Of the People: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''They called themselves the Munrungs. It meant The People, or The True Human Beings. It's what most people call themselves, to begin with. And then one day the tribe meets some other people and calls them The Other People or, if it's not been a good day, The Enemy. If only they'd think up a name like Some More True Human Beings, it'd save a lot of trouble later on.''|'''[[Terry Pratchett]]''', |''[[The Carpet People]]''}}

The [[Proud Warrior Race]] of [[Noble Savage|Noble Savages]]s has what the heroes perceive as a simple, [[Mighty Whitey|possibly even backwards]], culture. During their talks or negotiations (or heated battles), however, they'll run into one [[Blue and Orange Morality|nearly incomprehensible]] linguistic and cultural custom: Their name for their tribe is translated "The People", but the name they have for the heroes? "Not-People".

For some reason, [[Can't Argue Withwith Elves|no one argues]] with their exclusionist views. Alternately, heroes who [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|share similar]], [[What Measure Is a Mook?|unspoken sentiments]] and act in exactly the same ways may either [[What the Hell, Hero?|be called out on it]], or [[Moral Dissonance|fail to notice]] their own [[Hypocrite|hypocrisy]] when calling them out on their values.

This trope is inspired by--butby—but not the same as--aas—a fairly common occurrence in the names that peoples historically gave to themselves and their neighbors. The most famous example in the West is the autonym (name given to themselves) of the Germans of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, ''diutisc''. ''Diutisc'' means "[[Trope Namer|of the people]]" and is reflected in the modern German word ''Deutsch'' ("German", with the meaning "of the people" known only as a curiosity to the linguistically inclined) and the English word "Dutch" (which Netherlandish people haven't used for centuries). Its linguistic opposite was ''Walha(z)'', "stranger" or "foreigner", which gave its name to such diverse places as [[Useful Notes/Belgium|Wallonia]], [[Useful Notes/Romania|Wallachia]], and [[Land of My Fathers and Their Sheep|Wales]], which have in common that they were places Germanic people met non-Germanic ones. Similarly, the word "Slav" is derived from a common Slavic word for "speech" or "talk"; the Slavic peoples often applied the term "nemetsi" (or similar terms), meaning "mute", to their neighbors, particularly Germans (resulting in many Slavic languages having derived words for Germany and German--andGerman—and Persian and Arabic calling Austria ''Nimsa''/''Nimse'' to this day). On a related note, "Inuit" means "the people" in Inuktitut.

As{{noreallife|as you may have noticed, these terms identify the group as "the people" or "the speaking ones"--they—they don't deny other groups' humanity, they simply identify themselves as a people--aspeople—as in a nation/tribe/whatever--andwhatever—and foreigners as, well, foreigners--humanforeigners—human, but not of the nation/tribe/group. As a result, these are ''not'' examples, nor are most similar linguistic situations; ones that arguably are can cause conflict, so '''[[No Real Life Examples, Please]]'''.}}

* The Na'vi in ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]'' skirt very close to this trope. When Jake finally wins them over and joins the tribe, their ceremony explicitly says he is now "of the people". They also call humans "sky people", so they aren't exactly dehumanizing <small>(hee)</small> us.

* In ''[[Little Big Man (Film)|Little Big Man]]'', the character played by Dustin Hoffman used the term "Human Being" when referring to "The People".

* The Mri in the ''[[CJC. J. Cherryh|]]'s ''Faded Sun Trilogy]]'' means "people". What do these cat like aliens call humans and regul? Tsi-mri, "not-people". This makes the entry of Duncan into their society all the more noteworthy, and the inclusion of three humans in their holy records unheard of for any other species. They're still [[Can't Argue Withwith Elves|unapologetic]] [[Our Elves Are Better|space elves]] though (but we like them anyway).

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[The Carpet People]]''. See page quote.

** This trope is deeply examined by Pratchett's co-authors in the ''[[The Science of Discworld]]'' books, in which Cohen and Stewart refer to the cultural conditioning and education of children as the "Make-A-Human-Being Kit". Every tribe has one exclusive to itself, and if you grew up in a culture that uses a different version of the Kit, your status as a True Human Being is probationary at best.

** A similar idea is used in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Interesting Times|Interesting Times]]'', though with countries instead of people:

{{quote| It is more than just a wall, it is a marker. On one side is the Empire, which in the Agatean language is a word identical with "universe". On the other side is - nothing. After all, the universe is everything there is.<br />

* The ''[[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]]'' fairies refer to themselves as The People. Even the few humans who have contact with them, such as Artemis, use that name. They refer to humans as Mud Men.

* In Mary Doria Russell's speculative fiction novel, ''The Sparrow'', one of the two species of aliens present in the work refer to themselves as the "Runa," which simply translates into "the people." However, the Runa seem very tolerant of the differences of outsiders. When a group of humans make first contact with some Runa, the villagers dub them "foreigners," using a word that literally means "people from the next river valley."

* The aliens [[Science Marches On|inhabiting Jupiter]] in Isaac Asimov's short story "Not Final!" alternate between this and comparing humans to vermin.

* Treecats in ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]]'' call themselves "The People" and call humans "two-legs". This is not out of disdain; they are in fact rather in awe of humans.

* Steven Brust renders this attitude by having [[Dragaera|Dragaerans]]ns (elves, more or less) and Easterners (humans, apparently), referring to themselves as "humans", and considering the other group not humans.

* The Ai-Naidar of ''[[Kherishdar]]'' consider themselves people, and everything else including aliens "other" - humans are in some way lumped in with rocks and animals (and gods, [[Blue and Orange Morality|oddly enough]]).

* In ''[[Ender's Game|Speaker For The Dead]]'', it's explained that there are four words for the varying kinds of 'people' that by the end of the book have become commonplace- one for the person of your own tribe/family/city, one for the person of another country/city/world, one for the person who is of another species, and one for the alien.

* The Temuji of the ''[[RangersRanger's Apprentice]]'' series have named themselves The People. Anyone who isn't them isn't a person, and so they have no more qualms about killing others - no matter how old or young - than we have of stepping on an ant.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In ''[[Traveller]]'' the Aslan name themselves ''Fteir'' which means "People of honor". Which doesn't mean non-aslan are not people, just that they are dishonorable.

* Dolphins in ''[[Rifts]]'' refer to Humans and only Humans as "Land People". Non-humans who also happen to be landlubbers are only referred to as "Others". Taking it a step further, Humans who live and work on the sea are given an extra step up and called "Boat People".

* In older versions of ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', Halflings in their own language refer to themselves as "The People" and use other words (not all complimentary) for other races. This is used to justify why their general name is a bit of a [[Fantastic Racism|slur against their height]] whereas other races have names derived from their own languages (in general).

* Among the various names for [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|the Uratha]] is "the People."

{{quote| '''Roxane:''' Nay, but I felt a terror, here, in the heart, <br />

On learning yesterday you were Gascons <br />

All of your company...<br />

'''Cyrano:''' And we provoke <br />

All beardless sprigs that favor dares admit <br />

'Midst us pure Gascons—(pure! Heaven save the mark! <br />

They told you that as well? <br />

'''Roxane:''' Ah! Think how I <br />

Trembled for him! <br />

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