Am I just an idiot?

[Damage]

So Pokemon names lately have been blowing my mind as I've been writing more and more about them. And I'm questioning how many obvious names they've made that I should of caught on too.

Latest discovery Feraligatr. It literally just says feral gator. Am I an idiot or was that not obvious to anyone else.

[BlueMoonIceCream]

I feel like there was one recently that I had the same thing with?

[Alextron]

Did you know that Ekans is Snake backwards? The same goes for Arbok as it's Kobra backwards.

[Dreamy]

Did you know that Ekans is Snake backwards? The same goes for Arbok as it's Kobra backwards.

This one bothers me slightly as "Kobra" is almost always spelt with a C (Cobra)

[Monochrome_Complex]

Chimecho being chime+echo. The whole wind chime theme was lost on me for a long time until gen 4 with finding out chingling was his prevo(which I didn't even know until I evolved it by accident). And even then I kept pronouncing it wrong until years later.

[Lugruf]

Trubbish is trash + rubbish

[Masquerain]

Here's a very stupidly obvious one that took me longer than it should have to realize- Drifloon ... ......... Imean lookatit, it's so obvious but for a time, I was too stuck on the drift part and never rly noted that the loon is part of balloon -smh-

[Ironbound]

Do not worry. You suffer not from idiocy but from a severe underappreciation of puns. A few sessions with me will do the trick, I'll wager.

For instance, I suggest that you go to Bulbapedia and look at the 'Name Origin' section of all Pokémon, and understand that most of them have a name pun that varies from basic to clever.

Look at the Lake Trio that represents Spirit, for instance. They have been said to inculcate Wisdom, Emotion and Willpower in people, and their respective names are:

Wisdom: Uxie = You (indicating knowledge of the other) + Pixie

Emotion: Mesprit = Me (the self anf its passions) + Sprite

Willpower: Azelf = Us (strength is in unity) + Elf

Pretty neat, what? Although Mesprit should be called Desprit because it's such absolute ass.

[BlueMoonIceCream]

Wait, I was thinking of Mai valentine from Yu-Gi-Oh... can you guess where I went wrong?

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

Recently, I had a similar epiphany that berries all have fruit-related names. I knew Nanab Berry for banana, but didn't notice the others (not even that Pinap is pineapple).

[Masquerain]

Recently, I had a similar epiphany that berries all have fruit-related names. I knew Nanab Berry for banana, but didn't notice the others (not even that Pinap is pineapple).

your post made me realize the fruitnames of some berries i didn't notice before...such as iapapa berry (papaya) , pecha berry (peach) , razz berry (raspberry), bluk berry (blackberry) , mago berry (mango) ..so many.. now I have to go through the entire berry list and notice each fruit name

[Ironbound]

Fun fact:

Babiri Berry = Biriba, a kind of spiny tropical fruit related to custard apples.

[ZEL]

Not as much related to not being aware of the pun, but when I first played Black, I was entirely too amused by the fact that Stoutland's German name is Bissbark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck

They named the darn thing "Bitebark" and made it a pun about one of our most famous politicians and his moustache. I have all the appreciation for this.

[Damage]

I think i do have an underappreciation for puns. Some of these are so obvious. Some not so much, You could put a gun to my head I wouldn't of figured out the spirit trio's origin.

[Masquerain]

Not as much related to not being aware of the pun, but when I first played Black, I was entirely too amused by the fact that Stoutland's German name is Bissbark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck

They named the darn thing "Bitebark" and made it a pun about one of our most famous politicians and his moustache. I have all the appreciation for this.

that's quite nice

I'm not one of them, but I know some people took a while to notice the puns in Deino, Zweilous and Hydreigon

[Jmanultrax1]

Um wingull people

[Masquerain]

Always knew that one, but it took me a while to get that krookodile was a corruption of "crook" (that croc looks like a bandit/thief and all) and not just a simple corruption of crocodile

Edited August 21, 2016 by Masquerain

[NickCrash]

Meanwhile, non-native speakers just played the game wondering how they would remember all those names without connecting them to already known words (Nicky-boy, 10-years-old).

..only to discover we can learn English from that shit (Nicky-boy, who knew what "aurora" was and managed to fit it in an English essay)

...just to realize when he plays back due to nostalgia that they would have been so obvious to past him.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Dragonite is indeed an avian reptile in shining armor despite its horrible table manners and negative IQ.

[pyrromanis]

Meanwhile, non-native speakers just played the game wondering how they would remember all those names without connecting them to already known words (Nicky-boy, 10-years-old).

02

..only to discover we can learn English from that shit (Nicky-boy, who knew what "aurora" was and managed to fit it in an English essay)

I just remembered when the English teacher asked me in the classroom why I knew the definition of a word and the others didn't (trying to get the answer that I studied and learned it...)! My answer "I play Pokemon a lot" was definetely an answer she didn't expect to hear lol

[Froiky]

Look at the Lake Trio that represents Spirit, for instance. They have been said to inculcate Wisdom, Emotion and Willpower in people, and their respective names are:

Wisdom: Uxie = You (indicating knowledge of the other) + Pixie

Emotion: Mesprit = Me (the self anf its passions) + Sprite

Willpower: Azelf = Us (strength is in unity) + Elf

I never knew that. One that I just realized though. I though that Rotom was just a play on rotor, but it's also motor backwards. Why did I not see that?

[Monochrome_Complex]

Still trying to figure out Drapion. I get the -pion being from scorpion(even though I always say Dray-pee-on) but what about Dra? Is it just derived from Dark and having the r and a switched? Or is Dra coming from drapes or drag?

That one I don't quite get.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

Still trying to figure out Drapion. I get the -pion being from scorpion(even though I always say Dray-pee-on) but what about Dra? Is it just derived from Dark and having the r and a switched? Or is Dra coming from drapes or drag?

That one I don't quite get.

Maybe Dracula? It's got some sharp teeth.

[Monochrome_Complex]

Huh I never thought about that. Definitely possible given its dark typing, though not really fitting for the pokemon itself. But neither is hitmonlee/chan.

[NickCrash]

Bruce Lee is the obvious name origin, since he was a top martial artist. Jaqui Chan is more comical but also a top martial artist, so they were included together. The oddball (and the one with the best design) is their cousin, Hitmontop.

[Monochrome_Complex]

Hitmonlee is based off Tae Kwon Do/kickboxing and Hitmonchan boxing, which neither Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan are really known for. Kind of silly to name martial arts pokemon after martial artist who don't even practice the same art. Those two were chosen due for their popularity among English speaking audiences rather than the pokemon itself.

It's the equivalent of naming Sawk after Myke Tyson and Throh after Muhammad Ali. Sure they're great fighters and all but they have nothing to do with karate and judo.

Kangaskhan is rather stupid too looking back.