oih, interesting article, RailRide. now I finally know what happened back when, since it's repercussions toward europe's dfandom were rather... marginal. I heard about it, but I don't think it dampened any amount of adult artwork done on the other side of the big pond.
a german specialty of Fan Dumb(tm) (somebody really should TM that term) is the excessive use of imported english terms, all the while some of them change their meaning after a while. (you guys probably wouldn't want to know what german marketing execs do to your language)
there once was a lengthy discussion on a german furry forum centering around the difference of 'costume' and '
fursuit'. basically both do the same, hiding the human wearing it from plain sight. now in germany, a fursuit does much more... or does it? (I know, a fursuit shows specifically a human-like animal of some sorts, but it's still a costume).
likewise, german furries like to say 'tail' (the english word) in conversations, since the german word 'Schwanz' also serves as a slang term for the male's third arm. so they all go [silly giggle] trying to pronounce it, and instead use english terms for it. something that can read very ridiculous, since the meaning is the same... even more hilarity ensues if those don't really speak english, and thus don't really know what they're saying.
likewise, the english word 'mate' is often used to describe a lover, or significant other, and posting a link to a dictionary often results in a severe blush.
furifying words doesn't work as well in german, only if you'd use english terminology. (it is frowned upon because not everyone is really capapble of speaking english [or die] even though they try to teach us in school. some people simply have no talent for foreign languages)
another Fan Dumb(tm) thing is the severe, red-head inducing discussion following the heavily Disney-fied "The Lion, the with and the wardrobe" movie. really, the only instance it ocurred to me was one scene where you saw Aslan's backside for a second. do we really need to verify the gender of all animals CGI'd in this movie?
want some more? some heated discussion centered around someone's
fursona which was supposed to show an living, inflatable rubber suit with a back zipper. so what does that have to do with
furry? nothing, of course. it is about fetish, not
furry, you moralists.
the most heated replies came from those who carried avatars with their
fursonas wearing uniforms... what do those have to do with
furry?
of course,. nobody wanted to listen anyway. but whose place is it to define what is furry or not, when all of
furdom are individualists anyway? or what makes a
fursuit a
fursuit? the quality, the price tag on the materials, the amount of human covered in fake
fur, or just the philosophy behind the making of it? (the main argument against a nice, fitting partial suit made with a minimum of funds and a lot of hard work that went into the mask of course came from someone whith the funds to buy his own
fursuit from a well-known US costume maker. needless to say, a lot of drama [frama:
Furry Drama] was coughed up by the forum members.)
