The Bleeding Effect: Ponies vs. Reality

[jackleapp81 456]

For about 6 months now, my computer has been completely ponified from top to bottom. I have a custom loading bar when my computer starts up that shows an 8-bit Rainbow Dash flying across the screen, a pony user icon, a pony desktop background, animated ponies that prance around my screen, a ponified Google Chrome theme, a Facebook app called "Ponyhoof" that translates everything to ponyspeak ('liking' someone's status is 'brohoof', messages are now 'Letters to Celestia', etc.), custom Minecraft skins for each of the Mane 6, and even a pony mouse cursor. Not to mention that most of my website usernames are names of ponies from FiM.

 

For most of you, this might seem like an ideal set-up. And it is! Well, it was.

 

Don't get me wrong. I love all of the pony stuff I added to my computer, but...I feel disconnected from reality in a way. For one thing, I notice that I've been slowly adopting terms from the show into my vocabulary. Not on purpose, either.

 

The other day, I was browsing Facebook on my sister's laptop (she does not have that Ponyhoof app that I mentioned). I saw a funny status update that someone posted, and I said, "Brohoofing it."

"What?" my sister replied.

"Oh, uh...you know that Ponyhoof app on my computer? Instead of liking things on Facebook, you brohoof them. I guess I've been seeing it for so long I just kind of say that word now instead."

"You are a freaking weirdo." (She's not a brony/pegasister if you couldn't tell)

 

That may be just a little thing, but that's just the start of it. I'll list a few trends in my behaviour that I've noticed recently:

1. Accidentally saying "everypony" or "anypony" or "nopony" in normal conversations (occasionally when I'm taking notes in class too)

2. Unintentionally imagining the characters of a book as ponies (Note: I used to force myself to imagine the main characters as ponies just for fun, but now it's become very natural. To the point where any book I read sort of just ponifies itself. Kind of like that pony tulpa thing I heard about. Constantly focusing your mind on one school of thought (specifically, ponies) until it becomes the norm)

3. Accidentally replacing the word "main"with "mane" (a.l.a mane 6, pony's mane)

4. Saying "brohoof" instead of "high-five" to one of my non-brony friends by accident(this only happened once though)

 

These behaviors might be okay if I was hanging out with a bunch of bronies all the time, but I'm not. I live in a rural community who are pretty strict when it comes to adhering to the "norm". Thus, a wedge is created between me, my peers, and my family when my school of thought does not coincide with theirs. I also question the mental implications of this wedge. Will my growth and development as a human being be stunted by adopting words and behaviors that do not apply to general human society, but to a specific fandom or imaginary universe? 

 

I want to know what you guys think of all this. Have you ever had trouble separating aspects of the show or fandom with your daily lives? If so, what are the implications? Is this bleeding effect something to be concerned about?

                

[Circadian 1,273]

I'll occasionally say "Ee-yup" or "Nope" without realizing why. Nobody really notices, except for that time when I said it during a card game and then everybody started saying it to signal they were done playing their hand. None of them are fans of the show.

 

Nothing to the point where I start seeing ponies everywhere though, sorry.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Circadian

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

Hmm, can't say I have...yet. I've only been a Brony for a little over a month, but I already have a good amount of pony merch (mostly clothes), ponified my cycling background (haven't heard of those other customizations you've done...got links?), changed my Live gamertag to something pony-related, and am ponifying the mental images of books I'm reading.

 

As for letting pony lingo slip out, haven't had it occur yet. But then again I'm always extremely (probably overly) careful when I speak. So maybe that's all you need to do, just take an extra moment to think before you speak to make sure nothing pony related comes out at inappropriate times.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Sky Nomad

[khaine21x3 789]

I personally don't see a problem with it, you just need to move to someplace with people who will accept you for who you are.There is no reason for you to stay in a community where they want to enslave you by forcing a certain lifestyle onto you.

[Evilshy 5,089]

You should probably try to cut back on it. It's pretty unprofessional, and you don't that kind of writing or speech to get into things for school or work, because then you just look like an idiot.

 

It's like when people use textspeak outside of text messages. It's rarely appropriate and (in my opinion) annoying as hell. And honestly, it kinda bugs me when people use textspeak even in text messages, unless it's a long message and they have to in order to keep in under the maximum.

