Misnomers

AgentMuffin

AgentMuffin

Monty Mole
Pronouns
they/she
One of my pet peeves is people using approximations of official names that just sound incorrect to me. I don't know exactly why this bothers me so much, since i can tell what is meant and that's all that ought to matter. I'm hopeful that a wiki community where proper naming conventions can be tough to settle will understand where i'm coming from.

For example, "Nintendo Wii" is just not what it's called. A lot of the console names start with "Nintendo", but this one is, quite visibly, only three letters long. Like, there's a Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and one for Wii U; notice there's no "Nintendo" in sight on the latter, because it's not the "Nintendo Wii U". If the company put its name at the start of everything it released, we'd have "Nintendo Super Mario".

Conversely, dropping some parts of titles makes my teeth itch. Super Mario Bros. and plain old Mario Bros. are totally different games. Super Mario Kart is a specific game; Mario Kart is the whole series. Super Paper Mario and Paper Mario are in both of those situations at once. So it puts me on edge when someone says "Mario 64" or the like. Just the "64" part is fine. Abbreviations like "SM64" are fine. But saying "Mario 64" feels like calling it "Super 64" (which puts me in the mood to fly through some rings), or "Up Rio 6". I don't mind saying only the distinguishing piece or subtitle, but don't just knock random pieces out of the full name!

I don't have much respect for New Super Mario Bros. Wii as a game or a name, and yet i get like this about it a lot. Calling it "(Super) Mario Bros. Wii" conjures completely different mental images of a game that doesn't exist, or perhaps a Virtual Console rerelease that does. Worse still, "Mario Wii" could refer to just about anything. It honestly sounds closer to Mario Kart Wii. And it doesn't help that i now know Super Mario Wii is a localized name for Galaxy! Thank goodness no one calls anything "Mario Nintendo-Wii", at least. I would pass out on the spot.

Quick shoutouts to "Super Mario Galaxy Wahoo" from Nintendo's own Disc Channel banner. Of course they weren't going to retake Mario pronouncing the number 2 in every possible language, but it's pretty awkward. I do think this throws into contrast all the other times a name will be fully pronounced in-game and people will still get it wrong.

Anyway, there's also "the fluddpack" (not even sure how to transcribe this!) for FLUDD from Sunshine. I have no idea how people convened on this specific name. When it acts as a jetpack, which isn't all the time, it does so using a jet of water, not by causing a flood. So why replace the "jet" in "jetpack" with "flood"? This is a lot like "Nintendo Wii" in that it's both longer and less correct than the actual name.

My final example for now is "Acorn Mushroom" for the Super Acorn. I guess there are just tons of adult gamers who don't know what an acorn or a mushroom is…? Why not start calling other bead-eyed powerups the "Flower Mushroom" or the "Star Mushroom", while we're at it!

Are there any other misnomers like these that get under your skin? Does anyone have it even worse than me and feel compelled to call Wonder "the Super Mario Bro[ther]s. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park game for the Nintendo Switch 2 system" in the artificially bright cadence of a Nintendo Direct voiceover? (Fun fact: that phrase is signficantly longer than "The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before It Happens"! Why is their marketing department doing this!)
 
it bothers me to an absurd degree how the entire fanbase has seemingly accepted without question the term "intermissions" when referring to the highway tracks in Mario Kart World, when that word is meant to refer to the waiting room lobby between online matches. In fact, I'm pretty sure the word started being used because someone saw prerelease demo footage where a menu was visible with a setting for "intermissions" and they just assumed it meant the highway tracks, and that somehow stuck.
 
Since they go between courses, they should really be called… Um, never mind.

Is "route" the official term? That should feel familiar from Pokémon as well as the US highway system, so i'm surprised it didn't catch on.
 
I call them connecters/interstates, because they connect the major locations like our real life ones do.

Routes would make the most sense, so you're probably right there
 
i honestly call them highways, i don't think there is a definitive name for them but they can't be intermissions because that's already in use and for something that fits that word more anyway.
 
