Just pointing out that half isn't always and automatically inferior.
Maybe not in all situations, or not even most, but in the usage of referring to a person, it definitely is. Calling someone a "halfling" in real life who has dwarfism would be the equivalent of saying that someone with a fairly low IQ is "half-brained." In either circumstance, both would be unacceptable and very clearly insults.
Since when were we talking about real life? Please keep real life references out of the thread.
It's impossible to talk about what fantasy races in game would get offended by without talking about what real people would get offended by. My point was clear, calling someone "half a person" is a no go in real life, so I don't see why it wouldn't have the same response in a fantasy world.
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It's impossible to talk about what fantasy races in game would get offended by without talking about what real people would get offended by. My point was clear, calling someone "half a person" is a no go in real life, so I don't see why it wouldn't have the same response in a fantasy world.
Fantasy worlds where problems are solved at the point of a sword tend not to care much about peoples' feeling regarding what names they're called. Halflings in a typical D&D setting would find it ludicrous to be upset over what they're called.
I mean D&D isn't set in some 2020 university safe space.
It's impossible to talk about what fantasy races in game would get offended by without talking about what real people would get offended by. My point was clear, calling someone "half a person" is a no go in real life, so I don't see why it wouldn't have the same response in a fantasy world.
Fantasy worlds where problems are solved at the point of a sword tend not to care much about peoples' feeling regarding what names they're called. Halflings in a typical D&D setting would find it ludicrous to be upset over what they're called.
I mean D&D isn't set in some 2020 university safe space.
That holds true for worlds where humans and halflings have a hostile/aggressive relationship, which is the minority of them. In other settings (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Eberron), they would definitely demand that people call them by their name. How would you like it if you lived in Waterdeep, and your neighbor refused to call you by your name?
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Who is to say that Dwarves and Halflings didn't ask to be called such? Perhaps it started as a derogatory term but has since been reclaimed by the people that were being demined by it. This happens in IRL societies. People spend their whole lives studying and analyzing the definitions and intentions of speech and come to widely different conclusions about the nature of certain terms. Ultimately I think it will come down to a case by case basis. Especially in a game where the entire world is determined on a case by case basis.
I do really like the idea that there is a sect of Halflings that prefer to be called Kin, but others that like the term Halfling for reasons others have discussed. It makes the world more interesting me thinks. Things being copesetic amongst masses of a people takes away the individual. After all, not all humans believe the same things, so why would all of some other sentient species?
Also, I do believe that dwarfism being used for a term for short people came the fantasy dwarf.
There's an actress on a popular streaming show. Her character is amazing, she plays it well. But she's said some things on Twitter that people want her to be removed from the show she's playing on because they totally disagree with her beliefs.
I find this as best, silly. Even though I disagree with her posts and her opinions, it has nothing, at all, to do with her being able to portray an amazing character in an awesome show. It's the same with Tom Cruise, Wil Wheaton, Michael Carbonara, Penn & Teller, Mel Gibson, HP Lovecraft, JRR Tolkien, George RR Martin, Bill Cosby, Ryan Haywood or even, yes (I am saying this) Kevin Spacey.
Some of their thoughts, actions, statements may seem and be repugnant and disgusting, but it does not invalidate the moments or times or years or decades those people have brought you joy. Discovering, after decades of being a Spacey fan and all the horrible things he did, does not make his performance as Verbal Kent no less brilliant. Yes, there are victims of his actions and yes, they do deserve justice is not in any doubt. But it does not stop the fact that he is an amazing actor and should be remembered for that. But he is a predator.
HP Lovecraft was an outstanding author and the Cthulhu mythos is still prevalent in fiction to this day, and that is not an issue. But he was a racist.
Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. I hate Scientologists. It doesn't stop me from watching every Tom Cruise movie. It also does not stop 99% of the world's population who are able to watch movies.
Should I keep up with this list?
But being offended by a term describing a race of people that is generally accepted in fantasy pop-culture is really, you're wasting time being silly.
Being called a Dwarf isn't an insult in a fantasy world. Dwarves in mythology were master crafters. They created Thor's hammer. They were the be-all, end-all of technologically superior races. The real world condition of Dwarfism isn't an insult. It's what medical professionals and scientists used to describe being under a certain height based off the mythology of those races described in mythological lore.