[Arrow 236]

When I saw "Bleeding Effect" I thought of Assassin's Creed and believed that you were starting to imagine ponies into real life xD

 

But yeah, as Evilshy says, maybe you should start to let it go a bit. I can find it a bit annoying as well, however "u" "y" and other idiotic shortenings are way more frustrating to see.

[jackleapp81 456]

(haven't heard of those other customizations you've done...got links?)

 

 

Ee-yup.

 

Ponyhoof, Chrome theme, Google theme:

 

8-bit dash boot-up screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJRP_L6qDo

 

Cursors, Animated Desktop Ponies, and more: 

 

Pony Minecraft Skins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_859014&feature=iv&src_vid=LyyIjsiIsks&v=-tH873Fgbpc

 

When I saw "Bleeding Effect" I thought of Assassin's Creed and believed that you were starting to imagine ponies into real life xD

 

Assassin's Steed: Colthood. There's a brilliant fan-fiction just waiting to be written. 

 

People need a new videogame-based pony series to enjoy since Fallout: Equestria ended

 

[MorningFlash 214]

My twin sister told me to make a pinkie promise with her, so we both instantaneously went "cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye" other than that, then nope. Pony language has not slipped past the computer aha

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I would cut back If I was you.  That's something you don't want in your schoolwork.  I usually just say eeyup on purpose.  I just think of it as another way to say something

[Killian Jones 2,653]

I have not experienced this at all, but to be fair I have grown up with gaming my whole life and have grown quite the tolerance to make a very tight distinction between real and fantasy.

 

These modifications you can make really should only be used as a fun addition, getting too caught up might not be the best thing. Keep things distinct. A desktop background is cool, but do you need to change your cursors, add desktop ponies everywhere? Does this aid your experience?

 

Cutting back enough is going to be a nice change of pace. don't slam the breaks just take a step backwards.

[Squid 100]

I've experienced something similar. I'm such a huge fan of Britain that I usually have a British accent, and I often imagine the characters in any book having British accents. This, however, does not really cause problems for me, it just makes people think I'm British. and also bothers me when I see Hunger Games in theatres and no one has their cool accent anymore.

 

As for pony stuff, I often slip pony references into conversation. It's usually on purpose, but occasionally I'll do it out of habit. I do this as to basically subtly ask if that person is a Brony of Pegasister. If they don't catch it, then they're probably not a fan.

Most commonly with eeyup, or nnope, or quotations which work in context.

It's much better than asking everypony you meet "Hey, so you like My Little Pony?" as we all know that can turn out a little awkward when they say no.

 

But you can control your speech. If I try to, I can still speak with an American accent.

 

Just try saying regular terms like yes, no, everybody, anybody, nobody, chicken, or type main.

[angels_gal 204]

I am usually able to distinguish fantasy from reality  but  there are days where i look up at the sky and think 'what i would give to be able to control the weather'  and i will ask my brony cousin for the ocassional brohoof.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,833]

Liking ponies hasn't changed me at all even if I am at least slightly obsessed with it. I still don't act speak or think any differently than normal. Besides it consuming a lot of spare time I'd usually take for modding, no noticable changes have come to pass with me.

[khaine21x3 789]

I've experienced something similar. I'm such a huge fan of Britain that I usually have a British accent, and I often imagine the characters in any book having British accents. This, however, does not really cause problems for me, it just makes people think I'm British. and also bothers me when I see Hunger Games in theatres and no one has their cool accent anymore.

 

As for pony stuff, I often slip pony references into conversation. It's usually on purpose, but occasionally I'll do it out of habit. I do this as to basically subtly ask if that person is a Brony of Pegasister. If they don't catch it, then they're probably not a fan.

Most commonly with eeyup, or nnope, or quotations which work in context.

It's much better than asking everypony you meet "Hey, so you like My Little Pony?" as we all know that can turn out a little awkward when they say no.

 

But you can control your speech. If I try to, I can still speak with an American accent.

 

Just try saying regular terms like yes, no, everybody, anybody, nobody, chicken, or type main.

Don't see a problem with this either as long as people understand what you're saying, but I personally prefer to change my accent to blend in with the locals unless I'm intentionally trying to give the impression that I'm from some other place.

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

Go on, be different! We have too man haters in this world. However, even that has its limits. Try to avoid saying nopony, anypony, or everypony. Writing it is fine, but make sure you stay on the topic of school, not on ponies.