I use the word "intermission" intentionally disparagingly, because that's how little I respect them as a race course in a game it's ill-fitted to be in, plus it's a jab at how Nintendo obfuscated the option in the menu in their Direct footage.

Anyway the biggest misnomer under my skin is the egregious use of the term "remix". Remix does not mean entirely new recording, it's the original song redone or layered or altered to fit a new one, hence "re-mix". I hated it seeing it used this way in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I think it's a reckless use of the term.
 
I like referring to Mario Kart Wii tracks with Wii in the title, like Wii Coconut Mall for instance. However, this is the only one lol
 
Even though it's technically correct that the franchise is both called Mario franchise and Super Mario franchise, I prefer "Mario franchise" over the latter, even though the Super Mario Wiki prefers the use of the latter (which was the result of a proposal, but I do not know how much agreed to it). For me, it felt right to use the former because Mario is very well known that people know what it's referring to, and the fact that not every Mario title have "Super Mario" in them like most of the Mario Kart games, even though Super Mario Bros. is basically the foundation game for the series.

Plus, my general feeling is that "Super Mario" has a generic vibe. "Mario" may be more basic, but it is more familiar and it felt like it could encompass more than "Super Mario", which to me feels more like it's only about the Super Mario platformers.

AgentMuffin said:
Conversely, dropping some parts of titles makes my teeth itch. Super Mario Bros. and plain old Mario Bros. are totally different games. Super Mario Kart is a specific game; Mario Kart is the whole series. Super Paper Mario and Paper Mario are in both of those situations at once. So it puts me on edge when someone says "Mario 64" or the like. Just the "64" part is fine. Abbreviations like "SM64" are fine. But saying "Mario 64" feels like calling it "Super 64" (which puts me in the mood to fly through some rings), or "Up Rio 6". I don't mind saying only the distinguishing piece or subtitle, but don't just knock random pieces out of the full name!
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The difference between Mario and Super Mario Bros is why I didn't really like it that Nintendo never quite highlight Mario's appearance in previous games from Super Mario Brothers. Is SMB the most popular appearance for Mario? That could be right, but the anniversaries are always called "Super Mario Bros. xxth Anniversary", not "Mario xxth Anniversary". The latter is sometimes used by others as though Mario never appeared in previous games. It's worse if an article's headline is just "Mario xxth anniversary".

Mario is one of the few IPs where the main character's first year is different (and earlier) from the game that many known it for. Luigi's actual anniversary was celebrated once, from the correct year (2013, which was Luigi's 30th anniversary since 1983)! It's a reason I hope that Nintendo celebrates Mario's actual anniversary (since 1981) at least once, even though it's usually superseded by Donkey Kong mainly because of a name, not helped by some people's refusal to acknowledge that Mario and Jumpman are one and the same.

Thank you for reading.
 
Not every newly-introduced track in Mario Kart is a Nitro track. That term exclusively refers to the non-retro tracks in Mario Kart DS.

Example:
- Desert Hills, Airship Fortress, Peach Gardens are Nitro tracks.
- Dolphin Shoals, Whistletop Summit, and Piranha Plant Pipeline are not Nitro tracks.

Just say new track. It's all relative to whatever game is being discussed anyway. No need to use an esoteric term.
 
winstein said:
Even though it's technically correct that the franchise is both called Mario franchise and Super Mario franchise, I prefer "Mario franchise" over the latter, even though the Super Mario Wiki prefers the use of the latter (which was the result of a proposal, but I do not know how much agreed to it). For me, it felt right to use the former because Mario is very well known that people know what it's referring to, and the fact that not every Mario title have "Super Mario" in them like most of the Mario Kart games, even though Super Mario Bros. is basically the foundation game for the series.

Plus, my general feeling is that "Super Mario" has a generic vibe. "Mario" may be more basic, but it is more familiar and it felt like it could encompass more than "Super Mario", which to me feels more like it's only about the Super Mario platformers.


