Fantastic Slurs: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''[[Loveable Rogue|Haley:]]''' How can you be so smart sometimes and still be such an... an AIRHEAD!<br />

'''[[Fish Out of Water|Celia:]]''' HEY! There's no need for racial slurs!|'''''[[The Order of the Stick]]'''''}}

== Anime and Manga ==

** Also from the X-Books, "flatscan" (presumably a mutant detector with an oscilloscope interface would remain a flat line) and [evolutionary] "dead end" are the derogatory terms for regular humans from the mutant POV.

** In New X-Men, Stuff, a shapeshifting member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, is reprimanded by a colleague for using the slur "solid-oids" against non-shapeshifters; apparently this sort of bigotry is common enough where they come from that there's even a term for it --— "morphism."

* [[Nextwave|Aaron Stack's]] favorite term for humans is "fleshy ones".

* In ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the 13th: Jason vs. Jason X]]'' robots are called "wind-ups".

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise]]'' Firebenders are called "ash makers" by residents of the Earth Kingdom who want them out.

* Jacob in ''[[Luminosity]]'' and other werewolves use the word "leech" for vampire {{spoiler|when they aren't being [[Mind Control|Mind Controlled]]led}}. Complete with a [[Last-Second Word Swap]] when Jake realizes he's about to use the term in front of some vampires who are on his side.

** The Idris call noncombatants “fodder” (e.g., streetfodder).

** Varx refers to Jeft as a “highgrav,” or big drag.

* Switch of ''[[The Matrix]]'' at one point calls Neo, at the time still unplugged, a [https://web.archive.org/web/20160307110512/http://www.douglaslumber.com/images/brochure_logos/duracell/duracell-batteries_lg.jpg "coppertop"].

** Werewolves, mermaids, centaurs and half-giants are called "half-breeds" by the same sort of bigots. While there's no interspecies breeding involved for the first three, it's probably because they appear to be half-human, half something else.

* In ''[[Discworld]]'', dwarfs are occasionally called "lawn ornaments" and gritsuckers.

** Trolls take offense at being called "rocks".

** Also, the undead and related (vampires, werewolves, bogeymen) sometimes refer to humans as "Normos" (short for 'normal'), as seen with Shlimazel the bogeyman in ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]''.

** Conservative dwarfs call those dwarfs who dare to openly show signs of femininity "Ha'ak". No translation is given, but it's very clearly not a nice word (the target's troll friend threatened to kill the offender if he heard it used again). It turns out later it's '''not''' just an insult for the openly feminine, or conservative vs. liberal: a rather progressive dwarf says it to an arch-conservative adversary in ''[[Discworld/Thud|Thud!]]''.

* In the [[Drake Majistral]] books, self-styled "pro-human" groups call the Khosali "rats" --— although their marked canine appearance and traits makes this strangely inappropriate.

* In some of the [[Shadowrun]] novelizations, British call orks "baldricks" -- probably—probably a reference to the [[Blackadder]] character.

* In Karin Lowachee's [[Warchild Series]], "strit" for the striviirc-na aliens and "symp" for human sympathizers (like the protagonist and his mentor).

* The werewolves in ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' have called the vampires "leeches" and "bloodsuckers" and a few others I've forgotten. The vampires tend to use "dog" like a slur as well.

* The now ubiquitous term ''[[Toon]]'' started out as a slur term for cartoon characters in the novel ''[[Who Censored Roger Rabbit? (Literature)]]?''. (Note the similarity between slurs like ''coon'' or ''cohn'') The movie adaptation ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' still uses it in this sense, although not as blatantly.

*** Given the time period ([[Fridge Logic|now that I think about it]]), it's probably more akin to saying "Colored" in the movie than the N-Word.