Being insulted or upset by calling a race Halflings is even more silly. They don't exist. They are as fictional as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They did, by the way, call themselves Halflings in the lore of Middle-Earth. They were the first Wardens of Fornost in the lore of The Hobbit/ LotR and The Silmarillion. They guarded the Shire from the Witch King of Angmar after Fornost fell.
Stop trying to put your world views of "what's insulting" when you are not a member of that race or creed into modern cultural norms.
My wife is bisexual, but she chose to marry a cis-man. My best friend is a demi-sexual woman young enough to be our daughter. My brother in law has a mixed-race dwarf step-son who is autistic.
In game terms, you know what all of those people should be called?
That holds true for worlds where humans and halflings have a hostile/aggressive relationship, which is the minority of them. In other settings (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Eberron), they would definitely demand that people call them by their name. How would you like it if you lived in Waterdeep, and your neighbor refused to call you by your name?
I grew up with people calling me just about everything but my given name. Some nicknames were friendly, some were meant to silo me. Some were neutral and for the convenience of the other person (example: I shared the same given name as a classmate, so the teacher just up and gave me a completely new name so he wouldn't get confused). None of that ever mattered.
Care more about what people do, and less about what they say.
Being called a Dwarf isn't an insult in a fantasy world. Dwarves in mythology were master crafters. They created Thor's hammer. They were the be-all, end-all of technologically superior races. The real world condition of Dwarfism isn't an insult. It's what medical professionals and scientists used to describe being under a certain height based off the mythology of those races described in mythological lore.
Being insulted or upset by calling a race Halflings is even more silly. They don't exist. They are as fictional as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They did, by the way, call themselves Halflings in the lore of Middle-Earth. They were the first Wardens of Fornost in the lore of The Hobbit/ LotR and The Silmarillion. They guarded the Shire from the Witch King of Angmar after Fornost fell.
Stop trying to put your world views of "what's insulting" when you are not a member of that race or creed into modern cultural norms.
Hobbits call themselves Hobbits. Halfling is the term used for them by the race of Man (those who even know about them, at any rate).
Who’s putting anything into modern cultural norms? What’s the problem with thinking that racial bias could exist, perceived or not, in a fantasy setting? In the movie Willow, the Daikini (tall folk) call the Nelwyn (the small folk) “Peck”, and it’s definitely meant to be insulting. This is nothing new or far fetched. If the dwarf in one of my D&D campaigns gets called “Stumpy” by the city watch, that’s not a term of endearment either. I don’t particularly feel like changing my settings the way OP seems to want to, but it’s their game at their table. I don’t see the problem with them making that call, and if they do it doesn’t reflect on the real world in any meaningful way.
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While we're at it, someone at WotC needs to seriously reconsider the naming conventions we use around Half-Elves and Half-Orcs.
Calling an entire person "half" of something indicates that one side of their genetic lineage is superior to the other.
Not only does it contribute to the erasure of their human lineage, but the connotation is that there is something more worthy of being named (and, therefore, inherently better) about their Orcish or Elven parentage.
I mean, we don't call biracial people "Half-Whites" in daily conversation. However, this naming convention suggests that we SHOULD, and is therefore contributing to the inherent prejudice against biracial individuals in the real world.
This is disgusting, and needs to stop. Someone at WotC should be held to account.
That's a strawman argument if I ever saw one. That's not what people are saying. Also, no one wants to punish WotC for anything, as no one is angry about this. Pretending fake outrage in response to not-actual-outrage is a huge fallacy.
Obviously Half-Elves and Half-Orcs would be called their current names by their respective parent races, as they literally are "half" genetically of the human and elf/orc. It's not an issue to call a Pomeranian-Corgi mix a Half-Corgi, Half-Pomeranian or "Corgipom." Hell, if you want to use the naming convention we use for dogs on humanoid hybrids, Half-Elves could be called Helf's, Half-Orcs could be Horcs, and Dwarf-Elves are Dwelfs.
However, Halflings are not actually half a person, and in most D&D worlds that have them in them, they are an original and old race that would have their own name (Kender, Hin, Hobbit, etc for example). The same applies to Dwarves.
That wasn’t a “strawman argument,” it was sarcasm.
Who is to say that Dwarves and Halflings didn't ask to be called such? Perhaps it started as a derogatory term but has since been reclaimed by the people that were being demined by it. This happens in IRL societies. People spend their whole lives studying and analyzing the definitions and intentions of speech and come to widely different conclusions about the nature of certain terms. Ultimately I think it will come down to a case by case basis. Especially in a game where the entire world is determined on a case by case basis.