[One 498]

I have a Minecraft background, a Battlefield 3 Firefox theme, the Linux Mint bootup screen, a Skyrim and 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air poster, I use my own texture pack which features 'smoothed down' textures for less lag in MC, I have RuneScape themed mouse cursors, most of my website usernames are my main username (789it789), on my android device my background is Rainbow Dash, on my inferior Apple device it's Abstergo's logo. So... There isn't much of a 'bleeding effect' for me.

Edited December 9, 2012 by One

[NewCalamity 3,454]

This thread appears to be related to the My Little Pony franchise and/or the Bronydom in general. Thus, it has been sentenced to Sugarcube Corner.

 

This is an automatically generated message, by the way.

[Fluffy Pinkie 417]

Besides buying pony merch and sometimes ponifying character in books I read I'm pretty much the same. If I'm talking to a fellow Brony I might say stuff like 20% cooler but usually I speak normal in real life. Sometimes I do daydream about life in equestria but not enough to be unable to focus on school. You need to be yourself if you like Pony's who cares, I'd rather be consdired weird and be happy instead of the "norm" and be unhappy which is why I don't care about wearing pony stuff anymore.

[Creamy Arty 6,251]

Exposing yourself to a certain type of behavior and speech for too long, whether in real life or fiction, and one day subconsciously mimicking those things is natural. The question is whether or not it's healthy, and that all depends on who's sharing your company.
 
As somebody who doesn't speak much because he hasn't much to say, this isn't a problem for me. However, my thoughts now reflect a number of fictional things. I now "ponify" everything in my mind, wondering how it could be related to something from MLP or adapted to fit. I also have a habit of observing people's actions and words and trying to ascribe a D&D alignment to them (mine is neutral good).
 
I also have this little, infrequent habit of "coding" some situations. Here's a little VBScript example:


For Each objPost in colUserActivity
WScript.Echo(tl;dr)
Next

[---------------------- 1,645]

Hmmmm, frankly, I have to agree with Evilshy here,

 

Now, it's all fine and well to ponify entities such as your wallpaper, or perhaps having a iPhone case with a pony on it, I am guilty of applying ponies to many things, however I refrain from letting it seep into everyday life in the matter of saying "Everypony" insted of "Everybody", because that's a habit that I do not want to pick up. 

 

Alas, I have 2 phrases in my vocabulary that I am desperately trying to swap out,

 

I always say "New Vegas" insted of "Las Vegas",

I also say "Do it filly!" instead of the normal phrase.

 

Other then that, please do your best to keep that out of your everyday vocabulary, because that can seriously impact other aspects of life if you don't shape it out.  

[Zygen 6,065]

I've had ocations where I've accidentally almost said a few things, And I've kinda started saying 20% cooler, but saying like 30% or 25% or something to throw anyone off just in case .

I also today almost accidently said brohoof when i was telling someone to give me a brofist.. Luckily that didn't happen .

 

I'm probably not as bad as somepeople, but I have it happen sometimes, it doesn't bother me to much as long as nobody finds out.

[IronPuddinG 249]

I used to be EXTREMELY involved with pony.  So much, in fact, that I had to stop it all together because of the emotional baggage it was putting on me.  This was quite a while ago and my reasoning was, as stupid as it sounds, I wanted to go to Equestria too much.  So, I took about a month long break and was fine and dandy after that.

My friend, on the other hand, has really fallen down the pit.  He's seeing the Mane 6 as if they were real.  Fully interactive and in character.  Right in his home.  he says he gets a lot of emotional drawbacks from it, but I'm secretly kinda' jealous of it.

[Moon Rat 4,772]

the only time I ever say anything pony related would be when I go "eeyup" in Big Macintosh's voice,

Or when I do something rather silly like forgetting something I will say "I am such a silly filly "

 

 

Other than that, I try to avoid going all out pony outside of the internet or Xbox Live

Edited December 10, 2012 by ~ds8~

[Magpie 621]

I do it on purpose, so I'm not really concerned. Then again, I also don't talk to many people, so I don't do it very often for that reason.

[Mr. Forest 135]

From time to time I do find myself replying with "Eyyy-up!" or "Nooo-pe!" to yes or no questions, but that's really it.  I've always been into fantasy/sci-fi things, so I'm pretty good with establishing a straight line between fantasy and reality.