"Aerith" is only for people with a lisp.

[Lord J Esq]

I was sure we were working on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. But when I get there, the parking lot is practically empty and the doors are locked. Ah, well, it just goes to show that believing in something, no matter how fervently, isn’t going to make it true. Now I’m back home with a whole extra free day on my hands, and I decided to make the most of it by starting out with something extremely petty—hence this poll!

I was reading the Compendium before I left for work, and somebody mentioned the “Aerith” Rule. Aeris, as you surely know, is the tragic heroine of Final Fantasy VII, and Aerith is a close facsimile of the pronunciation of her name in the Japanese version of the game.

Nobody likes a pretender to cross their turf, and as a Certified Elitist™ it always boils my potato when people take it upon themselves to be pretentious with no good reason. I’ve boiled many a potato over these fiends who, in the worst Otaku tradition, insist on using Japanese forms like Aerith, Firaga, and Sara for their respective English counterparts Aeris, Fire 3, and Schala—just to name a few.

The problem is that this is complete pedantry. I’m certainly not against learning more about the original Japanese version of these games, or about the Japanese culture itself—I am strongly in favor of both. But this practice of fanatically rejecting the English form of a few select names in particular, without regard to other names—like, say, “Dalton”—or indeed to any other aspects of these games in general, adds nothing to the experience. It is simply bombastic.

You can see that when somebody comes along and asks “WTF is ‘Aerith’?” Then the bombasts will hasten to point out, with much snobbery, that the Japanese pronunciation is Aerith and only an uncouth rapscallion would use the English version.

Yeah. Uncouth rapscallions…or English speakers.

Those of like mind are welcome to add their snarls of disapproval to the fray. Those who disagree are welcome to try and justify the practice in a way that is less unflattering. Those with no opinion can simply move along. Having accomplished my petty feat, I now return to the black fog whence I came.

Oh, but before I go: Today is very much an abused holiday. Racism is still alive and well in this country, and maybe it wouldn’t hurt any of us to think about ways in which we subtly perpetuate this horrid institution. Unlike deeper forms of prejudice, like sexism, racism is an institution that our species is already mature enough to disestablish. We need only build up a powerful civil momentum, and that begins in the mirror.

[Chrono'99]

I thought her English name had been "retconned" to Aerith in Kingdom Hearts and FFVII:Advent Children?

[Lord J Esq]

Nah, we're just talking about the original game here. This "Aerith" thing has been around since the beginning.

[Chrono'99]

Well, her Japanese name has always been Aerith (*), and her English name is now officially Aerith... so, her name is Aerith in all cases.


(* although her original last name, Gainsbourg, was changed to the less-Frenchy Gainsborough)

[ZeaLitY]

I like Aeris, if only becuase it's prettier on the eyes (a th in a word is only beautiful to me in some cases; otherwise it looks foreign and bogged down -- restricted and unflowing). It's also Latin, giving it some meaning.

Still, I guess Aerith is the official thing now. But I'll always hold a place for Aeris.

[Lord J Esq]

Well, her Japanese name has always been Aerith (*), and her English name is now officially Aerith... so, her name is Aerith in all cases.

Her English name, however, has not always been Aeris, and you are forgetting seven years where there was no official retconning--if you accept KH and AC as canonical, which is another discussion entirely.

Notwithstanding whatever her name may now officially be, the original intent of this thread stands: Pretenders. You can replace "Aerith" with "Sara" if you so desire.

[Chrono'99]

Mmh, not that I actually want to argue with you and not that I really care about Aeri... (I don't like the character anyway), but saying that AC isn't canonical to FFVII is like saying CC isn't canonical to the Chrono series (let's forget KH though). Who are more pretenders, those who just use the official names given by Square, or those who want to believe Compilation of FFVII never happened and want to keep on using the names that were in the original North American FFVII?

I think you're doing the same thing as the "original names" purists, except you're taking the former English names instead of the Japanese names.

[Leebot]

Okay, as usual, I bothered to do a little research on the subject.

First, in the Japanese version: They'd originally came up with the name as Aerith, not some kana spelling (likely based off of Erith (meaning "flower") or Earth). However, once translated into kana, it used the su kana at the end (as is used for S and soft Th normally). But when spoken, it's always pronounced like an S (making the pronounciation of the word identical to "heiress").