I do really like the idea that there is a sect of Halflings that prefer to be called Kin, but others that like the term Halfling for reasons others have discussed. It makes the world more interesting me thinks. Things being copesetic amongst masses of a people takes away the individual. After all, not all humans believe the same things, so why would all of some other sentient species?
Also, I do believe that dwarfism being used for a term for short people came the fantasy dwarf.
This. In my campaign, Gods have names that seem derivative but it is because the gods came first and names for aspects their dominions derived from them. Who is to say that, in a fantasy world, Dwarfs were named so because they are short, rather than a word for 'short' existing because Dwarfs are short and thus the race name came to mean 'short' out of any racial context too. Even in the real world, such things happen. Canada derives its name from a simple word for 'village' or 'settlement.' Explorers asked 'What do you call this place?' and those they asked replied 'Kanata.' The village was actually named Stadacona, but the misunderstanding between languages lead the explorer to think they were giving him the name of the entire region. He reported that back and the land went on maps as Canada. "What are you? Why are you so short?" ..... "I'm a Dwarf".... <thinks> "Ah! Dwarf must mean 'short!" ... The misunderstanding catches on and history goes from there.
While that might work for Dwarfs, in that the few other uses of the word "dwarf" such as "dwarf mice" and "dwarf hippopotamus" in which you have a smaller than normal subspecies of a species is used, but otherwise the word "dwarf" is not used except when referring to humans born with a genetic condition that causes them to grow to a shorter height than most people and even that term has fallen out of favor in the last 25 or so years....
Halfling still remains a bit of a problem is that it fundamentally begins with the word "half" which is also used in "half-elf" and "half-orc". Which indicates that they are only partially human-- but, unlike those other examples, its not like they ae born of a human AND something else... we are just saying that they are half-human and half-nothing. And that seems odd.
And, at least with these other races called "half" we can understand that they come from a human-dominated society and they are a hybrid that has existed for a single generation.... Are we not to believe that the Halflings are a long-standing people with centuries, if not millenia, of history? What would cause an entire stable genetic group, an entire species, to describe themselves as being out of 2 parts, only 1 part of another people and another part nothing at all? By pure lexicon, it requires 2 of them to equal a single human in value?
I still don't understand why most people here think a Halfling would look at a larger race and automatically conclude "bigger is better". Is it presumed that in the fictional worlds of D&D, humans look at giants and declare themselves inferior? Or in the real world, does a human look at an elephant and despair?
So, if YOUR pre-conceived notion of being half of something is bad isn't imposed on the fictional race of Halflings, then it is completely within reason for a race to call themselves half as big as other races and think that is a GOOD thing. It would even be an inside joke among their own people when they call themselves halflings to everyone else.
Being defined as being half of something else is kind of obviously worse than being a whole of something entirely different.
Furthermore, your argument here relies on the idea that the race, from the moment they became a thing and were able to define themselves, looked upon another race as the "normal"-- whether that be humans or elves or something else in that size range-- and fundamentally defined themselves from the moment they became a distinct people as being a half-sized version of something else that was the "normal".
If, instead, they arose as their own people independently of defining themselves in comparison to another kind of people, the term "half" would not be used. They would have initially defined themselves as the "normal" and come up with a term for their own people. Only upon further mixing with and interactions with others that they came to realize that their people were only half the size of other peoples in the world.
But-- if we were to consider that their world contains Gnomes and Kobolds and Goblins and Pixies-- which are as small, if not smaller than them, and also contains Bugbears and Ogres and Trolls and Giants of variation kinds that are all rather larger than a human, then why should they consider themselves to be "half" of what is "normal"? Humans are half or less than half the size of many other races themselves.
If you used a term that meant "small" then it might be fairly applicable- they could accept themselves to be smaller than a larger amount of the races in the world.
But the word "half" seems fundamentally in comparison to humans and from the point of view that humans are the normal and they are the abnormal, and it seems odd for a race to consider themselves to be the abnormal.
I still don't understand why most people here think a Halfling would look at a larger race and automatically conclude "bigger is better". Is it presumed that in the fictional worlds of D&D, humans look at giants and declare themselves inferior? Or in the real world, does a human look at an elephant and despair?