** Among many others: Wooks (Wookiees), Pigs (Gamorreans), Tailheads (Twi'lek), Slugs (Hutts), Bug-eyes (Rodians), Hammerheads (Ithorians; though probably not intended as an insult, they don't like it), Fish (any aquatic species), Bugs (any insectoid species, but perticularly Geonosians), Tinnies, Clankers, Machines (droids), Meatbags, Wets (organic beings), Indigs (natives of any planet), Aliens (non-Humans in general; sometimes treated as an insult, others not), Imp (anyone who works for the Empire, especially Stormtroopers; presumably short for Imperial). "Sith" is often spoken like a curse even though it's the name of an organization. Ditto for "Jedi." I'm sure there are more. "Rimkin" is a slur referring to anyone who lives in the Outer Rim.

* Mary Gentle's ''Grunts'' has elves referred to "squeakies." This may refer to the sounds they make when the hulking orcs who're the main characters bear-hug — or sometimes rape — elves to death.

* One of [[Andre Norton]]'s earliest books (''Star Rangers/The Last Planet'') had "Bemmy" --— apparently derived from the movie slang B.E.M., "bug-eyed monster," as a generic insult for nonhumans. She got [[Anvilicious]] with it to the point of including "Bemmy-lover" as an insult for any human who hung out with them.

** B.E.M. is also used as an insult by a human de-frosted from stasis in ''[[Strata]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]]. The insult is so archaic that only one person there, an alien historian, gets what it means,; the one other human present is clueless.

* Most of the human characters in ''Uller Uprising'' by [[H. Beam Piper]] refer to Ullerans as "geeks" -— except the Kragans, their closest native allies. The Ullerans, in turn, call the humans "sudabitt", the closest they can get to "son of a b*tch".

* The [[Bio PunkBiopunk]] book ''Forests Of The Night'' by S. Andrew Swann features Morey, short for the uplifted animal Moreaus, and Franks, short for the genetically enhanced human Frankensteins. As the protagonist tends to be a [[Noble Bigot with a Badge|Noble Bigot With A PI Badge]] in a [[Crapsack World]], it's never clear if there's a polite term, but the few 'good' people we run into avoid them completely.

* The [[RCN Series]] series adopted a racist term from English --— "wog" --— with the alteration that it no longer has anything to do with skin color. In the eyes of Cinnabar's spacers, you can be whatever race or ethnicity (including as blond, blue-eyed, and whiter than white as a Nazi's wet dream), but you're still a wog if ''you're not from Cinnabar''. In one book, Alliance spacers refer to members of a barbaric (but still space-traveling and high-tech) culture as "monkeys." And Leary's servant Hogg is capable of being even ''more'' insular:

* [[Tamora Pierce]] has fairly generic slurs used against non-white people in her [[Tortall Universe]] (e.g. "sand lice" for [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|the Arab-analagous Bazhir]]), and the [[Circle of Magic]] books introduce the word ''kaq'', which is... confusing. We're told first that it's used by the Tsaw'ha or Traders to refer to non-Traders, that it's very insulting, and that its main connotation is ignorance of the superior Trader way of life. Trader-ness seems to be an ethnic and/or cultural designation rather than a racial one; the only Traders whose races we're told are black, but there's an ambiguous reference to the notion of a white Trader as if it wouldn't be remarkable, and we meet plenty of black people who aren't Traders. So it appears it's more an issue of cultural xenophobia than of racism. The main Trader character, Daja, soon stops using it about the other three protagonists as they become [[Fire-Forged Friends]], but continues thinking of other non-Traders whom she ''doesn't'' like as kaqs, apparently feeling no obligation to stop thinking along generalized lines -- andlines—and her non-Trader friends adopt it for similar use against people who piss them off, as if it ''only'' means "ignorant person" and has no demographic associations. So who the hell knows what's going on there.

* In [[Gone (novel)]], the words "freaks", "mutants", "muties", "mutant freaks", "moofs", and "chuds" are all used as slurs for "kids who have mutated and developed supernatural powers".

* In the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]], "Singleton" is a terrible slur in the Bynar culture, signifying one who is unfit for bonding with another; a rejected person. To the Bynars, who (almost) always operate in pairs, this is the ultimate insult. In the [[Starfleet Corps of Engineers]] series, the character "Solomon" is on the receiving end of such abuse due to [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|his decision not to take another mate upon the death of his partner]].

