Anyone else hate British cuteness?

[electric_warrior]

You guys are far more obsessed with cute than we are, what on earth are you talking about?

 

[dex-dex]

muggle use to be a term for marijuana in the 20's and 30's
I would not call that cute.

 

[Quellist]

Just to join the other Brits bashing back at American fantasy...

Sticking 'Indeed' into every fucking sentence spoken doesn't make you sound authentically Medieval.

 

[ghostalker.cepo]

Anything cute we British may do is heavily under toned in darkness, despair, or cynicism. Americans may not penetrate to that. Also, where do you think dead baby jokes come from?

 

[Susan Arendt]

So what you're saying is, you're annoyed because a British author of a childrens book used a cute term for something. Whereas another British author pretty much laid the foundation for the way you're suggesting things "should" be done.

You have to realize you're being a complete doofus, right?

 

[Mark Flanagan]

British Cuteness? Really? Just like the Japanese? Really?...

We don't do cute; one random word from (and lets be frank) a children's book is what your basing this on?

Hell from reading Doctor Seuss I'll make a generalist statement that all Americans speak in limerick and like big stripy hats...

 

[jprf]

Remember Lord of the Rings, the granddaddy of modern fantasy? British, not particularly cute.
And 'muggle' is actually kind of a racial slur withing the Harry Potter universe. The word itself is a tad strange (originally the books were for a very young audience), but the connotations are anything but cute.

So yeah, I join with my countrymen in asking what the hell?

Uhm, Muggle is not a racial slur in the books. They even have "Muggle Studies". You're thinking of Mudblood.

If you look at the later books, the dark wizards certainly treat 'muggle' as a slur- they see them as lower forms of life, creatures to be eradicated. I always saw it as kind of a holocaust reference.

Yeah, I'm a massive geek.

And I don't like to have to watch a bloody ad just to get my captcha and make a forum post.
Huh, my captcha seems to agree with me, it's 'axe to grind'

That still doesn't mean "Muggle" is ever used as a racial slur in the books. The Death Eaters and certain Ministry officials certainly believe the magical community are better than Muggles, but their name never became a slur. Mudblood, however, was referenced time and time again as being the racial slur.

I disagree, but whatever. Different ways of interpreting it I suppose.

 

[murphy7801]

As an American, I do like British culture, especially comedy, but I can't get over their obsession with making everything cute.

I'm not even sure if cute is the right word, it's just the best word I can muster. They don't just apply cute names to things like the Japanese do, but apply cuteness and expect everyone to take it seriously. I can't get into Harry Potter, though I'm sure it's brilliantly written, just because non-magic users are referred to as Muggles. To compare, the Final Fantasy series has creatures called Moogles, but FF doesn't force us to take them seriously.

Again, it might just be the fact that I'm American. I'm used to mystical things sounding sort of Asian or Middle Eastern and putting apostrophes in random places. An ancient secret society should be called Kal'sur and the mystical weapon should be Dor'salim. So if non-magic using people in the HP universe were called Cara'sin instead of Muggles, maybe I wouldn't be posting this on the net, but as it is, Muggles is a word that forces me to accept the fact that I'm reading a book written for an 8 year old even though the later novels grow with the audience.

As it is, I hate British naming of Fantasy things. Posters should feel free to add their own grievances.

As a french Irishmen living in the uk are you on crack seriously they have chavs also uk has many elements ever looked at the picts or the celts the normans. I think what you describing is some some Americanized pre conceived non sense you got in your head.

 

[jprf]

Original Post

Yes I despise British cuteness.

But to be fair I also despise American Modesty, German sloppy workmanship, French military prowess, Italian food, Japan's bizarre hatred of tentacles, Swiss partisanship, Vatican Cities atheism, Australia's high quality of acting talent, Norwegian hatred of fish and the Netherlands repressive drugs laws.

I was with you until 'italian food.' Italy has great food!