So, if YOUR pre-conceived notion of being half of something is bad isn't imposed on the fictional race of Halflings, then it is completely within reason for a race to call themselves half as big as other races and think that is a GOOD thing. It would even be an inside joke among their own people when they call themselves halflings to everyone else.
If someone offered you an apple or half an apple at the same price, which would be the better deal?
If someone offered you an apple or a lime, which would be better?
Although an apple is larger than a lime, virtually always at least twice the size, the taste and functionality of a lime is quite different from that of an apple. It is quite believable that one may wish to buy a lime rather than an apple.
But it is unbelievable that one would choose to pay the same price for half an apple as they would an apple.
And yet we are to believe that "Halflings" refer to themselves with a term that begins with "half".
Or that "Half" even means the same thing in Halfling as it does in English?
I'm sorry, what's the logical argument here? That Halflings use the term Halfling (as in, the exact same word) for themselves in their own language as opposed to Common, except it's etymologically different? It's the exact same word, but it has a different meaning/connotation? Stretching linguistic probabilities aside, this seems a supremely funny argument to me in light of OP asking for another term halflings would use for themselves in their own language - instead, according they you, maybe they are using the same word but it means something else. What exactly is so outrageous about the concept of halflings having a halfling-specific term for themselves that isn't equally outrageous about halflings attributing a different meaning to the word that describes themselves compared to the Common one?
Or that "Half" even means the same thing in Halfling as it does in English?
I'm sorry, what's the logical argument here? That Halflings use the term Halfling (as in, the exact same word) for themselves in their own language as opposed to Common, except it's etymologically different? It's the exact same word, but it has a different meaning/connotation? Stretching linguistic probabilities aside, this seems a supremely funny argument to me in light of OP asking for another term halflings would use for themselves in their own language - instead, according they you, maybe they are using the same word but it means something else. What exactly is so outrageous about the concept of halflings having a halfling-specific term for themselves that isn't equally outrageous about halflings attributing a different meaning to the word that describes themselves compared to the Common one?
Pardon, is there some definition in ENGLISH other than 'Hobbit?' Other than an obscure Scottish word? Where in blazes are you getting this alternative definition from? "Halfling" is what Halflings call themselves. It is not what any other race named them. Other races use that word for them because it is what they call themselves. If you can find any official lore that says otherwise please present it.
Regarding the original post, I feel the term dwarf (including its cognates like dvergr and darrow) are positive, even venerable.
Re the term halfling, I agree it is unlikely that this is the real name of the race. It looks more like a nickname invented by humans to refer to them. The origin of the nickname seem to be a term of endearment that refers to their being small ("-ling") and being "half" the size of a human. Even when used in an affectionate way, it necessarily means treating the person as a child, which will be inappropriate in some social contexts. It is like one human calling an other human, baby, babe, boy, girl, kid, son, or so on. It is sweet in some contexts but offensive in others. So there does seem a need for the real name for this race.
Note, the term hobbit is also a nickname, a variant of Robin, which itself is a circumlocution to avoid invoking a fairy spirit by name.
D&D has the tradition of Hin as a proper name, but perhaps this name too is offensive because of its meaning in German, which seems the probable etymology of Hin.
This leaves the term Kender, as the only term that is inoffensive. Yet the Kender so strongly associate with the kleptomania that is widely dispised by D&D players. So it too seems off the table as a real name for the race.
As I see it. It seems necessary to either rehabilitate the term Kender, or else invent a new term for the race.
In informal contexts, I feel it is ok to use the term halfling as a term of endearment. But in formal contexts it is offensive to treat someone as a child.
Or that "Half" even means the same thing in Halfling as it does in English?
I'm sorry, what's the logical argument here? That Halflings use the term Halfling (as in, the exact same word) for themselves in their own language as opposed to Common, except it's etymologically different? It's the exact same word, but it has a different meaning/connotation? Stretching linguistic probabilities aside, this seems a supremely funny argument to me in light of OP asking for another term halflings would use for themselves in their own language - instead, according they you, maybe they are using the same word but it means something else. What exactly is so outrageous about the concept of halflings having a halfling-specific term for themselves that isn't equally outrageous about halflings attributing a different meaning to the word that describes themselves compared to the Common one?
Pardon, is there some definition in ENGLISH other than 'Hobbit?' Other than an obscure Scottish word? Where in blazes are you getting this alternative definition from? "Halfling" is what Halflings call themselves. It is not what any other race named them. Other races use that word for them because it is what they call themselves. If you can find any official lore that says otherwise please present it.
