the term "browncoat" by est120

FIREFLY UNIVERSE

the term "browncoat"

POSTED BY: EST120
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 9, 2004 02:34
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Monday, November 8, 2004 4:13 AM

okay, i might get yelled at for this, but..... after thinking about it, i cannot remember any points in the series when any of the crew refers to themselves as browncoats. the only times i remember hearing the term was by alliance-friendly people (in the train job in the bar, in bushwhacked from the alliance cruiser captain). is it possible that browncoat is a slightly derogatory term?

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Monday, November 8, 2004 4:25 AM

JUMPY

Well.....the browncoats were independents, Mal and Zoe were Independents therefore *they* might be classified as browncoats. They don't talk much about their involvment in the war which is why they don't refer to themselves as browncoats

None of the other crew are called browncoats because none of them (as far as we know, theres still some question to Book's past)fought in the war as independents, if at all.

Browncoats would have been just a nickname for the Independents, whichever side thought it up, because they wear brown coats. Therefore its not so much a derogatory term, as another name for one side of the war.

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Monday, November 8, 2004 7:47 AM

MANIACNUMBERONE

I think it might have some derogatory meaning attached to it. What color is the alliance? Black or purple sometimes? It seems that having a brown coat would indicate one of a few things.
Brown could mean - less than black. and therefore inferior.
Brown could mean dirt - the color of those who work the land. Common folk color.
Or it could be Brown for the skins of the animals they may have had to kill to be able to have a coat!
Or it could be what you said about just defining the other side by the common color coat they chose to wear. Maybe it really was on sale - as Mal said.

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Monday, November 8, 2004 11:01 AM

THEGREYJEDI

Browncoat is equivalent to the term Greycoats used to refer to the Confederate soldiers in the Civil War, who wore grey uniforms. The Independents wore brown as a uniform color, and brown coats.

The inflection, is, however, and possibly of course, negative, though the term is relatively neutral. Because the browncoats were the defeated rebels, they are looked down upon by Alliance-loving patriots.

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Monday, November 8, 2004 3:46 PM

JUMPY

At the same time though, if an alliance-friendly person walks up to an Indepndent and goes, "hey browncoat!" the independent would hardly take offense to it.

On the other hand, "browncoat" when NOT referring to an independent within the alliance could have a negative connotation to it.

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You can't take the sky from me...

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Tuesday, November 9, 2004 12:26 AM

DEWSHINE

If you think about it, one way or the other, each side uses a color label for the other side: "purplebelly" and "browncoat."

I would think that these terms are negative when spoken with the intent of such by someone from the opposite side....And likely purplebelly would never be used as a term of endearment....
It is quite possible that browncoat would not be either, except by the hardcore rebels who have not fully given up the fight yet.

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Tuesday, November 9, 2004 12:45 AM

PURPLEBELLY

History is replete with examples of derogatory epithets adopted as terms of pride or endearment. Just one from a fratricide distant enough to be non-partizan http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/oldcontemptibles.htm

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Tuesday, November 9, 2004 12:55 AM

DEWSHINE

haha....
yes I can see the Brits doing that, purplebelly!
"the old contemptibles" indeed....

however, remember that this is a sino-anglo partnership here. the chinese often use bodyparts/traits in a negative fashion. from that stand point the 'belly' reference would be a negative one, even if purple was an good color (which it is in europe, but not in china, where red or yellow would rank higher.)

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Tuesday, November 9, 2004 2:34 AM

DAIKATH

Here is another interesting point, the SA were called Brownshirts.

But these terms are all over, the english in the US war for independence were called Redcoats.

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