So, here we come to the problem with retranslating it back into English. On one hand, we could go with the symbolic references in Aerith, or we could match the Japanese pronounciation with Aeris.

Unfortunately, this leaves us with the only sufficient solution being to spell it Aerith, but pronounce it as Aeris. The verdict: Damn Japanese and their inferior spelling system.

Personally, I believe that since her name is always pronounces as Aeris, we should just go ahead and spell it this way to avoid tons of mispronounciations of it (and frankly, doesn't Aeris just sound more beautiful than Aerith?).

[Legend of the Past]

Well... Seeing how the Japanese calls her Aerith, KH calls her Aerith, AC calls her Aerith, and only the game with the line 'You're a Turks, Elana' calls her Aeris, I'd stick with Aerith.

[Sentenal]

Aeris.

Now, elitist of many kinds frustrate me.  In the arena of Japanese things coming to the west, these elitist frustrate me more than liberal elitist.  These Otaku are the type that says all dubed anime sucks, because they hate their native language.

Aeris was a character on Final Fantasy 7.  In the American version, they translated her name to be "Aeris".  Therefore, in America, her name is AERIS.  Simple, right?

I'd be curious to know how they translated her name for the PAL version, so I can say "If your outside of Japan, her name is AERIS."

I think this comes down to these elitist perhaps importing the game, and thus having it be Aerith.  So they stick to what they knew when playing their import.

On the subject of Kingdom Hearts, that game does not trump their original game.  Unless you want to go around calling Squall "Leon", or other such nonsense.

[Chrono'99]

Well, the point I'm trying to expose is that there are elitists on both sides. You say that American people who stick to the Japanese names instead of the American names are Japan fanatics because they act as if they hate everything translated, Americanized, "tarnished".

Yet you are youself sticking to the 1,997 American names instead of going with the 2,004-2006 American names. So, are you a fanatic too? You're sticking with Aeris for the same reason as why the Otaku dudes stick to the Japanese names: because you think it's cooler than the official names. That really reminds me of the people who ignore CC because they think it destroyed CT. Whether they like it or not though, CC is the official sequel to CT.

And sure the character's name was Aeris in FFVII, but FFVII isn't just a game, it's part of a series, "Compilation of FFVII", that expands the original FFVII universe and which games/films are official and canonical prequels and sequels (also, obviously KH isn't part of CoFFVII...). Thus everything that is said in the latest game/film/product is what is official, even if it's retcon.

[Sentenal]

For the purposes of FF7, its "Aeris".  As of now, FF7:Advent children hasn't been released in America.  I'm not sure if they are going to dub it or not (I hope they do).  If they just sub it, then Aeris stands as the American form of the name.

The original FF7 is the corner-stone of your "Compilation of FFVII".  I'd take something from that game over something released later on anyday.

[ZeaLitY]

Some of us have been avoiding the fansub and waiting since September for the US release of Advent Children. I'll maintain a vigil until April. Then it's AHOY MATEYS for me.

[Kazuki]

For the English speaker, Aeris>Aerith, though in actuality it really shouldn't matter to anybody how it's pronounced. *Hear that, Gamefaqs?*

[Hadriel]

In America, it's Aeris.  People who pronounce it Aerith obsessively as if it's somehow "better" are smelly, worthless otaku faggots with no hope of any meaningful existence.  When you're in America, SPEAK GOD DAMN ENGLISH!!  There are actually symbolic meanings in both of her names; "Aeris" refers to the sky, much like Cloud, while "Aerith" is an anagram of "I Earth", referring to the Lifestream.

I might also remind you that the word "otaku" actually means "fanatic" in Japanese; on the Japanese social ladder, otaku are even lower than they are here, which is saying something.  Some anime is good, and some of it is even great, but most of it, like most of any other medium, is simply average.

Advent Children hasn't been officially released in the States yet, and Kingdom Hearts does not trump FFVII in terms of its canonicity.  For now, at least, it's Aeris.

As for the spell names, I don't mind using the a/ga form for second and third-level spells, because it's been that way in several American releases, including VIII through X and Tactics.