Earlier today, I read a post in which someone said, roughly, "So 
normal cursed forms are ended with the -chan suffix?"

I was alarmed. 

Hopeful that not too many people are going to repeat this horrid 
mistake, I decided to spam a little to detaiil why -chan is *not* 
acceptable for most cursed forms.

The suffix "-chan" is, traditionally, used as a diminuitive, or a 
term of endearment or familiarity between friends. It will be used in 
the following ways:

- By an adult, to address a young girl (through her teens...after 20 
or so, you rarely hear an adult other than the girl's parents or 
grandparents call her "-chan")
- By an adult, addressing any small child (Take Kentarou from Maison 
Ikkoku. He could, rightfully, be referred to as "Kentarou-chan" or 
"Ken-chan", but as he reaches adolescence this will change to 
"Kentarou-kun".)

-By friends, as a term of familiarity, usually among schoolgirls 
(such as the Sailor Senshi, who refer to each other with the -chan 
suffix frequently). This form is almost *never* used by males to 
refer to girls their age.

-Among couples as a display of affection. Especially lovers or 
married couples. 

-Among very, very good friends, who have known each other for a very 
long time. 

In Ranma 1/2 terminology, the "-chan" suffix gains one additional 
meaning: it refers to the cursed form of Saotome Ranma. The reason 
for this is that Ranma becomes a teenage *girl* in his cursed form, 
and thus the -chan suffix is acceptable. Note that in the series, 
nobody, with the exception of Nabiki when she's getting sly and 
crafty, is likely to call Ranma "Ranma-chan" to his/her face, not 
even Kasumi. The only exception to this is Ukyou, and the "old 
friends" rule of using the suffix applies here.

For other characters' curses, this suffix is most definitely 
INappropriate, with three exceptions. (Not counting Herb, who has the 
same curse as Ranma)

Ryouga: His cursed form already has a name, P-chan, thanks to Akane. 
It's okay to give a pet a name with the -chan suffix as a display of 
affection, especially a cute pet. However, notice Ryouga does not 
take kindly to the name P-chan when it's not Akane using it.

Genma: When Nodoka comes around, before she learns of the curses, 
Ranma and Genma hide out in their cursed forms. When this occurs, 
Genma pretends to be "Ranko"s pet panda, "Panda-chan".

Mousse: His duck form has, somehow, gained the name "MuuMuuChan". I 
assume this happened while he was traveling with that Chinese circus.



Note that, at any time besides when he is posing as Ranko's pet, 
Genma would likely smack the living shit out of anyone who even 
thought of calling him "Panda-chan", and Mousse probably doesn't care 
much one way or another, as long as a female is calling him by his 
pet-name. If, say, Ranma or Ryouga called him MuuMuuChan though, 
there'd be some razor-sharp knives flying.

Now, for the OTHERS...

Shampoo: The most appropriate name for her cursed form would be 
"Shampoo-neko". "Shampoo-koneko" could also be used, and would be a 
remarkable pun ("koneko" means "kitten", and it's often used as a 
somewhat derogatory but not terribly offensive way to address a young 
girl.)

Tarou: As Blade said, his cursed form is best referred to as "Tarou-
minotaur" or "The monster". 

Rouge: I wouldn't begin to know what to call her cursed form except 
the name of what she turns into.

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"Zankoku na Tenshi no you ni, shounen yo shinwa ni nare....."

The Eternal Lost Lurker
squn29c@prodigy.com
EtLostLurker@hotmail.com
http://pages.prodigy.com/EtLostLurker