So lore from a specific edition that no longer applies... and ignores the fact that their stature was never treated as a negative but to the contrary they were also known as the "good folk" amongst other races, or the "quick folk" and "sly folk" Half the height does not equate to half the person.
If you can find any official lore to the contrary, of any edition, please consider this an open invitation to present it.
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Or that "Half" even means the same thing in Halfling as it does in English?
I'm sorry, what's the logical argument here? That Halflings use the term Halfling (as in, the exact same word) for themselves in their own language as opposed to Common, except it's etymologically different? It's the exact same word, but it has a different meaning/connotation? Stretching linguistic probabilities aside, this seems a supremely funny argument to me in light of OP asking for another term halflings would use for themselves in their own language - instead, according they you, maybe they are using the same word but it means something else. What exactly is so outrageous about the concept of halflings having a halfling-specific term for themselves that isn't equally outrageous about halflings attributing a different meaning to the word that describes themselves compared to the Common one?
Pardon, is there some definition in ENGLISH other than 'Hobbit?' Other than an obscure Scottish word? Where in blazes are you getting this alternative definition from? "Halfling" is what Halflings call themselves. It is not what any other race named them. Other races use that word for them because it is what they call themselves. If you can find any official lore that says otherwise please present it.
So lore from a specific edition that no longer applies... and ignores the fact that their stature was never treated as a negative but to the contrary they were also known as the "good folk" amongst other races, or the "quick folk" and "sly folk" Half the height does not equate to half the person.
If you can find any official lore to the contrary, of any edition, please consider this an open invitation to present it.
Not a word of any such in the 5e race description, nor of them calling themselves anything else, plus many settings that are not Forgotten Realms, let alone the 3e incarnation thereof....
The absence of evidence doesn’t equal evidence of absence.
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Upon closer inspection, the SCAG 5th edition sourcebook says halflings call themselves hin as well, on p. 108.
That is evidence that applies to the Forgotten Realms, but strangely left out of general lore and thus arguably not applicable outside of that one setting. It is hard to believe House Jorasco consider themselves mere 'half humans' so lightly.
It’s evidence it applies to at least one setting. I would think that proves it can conceivably be equally applicable to OP’s setting. Why would it arguably not be applicable anywhere out of that one setting?
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Upon closer inspection, the SCAG 5th edition sourcebook says halflings call themselves hin as well, on p. 108.
That is evidence that applies to the Forgotten Realms, but strangely left out of general lore and thus arguably not applicable outside of that one setting. It is hard to believe House Jorasco consider themselves mere 'half humans' so lightly.
It’s evidence it applies to at least one setting. I would think that proves it can conceivably be equally applicable to OP’s setting. Why would it arguably not be applicable anywhere out of that one setting?
They called themselves Hin in the Mystara setting too.
It's impossible to talk about what fantasy races in game would get offended by without talking about what real people would get offended by. My point was clear, calling someone "half a person" is a no go in real life, so I don't see why it wouldn't have the same response in a fantasy world.
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Fantasy worlds where problems are solved at the point of a sword tend not to care much about peoples' feeling regarding what names they're called. Halflings in a typical D&D setting would find it ludicrous to be upset over what they're called.
I mean D&D isn't set in some 2020 university safe space.
That holds true for worlds where humans and halflings have a hostile/aggressive relationship, which is the minority of them. In other settings (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Eberron), they would definitely demand that people call them by their name. How would you like it if you lived in Waterdeep, and your neighbor refused to call you by your name?
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Who is to say that Dwarves and Halflings didn't ask to be called such? Perhaps it started as a derogatory term but has since been reclaimed by the people that were being demined by it. This happens in IRL societies. People spend their whole lives studying and analyzing the definitions and intentions of speech and come to widely different conclusions about the nature of certain terms. Ultimately I think it will come down to a case by case basis. Especially in a game where the entire world is determined on a case by case basis.
I do really like the idea that there is a sect of Halflings that prefer to be called Kin, but others that like the term Halfling for reasons others have discussed. It makes the world more interesting me thinks. Things being copesetic amongst masses of a people takes away the individual. After all, not all humans believe the same things, so why would all of some other sentient species?
Also, I do believe that dwarfism being used for a term for short people came the fantasy dwarf.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
This.
