Sometimes bits of history are silly, or start out to be silly, and turn serious.

FONEBONE was the name CJ Sherwood tried to impose on the Young Allies. The idea was for all the kids in prominent positions (and not-prominent as well--no one was to be left out) to band together and establish a watchdog organization against Norsunder. Her reasoning was that they didn't trust adults, who hadn't done a great job so far. Adults' motivations were opaque, but it seemed that they were easily swayed into evil because they were greedy, ambitious, and loved being the Big Boss. Kids, of course, had no such ambitions, were trustworthy, and wouldn't be swayed by inanities such as disgustingly mushy romance, or other forms of what C.J. Sherwood called "adultery"--the definition of which was, "Behaving like a typical adult."

To make certain the adults would not take notice of them and thus try to organize and direct them for their own good, CJ took the Mearsiean girls' strategy for naming their underground hideout "The Junky" and extended it outward: if you used a silly name, no adult would want to bother finding out what it was. Whereas, Ye Sekrit Organization For Fighting Norsunder would sort of call attention to itself.

So C.J. spearheaded the task of naming the organization and its sub-groups, divided by kingdom. She mostly relied on English and then translated it back, envisioning organizations of kids only, modeled on what she'd heard about Geth and its city that no adult could get into. She wanted a hierarchy of young only, with secret codes, in order to create what Senrid calls an inside line of communication, the better to defend against Norsunder. A few of the Young Allies, when given the full explanation, either loved the names or went along with them for a time, until the Poopsies were discovered to be joining the Young Allies, and they considered the whole subject (including the name Poopsies) a prime joke .

<< Fan Language | Lifestyle And Culture | Food >>