The difference between Mario and Super Mario Bros is why I didn't really like it that Nintendo never quite highlight Mario's appearance in previous games from Super Mario Brothers. Is SMB the most popular appearance for Mario? That could be right, but the anniversaries are always called "Super Mario Bros. xxth Anniversary", not "Mario xxth Anniversary". The latter is sometimes used by others as though Mario never appeared in previous games. It's worse if an article's headline is just "Mario xxth anniversary".

Mario is one of the few IPs where the main character's first year is different (and earlier) from the game that many known it for. Luigi's actual anniversary was celebrated once, from the correct year (2013, which was Luigi's 30th anniversary since 1983)! It's a reason I hope that Nintendo celebrates Mario's actual anniversary (since 1981) at least once, even though it's usually superseded by Donkey Kong mainly because of a name, not helped by some people's refusal to acknowledge that Mario and Jumpman are one and the same.

Thank you for reading.
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I wanted year of Luigi 2...🥺. I was very little during the first one and wasn't even a Luigi fan yet!
 
Koopa con Carne said:
Not every newly-introduced track in Mario Kart is a Nitro track. That term exclusively refers to the non-retro tracks in Mario Kart DS.

Example:
- Desert Hills, Airship Fortress, Peach Gardens are Nitro tracks.
- Dolphin Shoals, Whistletop Summit, and Piranha Plant Pipeline are not Nitro tracks.

Just say new track. It's all relative to whatever game is being discussed anyway. No need to use an esoteric term.
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I don't think even think Retro is used for the old tracks either, it's been referred to as a "classic course" recently.
 
winstein said:
Even though it's technically correct that the franchise is both called Mario franchise and Super Mario franchise, I prefer "Mario franchise" over the latter
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I'm actually with you on this. A lot of the spinoffs don't have "Super" in the title, and of course it's not consistent one way or the other, so "Mario" feels more all-encompassing of the entire franchise. I have been trying to avoid it recently, though.

Hint Toad said:
I don't think Mario has a problem with it.
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I always interpreted this as him talking about the series or the sport itself, rather than the specific game. Kind of a badass line…

It could also be another "Galaxy Wahoo" case where they didn't want to say numbers out loud. It's a bit strange if they're willing to only use English-language recordings up to that point. I suppose it could be tricky to get the hang of numbers in another language, or for players to understand what's being said if it's written in numerals instead of words, so maybe that's why?
 
What about the Spiny Shell from the Mario Kart series being called the "Blue Shell"? I gotta admit that I call it the Blue Shell all the time, but I guess that's incorrect...

The real Blue Shell is a plain blue-colored Koopa shell with no spikes, like the power-up from New Super Mario Bros. that Mario wears on his back.
 
Xiahou Ba said:
I use the word "intermission" intentionally disparagingly, because that's how little I respect them as a race course in a game it's ill-fitted to be in
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I get being frustrated with Nintendo insisting upon their inclusion in Grand Prix and online modes with no option to play only lap-based courses, but I find the routes themselves a refreshing spin on Mario Kart gameplay. High level competitive players don't like them, but i personally find them fun. Being behind and saving a golden mushroom or star for the optimal time to cut through offroad and claim a win at the last second is satisfying. The way a lot of them serve to mix elements of different tracks as you slowly move between biomes is cool too. I just wish i could choose to play them separately from the main modes and still have access to the the fully traditional format of Grand Prix and online worldwides.
 
Maybe I would like them more if they had a 200cc option or increased the speed because I played the demo at Target and I hated it.
 
Xiahou Ba said:
Maybe I would like them more if they had a 200cc option or increased the speed because I played the demo at Target and I hated it.
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Speaking of that, I did one of those with my dad, and I found it weird it just picks a random route to a random track with your 10 minute trial time and never a 3-lap track. I think I got a route to Desert Hills on one attempt and another to Whistlestop Summit.
 
Wintertime Peach said:
What about the Spiny Shell from the Mario Kart series being called the "Blue Shell"? I gotta admit that I call it the Blue Shell all the time, but I guess that's incorrect...