There's an actress on a popular streaming show. Her character is amazing, she plays it well. But she's said some things on Twitter that people want her to be removed from the show she's playing on because they totally disagree with her beliefs.
I find this as best, silly. Even though I disagree with her posts and her opinions, it has nothing, at all, to do with her being able to portray an amazing character in an awesome show.
It's the same with Tom Cruise, Wil Wheaton, Michael Carbonara, Penn & Teller, Mel Gibson, HP Lovecraft, JRR Tolkien, George RR Martin, Bill Cosby, Ryan Haywood or even, yes (I am saying this) Kevin Spacey.
Some of their thoughts, actions, statements may seem and be repugnant and disgusting, but it does not invalidate the moments or times or years or decades those people have brought you joy.
Discovering, after decades of being a Spacey fan and all the horrible things he did, does not make his performance as Verbal Kent no less brilliant. Yes, there are victims of his actions and yes, they do deserve justice is not in any doubt. But it does not stop the fact that he is an amazing actor and should be remembered for that. But he is a predator.
HP Lovecraft was an outstanding author and the Cthulhu mythos is still prevalent in fiction to this day, and that is not an issue. But he was a racist.
Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. I hate Scientologists. It doesn't stop me from watching every Tom Cruise movie. It also does not stop 99% of the world's population who are able to watch movies.
Should I keep up with this list?
But being offended by a term describing a race of people that is generally accepted in fantasy pop-culture is really, you're wasting time being silly.
Being called a Dwarf isn't an insult in a fantasy world. Dwarves in mythology were master crafters. They created Thor's hammer. They were the be-all, end-all of technologically superior races. The real world condition of Dwarfism isn't an insult. It's what medical professionals and scientists used to describe being under a certain height based off the mythology of those races described in mythological lore.
Being insulted or upset by calling a race Halflings is even more silly. They don't exist. They are as fictional as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They did, by the way, call themselves Halflings in the lore of Middle-Earth. They were the first Wardens of Fornost in the lore of The Hobbit/ LotR and The Silmarillion. They guarded the Shire from the Witch King of Angmar after Fornost fell.
Stop trying to put your world views of "what's insulting" when you are not a member of that race or creed into modern cultural norms.
My wife is bisexual, but she chose to marry a cis-man. My best friend is a demi-sexual woman young enough to be our daughter. My brother in law has a mixed-race dwarf step-son who is autistic.
In game terms, you know what all of those people should be called?
"People."
That's it. End of discussion.
I grew up with people calling me just about everything but my given name. Some nicknames were friendly, some were meant to silo me. Some were neutral and for the convenience of the other person (example: I shared the same given name as a classmate, so the teacher just up and gave me a completely new name so he wouldn't get confused). None of that ever mattered.
Care more about what people do, and less about what they say.
Hobbits call themselves Hobbits. Halfling is the term used for them by the race of Man (those who even know about them, at any rate).
Who’s putting anything into modern cultural norms? What’s the problem with thinking that racial bias could exist, perceived or not, in a fantasy setting? In the movie Willow, the Daikini (tall folk) call the Nelwyn (the small folk) “Peck”, and it’s definitely meant to be insulting. This is nothing new or far fetched. If the dwarf in one of my D&D campaigns gets called “Stumpy” by the city watch, that’s not a term of endearment either. I don’t particularly feel like changing my settings the way OP seems to want to, but it’s their game at their table. I don’t see the problem with them making that call, and if they do it doesn’t reflect on the real world in any meaningful way.
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That wasn’t a “strawman argument,” it was sarcasm.
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While that might work for Dwarfs, in that the few other uses of the word "dwarf" such as "dwarf mice" and "dwarf hippopotamus" in which you have a smaller than normal subspecies of a species is used, but otherwise the word "dwarf" is not used except when referring to humans born with a genetic condition that causes them to grow to a shorter height than most people and even that term has fallen out of favor in the last 25 or so years....
Halfling still remains a bit of a problem is that it fundamentally begins with the word "half" which is also used in "half-elf" and "half-orc". Which indicates that they are only partially human-- but, unlike those other examples, its not like they ae born of a human AND something else... we are just saying that they are half-human and half-nothing. And that seems odd.
