Not Using the Z Word: Difference between revisions

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* Subverted in ''[[30 Days of Night]]'', where one character asks "if they aren't vampires, then what the hell are they?" after being told it's ridiculous to assume that the monsters are exactly that.

* The vampires of ''[[Near Dark]]'' are never referred to as vampires, despite the blood-drinking, extra strength, lack of aging and general vampire-ness.

* In [[Steven Spielberg]]'s version of ''[[The War of the Worlds (film)|The War of the Worlds]]'' the characters go out of their way to avoid describing the clearly alien invaders as "aliens".

* In [[Steven Spielberg]]'s version of ''[[The War of the Worlds (2005 film)||The War of the Worlds]]'' the characters go out of their way to avoid describing the clearly alien invaders as "aliens".

* [[Superhero]] movies sometimes do this also.

** ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' in which the term "[[Iron Man]]" wasn't used until after nearly everything was over (and the hero was named by the media, not Tony Stark).

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** In Generation Dead, dead teenagers become [[Our Zombies Are Different|non-deadly zombies]] and emo goes out of style. However, the insanely PC folks of the 'verse insist on calling the zombies "living-impaired" and don't get that zombies don't really care; they just want to live normal "lives," so to speak.

* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[The Graveyard Book]]'', Silas is obviously a vampire, but the word is never used.

* The vampires in ''Peeps'' by Scott Westerfield are pointedly not referred to as vampires, instead they're called "Peeps" which is short for Parasite-Positive. They're explicitly acknowledged to be the source of vampire legends, but the modern [[Doing in the Wizard|and scientifically literate]] vampires just feel self-conscious using it, probably because it sounds pretentious.

* The vampires in ''Peeps'' by Scott Westerfield are pointedly not referred to as vampires, instead they're called "Peeps" which is short for Parasite-Positive. They're explicitly acknowledged to be the source of vampire legends, but the modern [[Doing In the Wizard|and scientifically literate]] vampires just feel self-conscious using it, probably because it sounds pretentious.

* Explicitly parodied in the fourth book of ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. Harry is attacked by a fairy plant monster that he insists on calling a "Chlorofiend", a term he just made up because he'd feel silly saying he was attacked by a plant monster. He does call Zombies as such though.

* [[Stationery Voyagers]] has ''[[Our Vampires Are Different|Mosquatlons]]'', who consider it mildly offensive to be referred to as "vampires," though they've come to accept it. Likewise, the Aviatets are in their bird form all the time, and mildly object to the [[Transformation Trauma|morphic]] slurs "werebirds" and "werecanaries."

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** The trope is incompletely sustained, but justified where it is. Vampires know they're vampires, werewolves know they're werewolves, everyone else in on the Masquerade knows they're vampires and werewolves. But they call themselves by something more flattering and the others more insulting. Vampires, for instance, tend to call werewolves and mages "lupines" and "warlocks," whereas those groups might call vampires "bloodsuckers" or "leeches". The same thing extends to humans; few people refer to themselves and others as 'humans', and the vampire label them the more condescending 'kine'.

** ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'' establishes that the name used for the [[Walking Wasteland]] supernaturals that are the game's subject is mostly just for-the-players's-convenience shorthand, and that most of the titular species wouldn't even ''recognize'' the term. There are simply too few of them for the Created to have an accepted species name.

* Due to a [[Moral Guardians|religious flap]] about the presence of demons and devils in the game, ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' was forced to refer to the inhabitants of the Abyss and the Inferno as "Baatezu" and "Tanar'ri" for many long years. And then they tried to return and ended up with a mix of both. As one of narrators in "[http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5248 Hellbound:The Blood War]" put it:

* Due to a [[Moral Guardians|religious flap]] about the presence of demons and devils in the game, ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' was forced to refer to the inhabitants of the Abyss and the Inferno as "Baatezu" and "Tanar'ri" for many long years. And then they tried to return and ended up with a mix of both. As one of narrators in "[http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5248 Hellbound:The Blood War]" put it:

{{quote|Most berks think that the Blood War's nothing more than the battle between dem-- no, wait. That ain't the right word. For one thing, it's a sure road to woe. Calling the fiends by the d-words is no better than insulting any other group of folks because of the way they look or act. Not only does it infuriate them, it marks the speaker as a crass boor, someone to be shunned (or killed). Might as well call a bariaur a randy goat, or a slaad a slimy toad. It's a mark of ignorance, plain and simple, and it'll paint a body to be as Clueless as they come.

When speaking of the evil creatures that fight the Blood War, just call them "baatezu" and "tanar'ri", or "the fiends." Or [[The Scottish Trope|call them nothing at all]]; that way, a body's not as likely to draw their attention. }}