 

[weker]

Muggles is a word that forces me to accept the fact that I'm reading a book written for an 8 year

and there lies your issue ITS A KIDS BOOK nothing else to say really. If you called them as-gal-dee-ens then kids would have issues reading the word, furthermore their not going to change the word half way through the series.
your general problem is you don't like the fact that the KIDS books are made for KIDS, but go on to generalize it to more British culture.

 

[Yosato]

British cuteness? Fuck, have you SEEN some of the people who live over here? You can't just take a single element from one series and apply it to the whole of British fantasy. If you could provide a few more examples then that would clear things up, but as of now I'm just going to use the very un-cute British phrase of:

"Yer chattin' shit lad."

 

[Robert Ewing]

Brits have an unhealthy obsession with pets. Maybe that's where it comes from? In every street in this awesome and majestic country there is a woman with 10,000 cats. (I kid you not.)

And I guess because places like Glasgow, Some areas of London, Birmingham, Manchester are so backward and terrifying places to be- maybe we need some form of release in the form of cute and cuddly?

 

[thelonewolf266]

Britain? Cute? You obviously haven't been to Glasgow on a dark Saturday night.

Psst... you're not meant to tell them that before they get here, how am I meant to mug him for all his worldly possessions if you scare him off like that.

Yeah in Britain cynicism and self depreciating humour are the word of the day.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

Again, it might just be the fact that I'm American. I'm used to mystical things sounding sort of Asian or Middle Eastern and putting apostrophes in random places. An ancient secret society should be called Kal'sur and the mystical weapon should be Dor'salim. So if non-magic using people in the HP universe were called Cara'sin instead of Muggles, maybe I wouldn't be posting this on the net, but as it is, Muggles is a word that forces me to accept the fact that I'm reading a book written for an 8 year old even though the later novels grow with the audience.

Hell I'm an American as well and I vastly prefer the word Muggle over the stupidly pretentious Cara'sin. The fact that most fantasy authors need to invent words is one of the major problems with modern fantasy to me, it worked for Tolkien cause he didn't just throw some random syllables together he crafted entire languages. I'm not an author but I have successfully ran a few D&D campaigns that lasted for multiple years, want to know what what I called the Faery like creatures that inhabited the woodlands of my homebrew setting? FAERIES, when in doubt with creating any type of setting go for simplicity.

 

[MonocleClaire]

I'm British and this topic makes no fucking sense.

 

[Coop83]

I can't get into Harry Potter, though I'm sure it's brilliantly written, just because non-magic users are referred to as Muggles. To compare, the Final Fantasy series has creatures called Moogles, but FF doesn't force us to take them seriously.

You do realise that Harry Potter was aimed at kids, right? It's not stereotypically British for us to make things "cute", just an unfortunate name in a story about a pre-teen kid at the stage where you encounter "muggles" for the first time.

I'm not a fan of Harry Potter, though I suspect that I will have to be subjected to these books and films at some stage, before I decide it's high time my children experience things like Watchmen and other proper films - I'm just responding to the generalisation.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Well um sure I too am an American, and I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Agent Larkin]

The British don't make things cute. They just happen to be the second most sarcastic people in the world.

Second?

Who, pray tell, is the first?

Definitely not the Irish.

 

[drummond13]

Congratulations, you've succeeded in being annoyed at something almost nobody else in the world is annoyed at. That takes drive.

 

[KingofallCosmos]

I generally don't care about pretentiousness - it just looks cool.

I mean, Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl fhtan?

How is that not awesome?

Because it looks like you're in a bad tv show trying to fend off hackers

...though I admit when read out loud it does sound out of this world. It just doesn't fit in a magic world colliding with british school life.

Edit: Anybody read some of Walter Moers' work? Also for children and adults. There the innocent/childlike approach only provides more imaginative storytelling. Children's novels hold little boundaries, whereas fantasy novels tend to reuse the same elements over and over.