Ha, I made a typo of the word "typo." That can only serve to add more confusion to this already confusing subject. We've already got the Smeep/Smeerp/Sneep situation going on.
September 15, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Ha, I made a typo of the word "typo." That can only serve to add more confusion to this already confusing subject. We've already got the Smeep/Smeerp/Sneep situation going on.
You can say a rabbit is a smeerp all you like, but it's still a rabbit. Or, in this case, Lake Ontario.
Some people say he should be called the President, but he's still just an asshole.
Some people say he should be called the President, but he's still just an asshole.
August 27, 2026 at 8:02 PM
You can say a rabbit is a smeerp all you like, but it's still a rabbit. Or, in this case, Lake Ontario.
Some people say he should be called the President, but he's still just an asshole.
Some people say he should be called the President, but he's still just an asshole.
In the classic Turkey City Lexicon this is the sin of "calling a rabbit a smeerp"
sfwa.org/2009/06/18/t...
sfwa.org/2009/06/18/t...
Turkey City Lexicon - A Primer for SF Workshops - SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association
Edited by Lewis Shiner Second Edition by Bruce Sterling NOT COPYRIGHTED Introduction by Lewis Shiner This manual is intended to […]
sfwa.org
July 9, 2026 at 6:54 AM
In the classic Turkey City Lexicon this is the sin of "calling a rabbit a smeerp"
sfwa.org/2009/06/18/t...
sfwa.org/2009/06/18/t...
By your reasoning, if I call white chickens smeerps, & make a clear household distinction between smeerps & chickens, & I eat a white chicken, anyone who accuses me of eating a chicken is incorrect, because as far as I'm concerned, I didn't eat a chicken, I ate a smeerp.
July 8, 2026 at 9:53 PM
By your reasoning, if I call white chickens smeerps, & make a clear household distinction between smeerps & chickens, & I eat a white chicken, anyone who accuses me of eating a chicken is incorrect, because as far as I'm concerned, I didn't eat a chicken, I ate a smeerp.
5. I haven't found a way to get an upgrade I wasn't supposed to get yet, not even via Bomb Jumping.
(True Sequence Breaking doesn't exist in Prime, by design.)
6. Bizarrely generic names for locations. Compare "Phendrana Drifts" to "Ice Belt". Call the Rabbit a Smeerp, please.
(True Sequence Breaking doesn't exist in Prime, by design.)
6. Bizarrely generic names for locations. Compare "Phendrana Drifts" to "Ice Belt". Call the Rabbit a Smeerp, please.
June 30, 2026 at 12:50 PM
5. I haven't found a way to get an upgrade I wasn't supposed to get yet, not even via Bomb Jumping.
(True Sequence Breaking doesn't exist in Prime, by design.)
6. Bizarrely generic names for locations. Compare "Phendrana Drifts" to "Ice Belt". Call the Rabbit a Smeerp, please.
(True Sequence Breaking doesn't exist in Prime, by design.)
6. Bizarrely generic names for locations. Compare "Phendrana Drifts" to "Ice Belt". Call the Rabbit a Smeerp, please.
TFA had the seemingly-Asian bad guys be the Kanjiklub and the seemingly-Hispanic ones be the Guavian Death Gang. The EU got me expecting that there would never be a rabbit where a smeerp could replace it, and then ...
May 25, 2026 at 8:56 PM
TFA had the seemingly-Asian bad guys be the Kanjiklub and the seemingly-Hispanic ones be the Guavian Death Gang. The EU got me expecting that there would never be a rabbit where a smeerp could replace it, and then ...
Hahah, my stars, an actual smeerp.
May 18, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Hahah, my stars, an actual smeerp.
At last! A smeerp in the wild!
May 16, 2026 at 7:09 PM
At last! A smeerp in the wild!
I see them as separate conceptually, though I think if they were called "devils" I would then assume the existence of angels.
So much of SFF is picking names for things, and you start getting into smeerp territory when you can just name a thing something relatively accessible/relatable and move on.
So much of SFF is picking names for things, and you start getting into smeerp territory when you can just name a thing something relatively accessible/relatable and move on.
May 13, 2026 at 7:16 PM
I see them as separate conceptually, though I think if they were called "devils" I would then assume the existence of angels.
So much of SFF is picking names for things, and you start getting into smeerp territory when you can just name a thing something relatively accessible/relatable and move on.
So much of SFF is picking names for things, and you start getting into smeerp territory when you can just name a thing something relatively accessible/relatable and move on.
I would say he made a SMEERP kissy noise but I think that was Pogo
April 21, 2026 at 12:38 PM
I would say he made a SMEERP kissy noise but I think that was Pogo
Timekeeping is one of those 'smeerp' problems that come up in SF/fantasy. Tracking time in Earth days/hours/etc. doesn't make much sense for aliens living inside another alien (none of which have any connection to Earth)... but explaining an alien timekeeping system often ends up being clunky.
April 20, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Timekeeping is one of those 'smeerp' problems that come up in SF/fantasy. Tracking time in Earth days/hours/etc. doesn't make much sense for aliens living inside another alien (none of which have any connection to Earth)... but explaining an alien timekeeping system often ends up being clunky.