And, at least with these other races called "half" we can understand that they come from a human-dominated society and they are a hybrid that has existed for a single generation.... Are we not to believe that the Halflings are a long-standing people with centuries, if not millenia, of history? What would cause an entire stable genetic group, an entire species, to describe themselves as being out of 2 parts, only 1 part of another people and another part nothing at all? By pure lexicon, it requires 2 of them to equal a single human in value?
Being defined as being half of something else is kind of obviously worse than being a whole of something entirely different.
Furthermore, your argument here relies on the idea that the race, from the moment they became a thing and were able to define themselves, looked upon another race as the "normal"-- whether that be humans or elves or something else in that size range-- and fundamentally defined themselves from the moment they became a distinct people as being a half-sized version of something else that was the "normal".
If, instead, they arose as their own people independently of defining themselves in comparison to another kind of people, the term "half" would not be used. They would have initially defined themselves as the "normal" and come up with a term for their own people. Only upon further mixing with and interactions with others that they came to realize that their people were only half the size of other peoples in the world.
But-- if we were to consider that their world contains Gnomes and Kobolds and Goblins and Pixies-- which are as small, if not smaller than them, and also contains Bugbears and Ogres and Trolls and Giants of variation kinds that are all rather larger than a human, then why should they consider themselves to be "half" of what is "normal"? Humans are half or less than half the size of many other races themselves.
If you used a term that meant "small" then it might be fairly applicable- they could accept themselves to be smaller than a larger amount of the races in the world.
But the word "half" seems fundamentally in comparison to humans and from the point of view that humans are the normal and they are the abnormal, and it seems odd for a race to consider themselves to be the abnormal.
If someone offered you an apple or half an apple at the same price, which would be the better deal?
If someone offered you an apple or a lime, which would be better?
Although an apple is larger than a lime, virtually always at least twice the size, the taste and functionality of a lime is quite different from that of an apple. It is quite believable that one may wish to buy a lime rather than an apple.
But it is unbelievable that one would choose to pay the same price for half an apple as they would an apple.
And yet we are to believe that "Halflings" refer to themselves with a term that begins with "half".
I'm sorry, what's the logical argument here? That Halflings use the term Halfling (as in, the exact same word) for themselves in their own language as opposed to Common, except it's etymologically different? It's the exact same word, but it has a different meaning/connotation?
Stretching linguistic probabilities aside, this seems a supremely funny argument to me in light of OP asking for another term halflings would use for themselves in their own language - instead, according they you, maybe they are using the same word but it means something else. What exactly is so outrageous about the concept of halflings having a halfling-specific term for themselves that isn't equally outrageous about halflings attributing a different meaning to the word that describes themselves compared to the Common one?
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https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Halfling
The 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.
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Regarding the original post, I feel the term dwarf (including its cognates like dvergr and darrow) are positive, even venerable.
Re the term halfling, I agree it is unlikely that this is the real name of the race. It looks more like a nickname invented by humans to refer to them. The origin of the nickname seem to be a term of endearment that refers to their being small ("-ling") and being "half" the size of a human. Even when used in an affectionate way, it necessarily means treating the person as a child, which will be inappropriate in some social contexts. It is like one human calling an other human, baby, babe, boy, girl, kid, son, or so on. It is sweet in some contexts but offensive in others. So there does seem a need for the real name for this race.
Note, the term hobbit is also a nickname, a variant of Robin, which itself is a circumlocution to avoid invoking a fairy spirit by name.
D&D has the tradition of Hin as a proper name, but perhaps this name too is offensive because of its meaning in German, which seems the probable etymology of Hin.
This leaves the term Kender, as the only term that is inoffensive. Yet the Kender so strongly associate with the kleptomania that is widely dispised by D&D players. So it too seems off the table as a real name for the race.
As I see it. It seems necessary to either rehabilitate the term Kender, or else invent a new term for the race.
In informal contexts, I feel it is ok to use the term halfling as a term of endearment. But in formal contexts it is offensive to treat someone as a child.
he / him
If you can find any official lore to the contrary, of any edition, please consider this an open invitation to present it.
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The absence of evidence doesn’t equal evidence of absence.
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Upon closer inspection, the SCAG 5th edition sourcebook says halflings call themselves hin as well, on p. 108.
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It’s evidence it applies to at least one setting. I would think that proves it can conceivably be equally applicable to OP’s setting. Why would it arguably not be applicable anywhere out of that one setting?
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They called themselves Hin in the Mystara setting too.
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In German, how derogatory is "hin"?
he / him