Humans by Any Other Name: Difference between revisions

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== General ==

* "Terran" (from the Latin ''Terra'', "Earth") is probably the most popular choice by far, which crept into all kinds of settings, from ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' to ''[[Blake's 7~~|Blakes Seven~~]]'' to ''[[StarCraft]]'', along with [[wikipedia:Terran|other examples]]. It probably got popular because it sounds like [[Planet of Hats|what you might call some alien race]], and, at some point, wasn't immediately recognisable as "Earth", so it feels "alien". "Terran" also [[Rule of Cool|sounds cooler]] than "Human".

* "Terran" (from the Latin ''Terra'', "Earth") is probably the most popular choice by far, which crept into all kinds of settings, from ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' to ''[[Blake's 7]]'' to ''[[StarCraft]]'', along with [[wikipedia:Terran|other examples]]. It probably got popular because it sounds like [[Planet of Hats|what you might call some alien race]], and, at some point, wasn't immediately recognisable as "Earth", so it feels "alien". "Terran" also [[Rule of Cool|sounds cooler]] than "Human".

** Note that the French for Earthling is "Terrien", which reads and sounds pretty close to Terran. Thus, in many French-translated stories where 'Terrans' are involved, their name does not sound that cool and exotic (it even sounds dull when said with ~~french~~ phonetics).

** Note that the French for Earthling is "Terrien", which reads and sounds pretty close to Terran. Thus, in many French-translated stories where 'Terrans' are involved, their name does not sound that cool and exotic (it even sounds dull when said with French phonetics).

** ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' uses the term "Terran" not to describe humans, but as a term to encompass any Earth-based sentient species, which includes humans, [[Uplifted Animal|gorillas, chimps, dolphins, and African and Indian elephants]]. And yet aliens still say, [[Fantastic Racism|"All you Terrans look alike to me"]].

** There's also the less common "Tellurian" from "Tellus", a variant Latin term for the Earth.

** There's also the less common "Tellurian" from "Tellus", a variant Latin term for the Earth. The probably-most-famous usage of these terms is in the ''[[Lensman]]'' novels.

* "Solar(i)an" (from latin ''Sol'', "Sun") is used less frequently, but to exactly the same effect.

* An older established term was "Earthling" - something of a [[Discredited Trope]], as nowadays this brings to mind "naive children under the bootheels of little green ~~martians~~", rather than "badasses". [[Puny Earthlings|It also immediately conjures up the word "Puny".]]

* An older established term was "Earthling" - something of a [[Discredited Trope]], as nowadays this brings to mind "naive children under the bootheels of little green Martians", rather than "badasses". [[Puny Earthlings|It also immediately conjures up the word "Puny".]]

** ''[[Star Control]]'' used the term "Earthling Cruiser" to describe our Alliance starship in the first game. The subsequent game([[Canon Discontinuity|s]]) switched to calling them "Human Cruisers" likely due to the word's discrediting.

* It's worth bearing in mind that there are several technical words for "beings closely taxonomically related to humans". "Hominid" used to mean "humans and their extinct relatives", but according to [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:Hominid|the modern term for this is "hominan"]]. [[The More You Know]]...

** The term "humanoid" refers to anything relatively human-shaped (bipedal, upright, two arms, one head), including [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]], [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]], and denizens of the [[Uncanny Valley]]. Sentience and genetic relation to humankind are not required.

== Anime & Manga ==