Death of a mailmare...

[chipuni]

If you don't know what the Derpy kerfuffle is about, there are good summaries at Derpy has been modified and Derpy's New Voice.

When I wrote the story Death of a mailmare, I used the name "Ditsy". When MLP:FIM officially named the character, I changed my story to use the name "Derpy". At my level of knowledge and ignorance, I consider both names

Comments

[zorinlynx]

My upset comes from the fact that they threw us such an awesome bone, then withdrew it because a very small number of people complained.

People are too obsessed with political correctness, and give waaay too much creedence to small groups of people who are offended by pretty much EVERYTHING.

It's not so much Derpy, but the principle. Once again a huge company capitulated because of a few whiners. This is the same crap that resulted in the huge deal over the "wardrobe malfunction" at the superbowl a few years ago; if the media had simply ignored the complainers, it wouldn't have been a big deal.

[oliver_otter]

This.

And also how badly it was done. It has been canonical since "Winter Wrap-Up" there is an incompetent pegasus pony named Ditzy Doo. And long suspected (even stated by Lauren Faust last season as a distinct possibility) that Ditzy Doo would get a voiced part and turn out to be Derpy in season 2. It would've been just as easy to re-dub Dash's line as "Careful, Ditzy!" I was surprised they called her Derpy in the first place when Ditzy Doo was already a canonical name (and one Hasbro owned). Ditzy (and Dash complaining about Ditzy being a "bubblehead") would've still been at least somewhat respectful to tradition. And respectful to the handicapped. Derpy is one of the most beloved characters in the show; how is it offensive to the mentally handicapped to say they can be highly valued despite their issues? And how is it possibly less offensive to say the solution to having a slow-witted and clumsy individual some people find unsightly is to essentially delete her

[centauress]

So girls can only have bubbly-high-pitched voices?

That's also insulting.

:P

[flutterbychild]

I like the show and I like Bubblecup as she is now, a accident prone, clumsy pony. I'll keep watching.

[centauress]

So it's okay to insult bubble-headed blond bimbos instead?

Which has more jokes written about it, and which actually impacts how much money you can make in professional work, a name so esoteric hardly anyone knew it, or blondes are clumsy and stupid?

[flutterbychild]

It's not okay to make fun of anyone. I didn't see her as being a "dumb blonde", I just saw her as a generally sweet, good natured pony who is a bit oblivious at times, clumsy and accident prone.

[centauress]

That's a bit naive.

[loganberrybunny]

Not being a pony person, I'm not entirely sure (even after reading the linked text) what the actual reason for changing the name was. Not being American, either, I don't know how strong a term "derpy" actually is. Does anyone actually consider it offensive, for example? (Here in the UK, for example, "retarded" is widely considered very offensive, which doesn't seem to be quite so much the case in the US.)

[chipuni]

It's a new term, spread through the Internet.

Is it offensive? I consider it so... but not strongly offensive.

[loganberrybunny]

I think it's a Transatlantic divide thing. To me, "retard" in particular is very offensive, as much so in its way as the likes of "nigger". You simply didn't see it in the UK before the internet unless someone was trying to be that offensive. It's probably the AmEng term of abuse I have the most difficulty with accepting as relatively mild.

It works the other way as well, of course, though in different fields. For example, the game most Americans call "Telephone" is still almost universally known as "Chinese whispers" in the UK, even in quite formal contexts. (Here's a Cambridgeshire NHS page using it, in point 6.)

[oliver_otter]

In US usage, even spelling out "The N-Word" when referring to it is considered offensive. *deletes your name and changes your voice for it* ;-)

[equusmaximus]

I must admit that I like the new voice a lot more, partly because now I can actually understand her, but I'm rather disturbed that the zealous complaining by a few "politically correct" individuals could create such a backlash. Removing her name, "un-derping" her eyes, and generally making her into a regular (albiet somewhat clumsy) pony is really going too far. For what it's worth, I always felt that "derpy" just meant "silly" or "clumsy"... Of course, I also thought (way back when) that "yiffy" meant "beautiful" or "very attractive"... *sigh* It was so nice to be innocent and naive. :/