The real Blue Shell is a plain blue-colored Koopa shell with no spikes, like the power-up from New Super Mario Bros. that Mario wears on his back.
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I'm one of the people who calls the Lightning Bolt from Mario Kart "the shock". Most of players online, such as Shortcat (my personal favorite Mario Kart content creator), call it the shock. I also call Spiny Shell the "Blue Shell"! It's so popular Nintendo had that in the Mario Movie! It's the same thing with the Wii Remotes. I only just started calling it the "Wiimote". Honestly, tho, it rolls better off the tongue.
 
LuigiFan24 said:
I'm one of the people who calls the Lightning Bolt from Mario Kart "the shock". Most of players online, such as Shortcat (my personal favorite Mario Kart content creator), call it the shock. I also call Spiny Shell the "Blue Shell"! It's so popular Nintendo had that in the Mario Movie! It's the same thing with the Wii Remotes. I only just started calling it the "Wiimote". Honestly, tho, it rolls better off the tongue.
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Like you said, those kind of things I say normally. I always call it a blue shell (despite being named spiny shell in the item overview section of MK8) and have always called it a Wiimote, but I recently started using "shocks" and "shock dodges" mainly because of Shortcat, but it's much easier to say in a moment during competition than the Lightning.
 
I think of "shock" and "Wiimote" as nicknames. I would be annoyed if i knew of people who think those are the official names, but i haven't looked into it.

"Wiimote" is kind of clunky because stressing the first syllable makes it no longer rhyme with the reduced vowel of "remote". It sounds like you're essentially saying "Wii Remote" anyway, just eliding the middle in rapid speech.

I interpret "shock dodge" as being short for "to dodge being shocked by the Lightning item", more or less. You could frame "shock" as referring to the aftermath, rather than the item itself, even though they're kind of interchangeable and a lot of people probably really are calling the item that. To me, it feels less like misnaming the item, just preferring a certain word to describe what it does and using a bit of metonymy with it.
 
I have never called that thing a "Blue Shell", even in my childhood. It was only really a thing I learned in online circles, because all we had in the days were instruction manuals, so we always called it the "Spiny Shell".

"Shock" is only recent terminology so I'll naturally never use it, sticking with just "Lightning Bolt".
 
Antasma said:
it bothers me to an absurd degree how the entire fanbase has seemingly accepted without question the term "intermissions" when referring to the highway tracks in Mario Kart World, when that word is meant to refer to the waiting room lobby between online matches. In fact, I'm pretty sure the word started being used because someone saw prerelease demo footage where a menu was visible with a setting for "intermissions" and they just assumed it meant the highway tracks, and that somehow stuck.
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I mean, there is an official name for them and everything, but try telling everyone who has intermissions ingrained into their system. (That and "intermissions" might be a derogatory term anyway since a lot of people seem to hate it lol)

I dunno if I have any pet peeves, but I ended up with an accidental misnomer once. Having Mario Kart Wii ever since I was a kid, I thought that Sherbet Land was called Sherbert Land, since I that was the only thing I knew. It wasn't until I think Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games where I finally realized what was up (after seeing Sherbet and thinking it was a misspelling), and needless to say, when I found out I began to rethink my life choices.
 
That's fair—the sherbet/sherbert/sorbet situation is a mess, i'm not on top of that at all
 
BMfan08 said:
I mean, there is an official name for them and everything, but try telling everyone who has intermissions ingrained into their system. (That and "intermissions" might be a derogatory term anyway since a lot of people seem to hate it lol)

I dunno if I have any pet peeves, but I ended up with an accidental misnomer once. Having Mario Kart Wii ever since I was a kid, I thought that Sherbet Land was called Sherbert Land, since I that was the only thing I knew. It wasn't until I think Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games where I finally realized what was up (after seeing Sherbet and thinking it was a misspelling), and needless to say, when I found out I began to rethink my life choices.
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It's not Sherbert Land?!
 
wait I thought Sherbert was just how Sherbet was pronounced? Is this just a case of people not noticing the spelling isn't identical to the pronunciation? (I had the opposite problem and read it without the second R until i heard its name spoken lol)
 
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