Pokemon: Playing with Words

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Intro Post!

Hey there! :D

This is a sideblog for me to just yap/post random things about the wordplay/puns/semantics in pokemon, because it's one of my favorite parts of the franchise! (and no one seems to talk about it (or I'm just not looking hard enough which is also very possible lol) so I'm gonna talk about it!)

Most posts will probably be queued and I have no particular plan for maintaining this a certain length of time, this blog is purely for fun! :)

Also if I misinterpret something and you think the thing I'm saying it means is definitely not what it means (which is possible, not like a have a degree in this or smth lol) you can tell me, but please be respectful about it! (ex: say something "hey this word actually means this" or "I don't think that is what that name is supposed to be referencing" as opposed to "you're stupid and wrong" yknow?? ty and apologies if that was redundant for any of you!)

Feel free to add onto whatever I have to say if I missed something or you have another fun little tidbit as well! :)

Also made some of the words on my profile banner myself! (took way too long to imitate the font lol)

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(this one has less to do with the names but I hadn't thought about it and thought it was interesting so:)

Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff are each stages of growth for a dandelion! Hoppip is the stalk/leaves first pushing out of the ground, Skiploom is the yellow flower, and Jumpluff is the fluffy head of seed spores that get blown away.

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Delibird sounds similar to "delivered" if you sound it out, a nod to it being called the "delivery pokemon" and bringing food along with it wherever it goes!

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Purrloin and Liepard

Purrloin is a pun on "purr" the sound a cat makes, because it is a cat, and on the word "purloin" which is another word for "steal", especially used when the theft is very sneaky

Liepard is a combination of the verb "lie" (to not tell the truth) and "leopard", a breed of cat

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Rotom!

Rotom is "motor" spelled backwards! This especially makes sense when you look at its electric typing and how it inhabits various machines to power them, essentially becoming the living "motor" of the machine

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Drampa's name is a combination of "dragon" and "grandpa", which makes more sense when you look at how its design has white hair, and beard, and sort of hunched back/neck, all features that make it look sort of like an old man

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Xurkitree! This ultra beast's name sounds sort of like "circuitry" if you sound it out, a nod to its electric typing and body made of wires! I've personally always thought it's spelled with "tree" at the end because some of its body shape is vaguely plant-like as well (ex: the white clamps along its wires look like leaves, the spikes on its plug tail and feet look like thorns, its wire fingers look almost like roots or, all-together, flower-shaped)

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This time let's talk about Paldea! Spanish is not my first language but from what I understand, "aldea" is Spanish for "village", which would make sense because P(aldea) is based on Spain. The name also has "pal" (another word for friend) in it, which means the region name basically means "friend village" :)

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Sudowoodo's name is a combination of the prefix "pseudo" meaning "fake" and of course, the word "wood", which is a reference to the fact that Sudowoodo is not a real tree!

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Nickit's name comes from the British slang "nick" meaning "steal", which is a reference to its pokedex entries being about stealing! Its name is basically just "steal it"

Theivul has a similar theme of stealing in its pokedex entries, and its name is a combination of "thief" and "evil".

There's also the incorporation of the overarching theme of foxes in media being sly tricksters/generally depicted as the bad guys.

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The name of Deoxys comes from the extended name of DNA, DEOXYribonucleic acid. This reference can further be seen from the double helix shape of it's arms in this particular form!