* ''The Valley of Horses'' introduces 'Flathead' as an insult for Neanderthals.

* The worst insult in ''[[Guardians of Ga'Hoole]]'' is "wet pooper", related to the owls' looking down on birds that don't produce pellets.

* In the 'Rowan of Rin' series, the people of Rin call the Travellers 'slips,' after the 'slip-daisy' weed, because of their carefree nature, which is deemed useless by the serious, hard working people of Rin.

* One of the books in the ''Crisis of Empire'' series (outlined by [[David Drake]], each book actually written by a different author) had the main character organize an elite guard unit integrating humans with another species known as Cernians. The human slur for Cernian was "troll." The newly-appointed Cernian commander got the unit off to a good start when he gave his first order, "Pair off. One troll to one guwat." "Guwat" was the Cernian slur for humans, translating roughly as "tall pile of feces." After a moment of startled tension, all the soldiers thought it was funny.

** An inorganic lifeform calls humans "ugly bags of mostly water" in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode "Home Soil."

** The Andorian commander Shran refered to humans as "[[Unfortunate Implications|pinkskins]]" on ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Star Trek Enterprise]]''.

** Another Trek one--inone—in the [[Expanded Universe]], Klingons are sometimes referred to as "turtleheads" or "ridgeheads".

** ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'': "Spoonheads" or "Cardies" for Cardassians.

* ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'' has "Chiggers" or "Chigs" for the [[Bug War|insectoid enemy species]] and "Nipplenecks" or "Tanks" for the In Vitros. ([[Artificial HumansHuman]]s). In one episode, a Silicate informs one of the human characters that the Chig nickname for humans is similarly unflattering (meaning something along the lines of "red, stinking things"), but is hard to pronounce.

* ''[[Stargate]]'': "Snakeheads" or simply "snakes" for the Goa'uld.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' has "toaster" for the Cylons in general, and "bullethead" for the Centurions. Humanoid Cylon models are often referred to as "skinjobs" (a shout-out to ''Blade Runner'', as mentioned in the "Film" section).

* In ''[[Shadowrun]]'' settings, or other cyberpunk, Elves are called "keebs" (from Keebler Elves) or "dandelion eaters" as a slur.

** Humans refer to Orks and Trolls, collectively, as "Trogs". Not to be out-done, the Orks call Humans "Breeders." and humans/elves/dwarves in general "squishies". Orks are also called "tuskers". Elves and elveself posers are also called "fairies." ([[Don't Explain the Joke|Yes]], it implies [[that all elves are gay]]).

** "Troglodyte" is a generic insult for anyone accused of being primitive in reality, and also applies to cave-dwellers.

* In another [[White Wolf]] example, the superhero roleplaying game ''[[Trinity Universe (game)|Aberrant]]'' was titled after an in-setting slur -- theslur—the superhumans of the setting were more politely referred to as "novas," but those distrustful of them (and some novas out to reclaim the term) use "aberrant." By the time of far-flung sequel ''Trinity'' (which was released first), though, the novas were commonly referred to as aberrants.

* ''[[Warhammer 40000Fantasy Battle]]'' -has psychicsstunties call(dwarfs), normal humans "blunts"pointies (and are themselves "witches,"elves), "warpfreaks,"and ormanlings "madboys."(humans) .

*** According to the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novels, the term cogboy is actually one of the '''less''' degrading names the imperial guard gives to the techpriests, so it should be no surprise they don't have much positive opinions from normal people.

*** There are many more. Maybe the most polite is the Tau "Gue'la,", strictly meaning "lowest rank of human." To the tau, all beings have a name and a rank, and "la" is the lowest rank given to any member of a particular tau caste (such as a private in an army). "Gue'la" is only used on imperial humans: Humans who defect to the Tau get called "Gue'vesa" ("vesa" meaning 'helper'), and may have "'la" added to that if they join Tau society as soldiers.

