons of Greek mythology]] are named [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/medusa.htm medusas], after [[wikipedia:Medusa|the best-known Gorgon]]. And as if that weren't confusing enough...the catoblepas, by that name, has actually appeared in some editions of D&D. (And while—unlike the previous two—it's always ''fit'' one version or another of the catoblepas myth, it's always been notably distinct from the gorgon.)

* Lamia in ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' have a confusing history due to Lamia's own historically confusing mythology as either a [[Snake People|snake woman]], a [[Hermaphrodite|hermaphroditic]] [[Wicked Witch|hag]], or as a [[Mix-and-Match Critters|four-legged beast with a woman's head & breasts]]. All editions on D&D up until 3rd have used the last one as inspiration for a lion-centaur monster which ''somewhat'' follows it. However, 4th edition just decides to chuck all mythology out the window and attach the name to a swarm of insects that crawl over the skeleton of a dead humanoid and use spells to disguise themselves as people.

** Lammasu's look like an unsightly miniature cross between an Arokkoa (ugly bird-like humanoids in WOW) and a mole rather than the lion/bull bodied, human headed, winged Mesopotamian guardian deity depicted in Sumerian statues.

* A few liberties were taken in the depiction of Greek myth's monsters in [[God of War]], mainly for the sake of [[Rule of Cool]].

** [http://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Scylla Scylla] looks like a leviathan than the [http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Skylla.html 6-headed, dog-waisted cursed nymph from Homer's Odyssey and the Ovid], whereas Poseidon's Hippocampi half horse/half fish (or in this case, [http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&global=1&q=god+of+war+hippocampi#/d510z7e crustacean]) mounts are often confused with leviathans.

** The [http://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Kraken kraken] looks suspiciously like the [http://jeradsmarantz.blogspot.com/2010/04/kraken-for-clash-of-titans.html Kraken] from the [[Clash of the Titans]] remake

** Some of the monsters Kratos fights aren't even native to Greek mythology, such as the Irish [http://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Banshee Banshee] and the Arabic [http://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Rocs Roc].

* Although depictions of monsters from the [[Shin Megami Tensei]] series are more or less accurate, there are some monsters that are noticeably different from the original mold. Most egregious are most versions of Cerberus, which looks like a snake-tailed albino lion father than a 3-headed canine (although the 3-headed cerberus was used in [[Persona 3]] as [[Team Pet]] Koromaru's persona).

* 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 and& Dragons|that totally happens]].

* 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

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