Not Using the Z Word: Difference between revisions

* In ''Defoe'', zombies are referred to as 'reeks', though Defoe himself has the title 'zombie-hunter general'.

* In ''[[Empowered]]'', reanimated supers really hate the "z-word."

 

== Fan Works ==

** Justified in that the book is set in 1980, and the four haven't been [[The Beatles]] for ten years, and the author isn't trying to reunite them in that way.

* ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Dragon]]'' never refers to [[qipao]]s in-story, even in the narration, using that term; the [[Qipao]] is always referred to as a "Chinese dress" or something similar.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Braindead]]'', the one time the word "zombie" is used, the corpse of Lionel's mother immediately kills the hooligan who says it. [[Genre Savvy|Maybe she took offense.]]

* The protagonists in ''[[Primer]]'' never refer to their time machine as a time machine, nor do they use the words time travel to describe their time travel.

 

== Literature ==

* Kit Whitfield's ''Bareback'' (''Benighted'' in the US) is about a world where [[Our Werewolves Are Different|nearly everyone is a werewolf]]; they are referred to only as "lycanthropes" or "lycos." She discussed this in an interview, saying that [[B-Movie]]s have rendered the word "werewolf" [[Ruined FOREVER|utterly unusable]].

* The vampiric narrator of Steven Brust's ''Agyar'' never once uses the word "vampire," nor does he ever explicitly describe himself feeding on blood, though he does so many times. Agyar tells the story simply to put his thoughts on paper, and therefore does not explain anything that would be second nature to himself.

** Not to mention the fact that Zombies prefer to be called the [[Political Correctness Gone Mad|Vitally Impaired]].

*** Or the "Differently Alive." Though actually quite a few zombies don't mind being called zombies. Even Reg Shoe, the biggest undead rights activist in Ankh-Morpork, has never objected specifically to the ''word'' "zombie."

{{quote|'''[http://www.egscomics.com/?date{{=}}2010-05-21 Susan]:''' You know what? Screw it. It was a vampire. [...] Not really, but it was a monster that used to be human, hypnotized young women, and sucked blood out of their necks. It doesn't matter what I say. You two are going to hear ''"vampire"''.}}

* Very, very much averted in ''[[Zombie Ranch]]''. Not only does the [[Show Within a Show|in-universe show]] have the same title as the comic, the characters are constantly referring to the zombies as zombies. Justified by it being over twenty years since the dead first started to walk. There's no denying their everyday existence, so why make up new words?

 

== Web Original ==

* To certain sects in the alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die USENET newsgroup and it's sister website The Jihad To Destroy Barney On The Web, use of [[Barney and Friends|It Of The Ol' One Tooth's]] name is blasphemous and is believed to give him power. Thus many derogatory names were invented to label that Purple Pedophile in place of the monster's name.

* ''[[How to Write Badly Well]]'' [http://writebadlywell.blogspot.com/2010/08/beat-around-bush.html parodies it.]

* [[Xombie]]

* Averted by [[The League of STEAM]]; their zombie manservant is even ''named'' "Zed".

 

== Western Animation ==

** Considering that Bible comes from the Greek for "Book," maybe its just a case of [[Translation Convention]].

* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' "Treehouse of Horror XX" there's is a 'muncher' outbreak started by eating infected hamburgers. Notably, the segment is mostly an extended parody of ''28 Days Later'', listed above.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Tropes of the Living Dead]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Name's Not the Same]]