* The ''[[GURPS Supers]]'' IST setting has some [[Smug Super|Smug Supers]]s refer to [[What Measure Is a Non Super|nonsupers]] as "crunchies" due to their frailness.

** And interestingly enough Traveller geeks have a collection of metafictional jokes about Vargr. This is almost [[Defictionalization]] except it is real people making real slurs about a ''fictional'' race.

* [[Dungeons and& Dragons]]

** ''[[Planescape]]'' setting has several, themostly mostdisrespectful outstandingnicknames for factions (e.g. Harmonium doesn't appreciate being called "Hardheads", but it stuck for a reason). There are also terms "prime" and "clueless." A prime is someone from the prime material plane (i.e. an actual Earth-like world, such as most regular settings) rather than from Sigil or the outer/inner planes; although technically it's purely descriptive and not derogatory, to some people this implied that the person was rural, uneducated, the "country cousin from out of town". The Clueless, on the other hand, is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|very much so]]: it refers to the archetype of people who just don't get how things work out among the planes, think their world is the center of the Multiverse, blithely run with their backward ideas ("believes everything with horns is evil") and sometimes believe they're still back home. Many planars consider ''all'' primes to be clueless by default until one joins some or other planar faction, but there'sas awiser goodones dealsay, ofnot arrogantall cluelessnessPrimes amongare Clueless... planarsand themselves,not too..all Clueless are Primes.

** Quarians are sometimes being called "suit rats" as Tali would attest.

* The ''[[Avernum]]'' series does this a lot. Racial slurs include calling Nephilim (cat people) "kitties" and [[Lizard Folk|Slithzerikai]] "lizards." Avernites get their nationality insulted constantly: "worms" by Empire citizens and "voles" by people from the Abyss.

** This also applies to Valkyrur - Selvaria is frequently referred to as a "witch" even by ''her own soldiers'', and {{spoiler|Alicia}} is treated to a kind of reverse discrimination when Gallian soldiers begin genuflecting her in the canteen.

* The "Ender" in ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' is a slur basically towards anyone born further from the Sun than you. (Earthlings to Martians, Earthlings ''and'' Martians towards Jovians).

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'' the [[Mad Scientist|Sparks]] are often called "madboys" or "madgirls" in ''[[Girl Genius]]''. [[Badass Abnormal|NotRarely to their faces, of course]].

* ''[[Drowtales]]'': 'Drowhiir' (an impolite term for drowussu or grey drow), and 'Sick Bestiality Fetish' (said of a male drow who finds human women sexually attractive) are both used in-story.

* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130624095659/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib059.html freak lovers] -- to—to be sure, the men he took down were stalking him to taunt him with the same thing.

* In ''[[The Dreadful]],'' half-demons are a fairly common humanoid race, but they're [[Fantastic Racism|second-class citizens]] and get called "Pinky," probablyor even "Blueberry" forafter their reddish skin.

{{quote| '''Gary:''' ''"What is the worst smelling animal on your planet?"''<br />

'''Church:''' ''"Erm... A skunk. Wait, so 'shisno' mean skunk?"''<br />

'''Gary:''' ''"Not exactly. Does a skunk defecate?"''<br />

'''Church:''' ''"Yes."''<br />

'''Gary:''' ''"And does the skunks defecation in turn create its own excrement?"''<br />

'''Church:''' ''"Eww... No!"''<br />

'''Gary:''' ''"Then there is no equivalent for shisno in your language."''<br />

'''Church:''' ''"Gross..."''<br />

{{quote| '''Bender''': Are you familiar with the old robot saying {{smallcaps| Does Not Compute!}}?<br />

'''Old Man Waterfall''': Sir, to me a robot is just a trash can with sparks.<br />

* In ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars|Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'', the clonetroopers call droids "clankers".

* ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' has "conedomes" for Pixies.

* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]] Unlimited'': In the episode "Hunter's Moon," Vigilante calls the Thanagarians "filthy hawks." I think that's the only time it's used, but the way it's said make it sound like "hawks" is a racial/species slur.