• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    375 months ago

    They do have different uses, as well as “flavours”.

    E.g. if you end up in fairyland, you’d likely expect something more child friendly and whimsical. If you end up in the land of the fey, that’s a far scarier prospect.

    It’s also akin to having different words for dwarf, elf, orc, and human. They are all big, with 2 legs, 2 arms and a head on top.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    195 months ago

    Mythology also has worms, wurms, or, in some cases, wyrms. All pronounced the same, but they tend to get bigger the further down the alphabet the vowel gets.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    175 months ago

    There’s also sidhe and seelie, and other related variations in spelling for that, too.

  • Ephera
    link
    fedilink
    English
    75 months ago

    It does sometimes feel a bit pretentious. Like, no no, these pocket-sized humans with wings and fairy sparkle dust, they’re not fairies. They’re actually farfalles, because they’ve got a heavy Italian accent, you see.

    I guess, when everyone does it, then it isn’t actually pretentious anymore, but yeah, still a bit close for comfort…

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    225 months ago

    If I ever write a fantasy book, I will use phae or or phay or phairy just to mess with people.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    175 months ago

    There’s actually a good reason for this:

    Calling them by their proper name draws their attention, and they are horribly violent, terrible creatures with no empathy or morals. None of those spellings are “correct” for this reason.

  • sp3ctr4l
    link
    fedilink
    English
    95 months ago

    Ferry.

    Could be quirky, ensouled commuter boats (think the boat from Windwaker), could be that that they are Navi-like sprites or winged humanoids… but they always lead you somewhere, help you cross a threshold of some kind.

    Why not?