In science fiction writing, “calling a rabbit a smeerp” is when you give something a new name to make it seem sci-fi or alien, but it’s not actually any different than the real thing.
“It’s a brown, furry creature that climbs trees and eats bananas, but it’s on Mars, so it’s a bloop, not a monkey!”
“It’s a brown, furry creature that climbs trees and eats bananas, but it’s on Mars, so it’s a bloop, not a monkey!”
April 15, 2026 at 7:27 PM
In science fiction writing, “calling a rabbit a smeerp” is when you give something a new name to make it seem sci-fi or alien, but it’s not actually any different than the real thing.
“It’s a brown, furry creature that climbs trees and eats bananas, but it’s on Mars, so it’s a bloop, not a monkey!”
“It’s a brown, furry creature that climbs trees and eats bananas, but it’s on Mars, so it’s a bloop, not a monkey!”
Call a Smeerp a Rabbit theory
April 13, 2026 at 8:45 AM
Call a Smeerp a Rabbit theory
You're looking for Orphaned Etymology
I think you can justify this kind of thing on Call a Smeerp a Rabbit grounds but you have to make it do work. A friend of mine has a worldbuild that uses "fascist" explicitly as a translation of the local ideology but in their case they turned democratic now
I think you can justify this kind of thing on Call a Smeerp a Rabbit grounds but you have to make it do work. A friend of mine has a worldbuild that uses "fascist" explicitly as a translation of the local ideology but in their case they turned democratic now
April 13, 2026 at 8:44 AM
You're looking for Orphaned Etymology
I think you can justify this kind of thing on Call a Smeerp a Rabbit grounds but you have to make it do work. A friend of mine has a worldbuild that uses "fascist" explicitly as a translation of the local ideology but in their case they turned democratic now
I think you can justify this kind of thing on Call a Smeerp a Rabbit grounds but you have to make it do work. A friend of mine has a worldbuild that uses "fascist" explicitly as a translation of the local ideology but in their case they turned democratic now
There's "calling a rabbit a smeerp" but that's the opposite problem.
April 8, 2026 at 7:53 AM
There's "calling a rabbit a smeerp" but that's the opposite problem.
Pixel Scroll 3/18/26 Smeerp, Credential, Stobor, Dracarys…I Know The Science Fiction Names For Pixels Animalculous
file770.com/pixel-scroll...
file770.com/pixel-scroll...
March 19, 2026 at 2:32 AM
Pixel Scroll 3/18/26 Smeerp, Credential, Stobor, Dracarys…I Know The Science Fiction Names For Pixels Animalculous
file770.com/pixel-scroll...
file770.com/pixel-scroll...
The bad guys who come for Han are the Kanjiklub & the Guava Gang. In Star Wars, which up to that point had never used a rabbit where a smeerp could possibly do. And they weren't just our-world references, they were the laziest possible "these guys are Asian & these guys are also bad but not Asian"
February 19, 2026 at 7:55 PM
The bad guys who come for Han are the Kanjiklub & the Guava Gang. In Star Wars, which up to that point had never used a rabbit where a smeerp could possibly do. And they weren't just our-world references, they were the laziest possible "these guys are Asian & these guys are also bad but not Asian"
I remember the Turkey City Lexicon making fun of this back when I was a teenager, it's been a known Bad Writing Trick for decades
February 2, 2026 at 11:01 PM
I remember the Turkey City Lexicon making fun of this back when I was a teenager, it's been a known Bad Writing Trick for decades
I'm considering making a new rabbit OC called Smeerp.
January 3, 2026 at 6:17 AM
I'm considering making a new rabbit OC called Smeerp.
It has come to my attention that this meme has a name and it is "Call a Smeerp a Rabbit," and I think that's charming.
January 1, 2026 at 9:46 PM
It has come to my attention that this meme has a name and it is "Call a Smeerp a Rabbit," and I think that's charming.
There are exceptions - A CLOCKWORK ORANGE comes to mind, and even WATERSHIP DOWN'S 'Silflay hraka, du embleer rah' - but it's a common enough problem that one of the "rules" of sf writing is "Don't call a rabbit a smeerp."
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik...
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik...
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" - TV Tropes
We're in space, so regular old Earth flora and fauna just won't do. Solution: Introduce creatures (or sports, or political institutions, or dishes, etc.) that are just like familiar Earth concepts tha...
tvtropes.org
December 1, 2025 at 1:47 PM
There are exceptions - A CLOCKWORK ORANGE comes to mind, and even WATERSHIP DOWN'S 'Silflay hraka, du embleer rah' - but it's a common enough problem that one of the "rules" of sf writing is "Don't call a rabbit a smeerp."
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik...
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik...
Sorry, 'smeerp'. Ah, it's all made up anyway. 😜
November 30, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Sorry, 'smeerp'. Ah, it's all made up anyway. 😜
Smeerp-ass calendar
November 30, 2025 at 4:52 AM
Smeerp-ass calendar